page_title: Satay
section_title: Origin and history
hierarchical_section_title: Satay / Origin and history
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Foto. Studioportret van een verkoper van saté met zijn pikolan en klantenEnglish: Studio Portrait of a satay vendor with customers.Français&#160;: Portrait d'un vendeur de satay avec ses clients.
context_page_description: Satay, or sate in Indonesian language and Malay spelling, is a Southeast Asian dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce. Satay may consist of diced or sliced chicken, goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, other meats, or tofu; bamboo skewers are often used, while rustic style of preparations employ skewers from the midrib of the coconut palm frond. These are grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy seasonings. Satay can be served in various sauces, however most often they are served in a combination of soy and peanut sauce. Hence, peanut sauce is often called satay sauce. It is popular as street food, and it can be obtained from a travelling satay vendor, from a street-side tent-restaurant, in an upper-class restaurant, or at traditional celebration feasts.
  Satay is believed to have originated in Java, but has spread to almost anywhere in Indonesia, where it has become a national dish. Indonesian satay is often served with kecap manis – a sweet soy sauce, and is often accompanied with lontong, a type of rice cake, though the diversity of the country has produced a wide variety of satay recipes.
context_section_description: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English word "satay" is derived from the Malay word satai, also saté or sate in Indonesian, ultimately originating from Tamil catai, a regional variant of tacai meaning "flesh". The usage in English was first attested in 1917 with reference to a "satai" seller in Singapore, later a mention of saté in Denpasar, Bali appeared in 1937, with a description of Malays cooking satay appearing in 1955. Satay may have been developed by Javanese street vendors as an adaptation of Indian kebabs. The introduction of satay, and other now-iconic dishes such as tongseng and gulai kambing based on meats such as goat and lamb, coincided with an influx of Indian and Arab traders and immigrants starting in the 18th century. 
  From Java, satay spread through the Malay Archipelago and, as a consequence, numerous variations of the dish have been developed. By the late-19th century, satay had crossed the Strait of Malacca into neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. In the 19th century, the term migrated, presumably with Malay immigrants from the Dutch East Indies, to South Africa, where it is known as sosatie. The Indo Dutch people took this dish, as well as many other Indonesian specialties, to the Netherlands, thereby influencing Dutch cuisine.
caption: Satay seller in Java, c. 1870. Note the ketupat hanging behind the vendor.
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