The Picture of Lampung Cultures as Depicted in Seruit

Perdiansyah Putra (16111085), Ryan Arta Veda (16111096), Darman Tampubolon

(16111102)
English Literature Department
Faculty of Arts and Education
Universitas Teknokrat Indonesia

Abstract
Seruit has long become a prominent food of Lampungnese people. It comes with various
variations which correspond the people who live in certain area. It also depicts the culture in
which Lampungnese people live in there. Thus, this paper aims to develop understanding
among the people of Lampung about Seruit and its significance in holding cultural identity of
Lampungnese people. The paper used quantitative research to obtain information from
various Lampungnese people who lived in three different areas, Bandar Lampung, Krui,, and
Way Kanan. The quantitative research of this paper is using question-based interview that
will be answered by the people who lived in that three areas. The information that has been
obtained by interview, will be in analyzed process with ethnographic point of view in order to
draw a solid conclusion about seruit.
Keywords: Seruit, Culture, Lampung, Ethnography, Quantitative Research.
I. Introduction
i. Background
In Lampungnese society, there is a traditional food called Seruit that along with Siger,
and Tapis, had become the symbols of Lampung province and Lampung people. Typically,
Seruit consist of main ingredients and additional ingredients. The main ingredients are fish,
and sambal terasi while the additional ingredients are come from many ranges of vegetables,
fruits, and combination between both of them. This makes seruitunique and different from
another traditional foods. It is not because the used of fruits as a food, because many of foods
in Indonesia, traditional or non-traditional, are widely and frequently used fruits as both main
and additional ingredients. It is its simplicity that profoundly give a sense of uniqueness
within is form. But to think that food is merely a food is a wrong assumption. Such case is
also happen with Seruit.
Food can be seen as a culture that refers to the practices, attitudes, and beliefs as well
as the networks and institutions surrounding the production, distribution, and consumption of
food. It encompasses the concepts of food ways, cuisine, and food system and includes the
fundamental understandings a group has about food, historical and current conditions shaping
that group’s relationship to food, and the ways in which the group uses food to express
identity, community, values, status, power, artistry and creativity. It also includes a groups’
definitions of what items can be food, what is tasty, healthy, and socially appropriate for
specific subgroups or individuals and when, how, why, and with whom those items can or
should be consumed (Simons. S. W. 1988).Food is an important part of culture. Traditional
cuisine is passed down from one generation to the next. It also operates as an expression of
cultural identity. People bring the food of their countries with them wherever they go and
cooking traditional food is a way of preserving their culture when they move to new places or
passing it down to their next generation in their area create their own unique. Continuing to
make food from their culture for family meals is a symbol of pride for their ethnicity (Nurti.
2017). People also connect to their cultural or ethnic group through similar food patterns.
People often use food as a means of retaining their cultural identity. People from different
cultural backgrounds eat different foods. The ingredients, methods of preparation,
preservation techniques, and types of food eaten at different meals vary among cultures. The
areas in which families live— and where their ancestors originated—influence food likes and
dislikes. These food preferences result in patterns of food choices within a cultural or
regional group (Almerico. 2014).
According to Foster and Anderson (2006), food is part of human, and their culture
itself.“[....] food in every culture, act as an expressive action that strengthen the social
interactions, ties, believes, and religion, and also as the determiner for economics’ pattern
[....]”Because food emerged from within the society, it becomes a picture of society in which
every aspects whiting them can be seen and traced. In other hand, food is a culture that
certain society invented as the result of another cultures within the society interact with it.
Against that backdrop, the researchers want to analyze seruitas a culture that has been
influenced by other Lampungnese cultures. In addition to that, the purpose of this paper is
also about to find the answer of the question.
ii. Research Question
 What are the cultural picture that can be found inside seruit?
iii. Research Objective
 This research aims to know the cultural picture of Lampung society in seruit.

II. Literary Review

i. Previous Studies
 Food studyin Anthropology Perspective byYevita Nurti (2017)
This research have found that food is a complex thing in which all levels of
cultural system in certain society are involved and become influencer to the
food they inherent. So, the food is not merely a food, an invention of culture.
In this research, Nurti said that the behavior and valuewhom the society
constructed, is also influenced the way they associated with their food. She
described these in the findings of this research. Food can be a symbol of a
certain behavior and value that the society believe and adhere to. She gives
yellow corn that has been given to Botswana from America as an
example.When the people of Botswana value the yellow corn as mere animal
food, they thought that America was insulting them and there was a chaos
because of that. It shows that because of the social construction that was being
enforced by the people, in this case is Botswana people, the rejection
happened almost instantly and can not be accepted by the process there.
In the second findings, Nurti explained about food as the creator of ethnic
identity. Food from certain region, area, and country resemble their own
unique identity. We can see that in many foods such as Minahasa's food that
always used chiliin large amount and even to much for one dish to handle. In
 the next explanation, she explained that food is a representation of social
differentiation between individual race, caste, gender, and etc. Because of
that, the unique differencepoints are always there, in the food.
The findings of this research are give us the clear information about what does
the food really mean. This research also gives some insights about the social
construction that in certain society, influenced the way they create, and value
their food. The explanation about social value and behavior in society, is the
main discussion that we try to solve in our paper, particularly in Lampung
society.
 Shoku Bunka: Diversity in Culture and Tradition of Japanese Food by Lina
Rosliana (2018).
This research focused on the Japanese food as seen in cultural point of view.
In this research, Lina wants to know the Japanese food heritage that uniquely
have their own standards. Those standards, explained Lina, growth from time
to time. As the result, the way Japanese people eat was developed. As she
explained in the first findings, rice was become their main food course when it
was first introduced to them by Chinese and Korean people 2000 years ago.
From than on, all the development in Japanese food were centered around rice.
In the second findings, Lina explained that the value and behavior that
Japanese people adhered to, also become the key of Japanese food
development. For example, Japanese people believe that the best taste of food
is when it tastes similar to nature. Also, Japanese people wouldalways try to
visualized the natural color of their food so that it apples to the person who at
the food as beautiful art that will trigger that person to eat more. The way
Japanese people eat also influenced it. For example, in any situation and
condition, whatever the food might shapes, they will always use chopstick to
eat. To compensate this, most if not all the Japanese foodsare in the small
portion as it helps the one who eat the foods to digest it.
The similarity between this research and our paper is located in the perspective
that used by both research. Both of them seek to see food in their relation with
the people that invented them. Because of that, this research is given us some
insights about the detail point that we must see in food, particularly seruit as it
is the object of our research.

ii. Ethno history theory James Axtell and Michael E. Harkin.

According to Axtell (1979) Ethnohistory is “an interdisciplinary
approach to indigenous, colonial, and postcolonial culture and history.
Ethnohistory encompasses both particularistic and comparative
scholarship, and embodies productive tensions among historical,
anthropological, and indigenous perspectives on cultural and historical
processes.”
 III. Method and Research Design
i. Quantitative Approach
This paper is using quantitative analysis in which the data of the research need to be
searched. To search the data, the researchers set an interview with several questions to
Lampungnese people who live in three different places, Bandar Lampung (Kedamaian area),
Krui, and Way Kanan region. The total questions for the interview are twelve that divided
into two categories, general questions, and specific questions. General questions are
intendedly used as a tool to know the respondents background, while specific questions are a
tool to know about Seruit. There is areason behind the places that the researchers choose. It is
because those three places, lie in three different areas that have different environments which
might be influenced Seruit. Bandar Lampung as the capital of Lampung province, is home to
many people from many cultures, Krui is a costal place whom many of its people live as
fishermen, and Way Kanan is a place where many rivers can be found.
IV. Data Collecting Instrument
General Questions
1. What is your name?
2. From what tribe do you come from?
3. In which place your tribe lives?
4. Do you have any relation with tokoh adat in
your tribe?
Specific Questions
1. Do you know what is seruit? What is it?
2. What kind of seruit that you like the most?
With grill or fried fish? Why do you think
that kind of fish is better to be eaten as seruit
than others?
3. Do you know that lampungnese people eat
seruit with "lalapan"? What kind of
"Lalapan" that you eat with seruit? Why you
choose that kind of "lalapan"?
4. Do you eat a certain fruits with Seruit? Why
do you eat that?
5. In your tribe, what is the typical seruit that
you always eat?
6. Why when eating seruit, you always eat it
together with others?
7. Do you know or ever took "begawi"? Why in
"begawi" (traditional Lampungnese
ceremony), seruit is also present?
8. What is the typical sambal terasi that usually
used on Seruitin your tribe? Are they have
any variations? What are the differences?
V. Respondents List

1. Way Kanan Region

Respondent One (R1) Respondent Five (R5)

Mahya (76 years old) Abu Nawas (49 years old)
Pepadun Tribe Pepadun Tribe
Way Kanan Way Kanan
No relation with any tokoh adat No relation with any tokoh adat

Respondent Two (R2) Respondent Six (R6)

Yana (45 years old) Barnawi (+50 years old)
Pepadun Tribe Pepadun Tribe
Way Kanan Way Kanan
No relation with tokoh adat No relation with any tokoh adat

Respondent Three (R3)

Masnun (52 years old) Respondent seven (R7)
Pepadun Tribe Tjek Umi (+70 years old)
Way Kanan Pepadun Tribe
No relation with any tokoh adat Way Kanan
No reason with any tokoh adat
Respondent Three (R3)
Masnun (52 years old)
Pepadun Tribe
Way Kanan
No relation with any tokoh adat

Respondent Four (R4)

Amirsyah (49 years old)
Pepadun Tribe
Way Kanan
No relation with any tokoh adat
 1. BandarLampung Region

Respondent Eight (R8) Respondent Twelve (R12)

Elvis Presley (53 years old) Alamsyah (47 years old)
Sai Batin Tribe Pepadun Tribe
North Lampung Pesisir Barat
No relation with any tokoh adat No realation with any tokoh adat

Respondent Nine (R9) Respondent Thirteen (R13)

Jutra (55 years old) Siti Rahmah (58 years old)
Sai Batin Tribe Sai Batin Tribe
Tulang Bawang East Lampung
No relation with any tokoh adat No relation with any tokoh adat
 Respondent Ten (R10) Respondent Fourteen (R14)
Fahrur Rozi (60 years old) Basri (55 years old)
Pepadun Tribe Pepadun Tribe
Tanggamus Pesawaran
No relation with any tokoh adat No relation with any tokoh adat

Respondent Eleven (R11)

Hermawan (52 years old)
Sai Batin Tribe
Menggala
No relation with any tokoh adat

2. Krui Region

Respondent Fifteen (R15) Respondent Seventeen (R17)

Yuliana (46 years old) Mulyasari (41 years old)
Pepadun Tribe Pepadun Tribe
Krui Krui
No relation with any tokoh adat No relation with any tokoh adat

Respondent Sixteen (R16) Respondent Eighteen (R18)

Perbatasari (45 years old) Saman (50 years old)
Pepadun Tribe Pepadun
Krui Krui
No relation with any tokoh adat No relation with any tokoh adat

VI. Findings and Discussion

The Nature of Seruit
This is the direct respond of respondents to question number one, two, three, and
four. Those questions are being designed by us in order to understand what is
seruit according to Lampungnese people’s mind, and the eating habits of
Lampungnese people regarding seruit. Furthermore, from the answers, we can
conclude why seruit is become the kind of food that we know today.
For the first questions, all the respondents said they know about seruit. They
described the dish with simple explanation. Seruit is typical dish that made by
combining sambal and shredded fish. R3 from Way Kanan Region add her
explanation by saying that “and a touch of water for combining the ingredients”
but when we asked another respondents such as R15, R16, and R18, They said
that water is not necessary. But in general, they agree that seruit must have two
ingredients, sambal and shredded fish.
The used of water is not something influenced by the culture. We found it that
way by actually see the process of making it. R3 make her sambal without
something liquid and as the result, the sambal is quite dry. To compensate that,
when she make seruit, she will add some water to bind the ingredients together.
While the Respondents who did not use water in their sambal have slightly watery
sambal because they use rampai or cherry tomato or normal tomato as the water
agent of their sambal. As the result, they not need water as combining agent. We
asked them, why their seruit is different from each other and they answered that
'seruit will be more delicious if used their respective kind of sambals.’ R3 said that
“the acidity in tomato will destruct the taste of seruit” while R15 said that “the
taste of tomato will make seruit more delicious.” From that arguments, we
conclude that the differencein seruit's sambal is not because the cultural
differences in lampung tribe, but more about their predilection of seruit taste.
For the second question, the respondents answer it with many variations. In Way
Kanan Region, all the respondents favor to like freshwater fish such as snakehead
fish (R1 and R2), Patin fish (R4, R6, and R7), Gold fish (R5), and Toman fish
(R3). All the respondents like their fish being grilled except R2 that like both
grilled and fried fish. The respondents who like grilled fish said that the grilled
fish is better than fried one because it is less oily and the texture of fish is still
soft, while R2 argues that the fried fish is as delicious as grilled one. In
BandarLampung Region, the respondents still have more preferable in grilled fish
(R9, R10, R12, R14) while the rest (R11, R13, R8) are prefer both of them. But
apart from that, surprisingly, all of them like both of freshwater, and saltwater fish
with many reason. In Krui region, all of the respondents said that they like
saltwater fish that has been grilled to be made as seruit. The fish variations, and
the way they prepared it in their respective region have shown us that seruit, in
this case, is always being influenced and shaped by the environments in which the
Lampungnese people live. Seruit is universally become a prominent dish of
Lampung's food because there is no pattern in it. There is no obligation to use
certain fishes or certain ingredients to make seruit. Instead, if there is a fish and as
long it is a fish, and as long the environments give that to them,it is called as
seruit. This is explained why most of the BandarLampung respondents like both
fresh, and saltwater fish. As the capital city, their environments provide them with
wide range variation of fishes, while the people in Way Kanan and Krui only
found one type fish that resemble their environment (Way Kanan is located near
the river and Krui is located at cost). The environmental influenced can also be
seen in the way they choose lalapan and fruits as the compliment of seruit. The
respondents in Way Kanan Region, eat lalapan and fruits that typically grow near
their homes. R1, R2,and R6 eat papaya and cassava’s leaves as lalap, and durian
(that sometimes has been fermented first and become tempoyak) as compliment
fruit because the respondents grow cassava andpapaya near their home area. The
R3 compliment her seruit with adang adas, and unripe banana, R4 compliment her
seruit with unripe corn, and papaya’s flower, R5 eat his seruit with sawi hijau
(mustard greens), and sometimes fresh durian, and R7 eat her seruit with unripe
corn and bamboo shoots. All of them can be found near their home area. In
BandarLampung and Krui Region, the case is different. The BandarLampung
Respondents used to eat many kind of vegetables and fruits in the same reason
why they love fresh and saltwater fish. In other hand, Respondents in Krui Region
are rarely eat any fruit with seruit because their topographical situation that not
allowed much fruits to grow.
From this finding, we can conclude that seruit is uniquely different from any
traditional foods. The vast diversity of the ingredients has shown us that the
environments in which the Lampungnese people live, are become an influencer in
defining what is seruit. As the result, there is no real definition on what should
seruit take shape. All the environments create their own definition of seruit. For
Way Kanan people, seruit is come from the shraded grilled fish and must be eaten
with lalapan that can be found near their house. For BandarLampung respondents,
all kind of fishes and vegetables are good for seruit. That is the nature of seruit.
Because of that, the respondents answer unitarily in fifth question. There is no
distinctive and significant rule about seruit.
Symbols in Seruit
When the respondents said that they love grilled or fried fish for their seruit, we
can see a symbol in it. It describes traditional system of making food. Grilled is
the system of food making that not using oil or water. Lampungnese people used
this because at that time, there is no fuel, gas, or anything similar that can provide
them with heat or for except wood. Thus, they cook their food only with that kind
source of heat by putting the fish on it. That is why in Way Kanan and Krui
Region, that most of the people still adhare to traditional way of life, grilled fish is
become a prerequisite ingredient of seruit. In that sense, seruit actually gives an
insight about the cultural history of Lampungnese people. In our terms, we called
seruit as artifact that shows the traditional way of cooking food.
The way they eating their seruit with fruits and lalapanare aslo part of
Lampungnese history. The respondents feel that it is the correct way to eating
seruit. R13 said that “it is the way of ancestor and we follow it till now” and
becomes a standard way of eating seruit. In another explanation, R10 said that “it
is important not only eat fish, but also another food (vegetables and fruits” It
shows that the Lampungnese people are also care about the food nutritious that
they consumed and it symbolized in lalapan and fruits that they eat in seruit.
In the sixth question,the answers provide us with the cultural value of
Lampungnese people that might have been capture by seruit. Unfortunately, no
many respondents can answer this question. Most of them only said 'it is the way'
and 'I do not know' except for R1, R3, R6, R10, R11, and R15. R1 said “typicaly,
seruit will always be made with large portion” R3 said “it resembles the value of
togetherness” R6 said “it thickens the bound between family” R10 said “it
teaches us to socialize” and R11 said “it is the representation of piil pesenggiri,
nemuin nyimah. Have you ever heard about nyeruit? Nyeruit refers to two things.
One eating toghater, and two eating seruit toghater. Together is the value of
seruit.”From that answer, we conclude that seruit is indeed have a picture of
Lampungnese value in it in form of its shape, and the way we supposed to it, to
 everyone, to family to someone closer to us. It is the representation of nemui
nyimah that acccording to Abdul Syani (2013) is an act of behavior which the
people must to their closer one, it is called as binding the family bound
(togetherness). This argument is reinforced by the answers of seventh question.
The respondents said that 'seruit might be appeared or not in Begawibecause
seruit, is not like offerings. But if seruit appear, the people will eat together and
become closer.’ Thus, we conclude that seruit have two significant symbols, the
history and cultural value.

VII. Conclusion
After doing this research, we found two findings about seruit. From the premise
and notion that we have built, we found something new. We thought we will find
symbolism in every components of seruit, but instead, we find it in different way.
Seruit is not like any other traditional foods that follow some pattern, and
consistent in shape and ingredients. Seruit evolved from one shape to others, using
a certain kind of fish, and others. It influenced by the environments that
Lampungnese people live in, and it captures that differences in its shapes,
ingredients, and even lalapanand fruits that accompanied its journey. It capture
the history by depicting the way people cook the ingredients. It also depicting the
value of Lampungnese people in form of the way seruit should be served. In the
end, it is indeed a mirror for us to look Lampung culture deeper.

VIII. REFERENCES
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Almerico. M. G. Food and identity: Food studies, cultural, and personal identity.
2014.
Nurti. Y. Kajian Makanan dalam Perspektif Antropologi. 2017.
Simons. S. W. Culture Theory in Contemporary Ethnohistory. 1988.
Axtell. J. Ethnohistory: An Historian's Viewpoint. 1979.