Jamu, Indonesia’s Herbal Wellness Tradition, Joins the UNESCO Heritage List

UNESCO inscribed Jamu Wellness Culture on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 6 December 2023. The decision was taken at the eighteenth session of the intergovernmental committee, held at Kasane in Botswana. It was Indonesia’s thirteenth entry on the list, after batik, gamelan and the martial art pencak silat among others.

What jamu is

Jamu is the traditional herbal medicine of Indonesia, and above all of Java. It is usually taken as a drink, made from roots, bark, leaves, seeds and fruit that are ground and boiled or steeped. The commonest ingredients are turmeric, ginger, tamarind, galangal and rice. Well-known preparations include kunyit asam, of turmeric and tamarind, and beras kencur, of rice and aromatic ginger. Some are taken daily to keep well, others for particular complaints. Cold jamu is given for fever and warm jamu for chills.

According to Indonesia’s submission the practice goes back to the eighth century. Reliefs on the temple of Borobudur, built in that period in central Java, are commonly read as showing the preparation of herbal remedies.

Women’s knowledge

The inscription concerns a culture, not a product. Recipes are passed down in families, mostly from mother to daughter. For generations the drinks have been sold by women who carry bottles in a basket on their backs and walk a fixed round through the neighbourhood each morning. They are known as jamu gendong. Many came from a few towns in central Java. UNESCO noted the value of the practice as a form of cultural expression and its contribution to health, and Indonesia undertook to protect it through education, training and research.

For travellers

Jamu is easy to find. In the cities of Java it is sold in markets, from street sellers and in cafés that have brought it up to date, including in Jakarta. In Bali many hotels serve a glass at breakfast or on arrival and some offer classes in which guests grind the roots themselves. The taste is earthy, sharp and often bitter, and it is softened with palm sugar or honey.

Jamu belongs to a group of Asian healing traditions that UNESCO has recognised in recent years. Thai massage was inscribed in 2019, and Japan intends to put forward its hot-spring culture. For retreats that build programmes on such traditions, see our guide to serious wellness in Asia.