Tempe is a fermented soybean product originally made by Central Javanese people through fermentation with Rhizopus species. Most people would struggle to place the origins of the popular fermented bean curd, but historical accounts date it from Indonesia, as long ago as thousands of years.
Yet today, almost all tempe, the most widely consumed protein in Indonesia, is made from imported beans. Indonesia’s local soybean production systems are old, inefficient and ineffective. But a government intervention to boost the local soy industry is rekindling dreams of truly Indonesian tempe.
The Indonesian Central Statistics Agency (BPS) says the national demand for soybeans currently stands at 2.8 million tonnes a year, whilst domestic production is recorded at a mere 800 thousand tonnes a year. Over the past ten years, the volume of imported soybeans has reached up to seven times that of local soybean production. Demand for soybeans continues to increase with rising population and appetite for soybean-based food and feed industries.
