![]() ![]() And Boun, one of Raya’s allies, stocks little wooden pots of what looks like sambal on the combination restaurant and water taxi he uses to shuttle Raya and her companions from tribe to tribe. ![]() Piles of dragon fruit and durian make cameos throughout the film - fruits which are often maligned in the media. In another, representatives from each tribe gather in Heart, and their clothing resembles batik cloth batik is an Indonesian technique for decorating material with intricate and delicate patterns. In one scene, Chief Benja appears to wear a mask resembling a yaksha, the Thai demons who guard Buddhist temples. Still, there are clear nods to some Southeast Asian cultures peppered throughout the movie. My dad taught me how to connect to my ancestors, and my Indonesian heritage, by teaching me how to cook their food, and in that moving sequence, Chief Benja tries to impart a similar lesson to his daughter.ĭirector Don Hall told the BBC that “decision to film in the region was inspired by a trip the filmmaking team took” to Southeast Asia, and that Kumandra is a fantastical version of the region - it’s not meant to mirror it exactly. The intimate interaction between father and daughter immediately reminded me of my own dad, who is half-Indonesian, spooning sambal in a steaming bowl of pho, and reminding me to add terasi - shrimp paste - to nasi goreng, Indonesian fried rice. ![]() Raya thinks the dish doesn’t quite taste right, so her father adds “shrimp paste from Tail, lemongrass from Talon, bamboo shoots from Spine, chilis from Fang, and palm sugar from Heart” - ingredients each region in a fractured, warring nation once known as Kumandra, which also happen to be the foundational ingredients that show up in recipes from countries in Southeast Asia like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. In one early scene of Raya and the Last Dragon, the titular heroine follows Chief Benja, her ba (father), into the kitchen, where the pair leans over a simmer pot of what looks like shrimp curry.
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