UNAIR NEWS – The promotion old, forgotten tradition of geophagia, the tradition of people and / or animals in the tropical countryside to eat soil in Tuban, East Java, has attracted the attention of Kemenristekdikti to provide research grants in the 2018 Student Creativity Program (PKM) to three students of Universitas Airlangga.
The PKM-PSH (Social Humanity Research) team are Hendra Setiawan (leader), Calvin Nathan Wijaya, and Lia Agustina Subagyo, from the Department of State Administration, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UNAIR. Their paper was entitled “Unique Geophagia Phenomenon in Trowulan Community, Bektiharjo Village, Tuban Regency”.
Described by Hendra Setiawan, the habit of geophagia is generally found in rural communities in the tropics. In East Java, it can be found in Trowulan, Bektiharjo Village, Tuban Regency. Here, the so-called ampo- eating habit is done by some people.
According to the locals, eating clay that is processed into ampo, makes the stomach feel more comfortable, and usually pregnant women crave for it.
Compiled from various stories in the local community, the beginning of eating ampo tradition in Trowulan community in Tuban Regency was due to the difficult circumstances during the Dutch colonialism. Tuban as a port city was a very rich area. It was one of the most important trading routes at the time. Merchants from all over the world, including Europe and China, came to Tuban.
The colonialism then turned Tuban into a very difficult area due to the system of forced cultivation (cultuurstelsel) . People are living in poverty, food and hunger. Finally, trade is dominated by foreign elites, which often impose very expensive price of goods, especially rice. That situation makes people think and find a way to survive.
The alternative was the ampo. Ampo was originally made from mud deposits in river bank of Bengawan Solo. It is a clay-based alluvial soil. It is dried first before eaten.
But gradually the community here find another ampo material from sediment of wetland water with clay base material in Bektiharjo Village. The difference is, clay that has been collected is processed by smoked (with fire).
In Tuban at the moment, there is only ampo producer who is still actively producing, named Sarpik. He made the ampo in Trowulan, Bektiharjo Village. Everyday he makes the ampo and sell it to the market.
According to Sarpik, ampo has many uses, it can be used to treat heartburn, indigestion, for craving pregnant women, to eliminate the bitter taste of papaya leaves, and as snack.
In addition to consumed, ampo is used by the people of Tuban as one of the elements of cok bakal as an offering for the ancestors in certain celebrations. Ampo is included in it because the people of Tuban believe that the ancestors used to eat ampo.
The Making of Ampo
It is started with preparing the necessary equipments and materials. The equipment include a ganden (beater), seseh (scraper), obongan (stove), hirik ( Ampo smoking ), glangsing (the base used to form Ampo ), sickle (for digging), jarik (to bring the soil from the site). The basic ingredient of ampo is the soil of the rice field with a depth of about 20 cm using an sickle. Then the soil obtained is placed in the jarik .
The soil is then put on a glangsing. The soil should be in damp conditions. So if the soil is too dry it should be given water, and if too wet should be dried. The moist soil is then shaped like a box and smoothed by being hit with ganden. Then the soil is left for a day and wrapped in plastic so that moisture is maintained.
After a day, the soil is eroded using seseh, resulting rolls shaped ampo. The result of the eroded soil is then inserted to hirik to be smoked on top of the obongan . The fumigation uses fire from firewood for about an hour. Then ampo ready for use, both consumption and ritual purposes.
Today many young people in Tuban do not recognize ampo, because this old tradition has been abandoned. In surviving, the community no longer need to eat the soil (ampo), because the food is abundant. However, it is unfortunate if this tradition extincts, because ampo has become a special tradition for the people of Tuban, especially Bektiharjo Village. So Tuban District Government should give more attention to preserve the tradition. (*)
Editor: Bambang Bes
