Authentic Balinese Cuisine: From Ceremonial Food to Daily Consumption ( 2 )

The final reason that these foods were kept for celebrations, is that preparing Balinese food is expensive. As the food was prepared by dozens of people, the number of people preparing could end up tripling the final product of what was actually required for the offerings. Some of the foods were needed to feed the people involved in mébat when they finish working. Some of the other food was required to serve guests who were attending the celebration. Therefore, a lot of money was required to support both those requirements. Balinese kings served suckling pig to their superior colonizers at particular occasions as they could afford to do so. As ordinary Balinese people could not afford it, they usually had fried eel, tofu, tempè, fish, eggs, sambals, and vegetables for daily consumption. Some of them even only managed to afford rice and salt. For them, the consumption of authentic Balinese food was part of a religious celebration.