The staple food of most of Indonesia is rice. On some of the islands in eastern Indonesia, staple food traditionally ranged from corn, sago, cassava to sweet potatoes, though this is changing as rice becomes more popular. From the surrounding seas as well as from fresh water fisheries fish is abundant and of great variety, such as lobsters, oysters, prawns and shrimps, squid, crab, etc.
Fish features prominently in the diet as fresh, salted, dried, smoked or a paste.
Coconut is found everywhere and besides being produced for cooking oil, its milk the juice from the white meat is an ingredient for many dishes. Spices and hot chili peppers are the essence of most cooking, and in some areas they are used generously such as in West Sumatra and North Sulawesi. Each province or area has its own cuisine, which vary in the method of cooking and ingredients. The Javanese cuisine is probably more palatable to the general taste and consists of vegetables, soybeans, beef, chicken and other varieties. The Sumatrans generally eat more beef compared to the other regions.