Indonesian cuisine is diverse, in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 populated islands of the total 18,000 in the world's largest archipelago.[1] Many regional cuisines exist, often based upon cultural and foreign influences.[1] Indonesian cuisine varies greatly by region and has many different influences.[1][2][3]
Throughout its history, Indonesia has been involved in trade due to its location and natural resources. Additionally, Indonesia’s indigenous techniques and ingredients were influenced by India, the Middle East, China, and finally Europe. Spanish and Portuguese traders brought New World produce even before the Dutch came to colonize most of the archipelago. The Indonesian islands The Moluccas (Maluku),
Rice production requires exposure to the sun. Once covered in dense forest, much of the Indonesian landscape has been gradually cleared for permanent fields and settlements as rice cultivation developed over the last fifteen hundred years.[9]
[edit]Other staples

Papeda, staple food of eastern Indonesia, served with yellow soup and grilled mackerel.
Other staple foods in Indonesia include a number of starchy tubers such as; yam, sweet potato, potato, taro and cassava; also starchy fruit such as breadfruit and jackfruit and grains such as maize and wheat. A sago congee called Papeda is a staple food especially in Maluku and Papua. Sago is also often mixed with water and cooked as a simple pancake. Next to sago, people of eastern Indonesia also consume various kind of wild tubers as staple food.
Many types of tubers such as talas (a type of taro but larger and more bland) and breadfruit are native to Indonesia, while others are introduced from elsewhere. Wheat, the base ingredient for bread and noodles were probably introduced from India or China; yam was introduced from Africa; while maize, potato, sweet potato,