Writer Vanja van der Leeden modernises Indonesian cuisine for a new generation

Writer Vanja van der Leeden discusses her role in evolving Indonesian and Indische culinary traditions in a podcast hosted by Leiden University.

The podcast, titled De Postkoloniale Podcast, features conversations about work related to colonial history. In this specific episode, Rick Honings and Coen van ’t Veer interview Vanja van der Leeden about her contribution to the Indische kitchen. The hosts are researchers from the Universiteit Leiden who also edited a 2021 history of literature titled De postkoloniale spiegel.

Van der Leeden transitioned from a corporate job to become a cook and cookbook author. She focuses on modernising traditional dishes by using bold flavours and radical changes. Her 2019 book, Indorock, which received the Gouden Kookboek-prijs, offers modern versions of authentic Indonesian street food. She also published Indostok in 2022, a collection of satay recipes, and books on Italian cuisine titled Italopop and Italopunk.

The interest in Indische and Indonesian food has grown recently, leading to a surge in new publications. The genre of Indische cookbooks began in 1843 with Kokki Bitja, a small book containing over two hundred recipes. While that book was reprinted regularly until 1941, a new edition appeared in 2025. Other classic works in the genre include the Groot Indonesisch kookboek by Beb Vuyk and Indische keukengeheimen by Oma Keasberry.