SÓP BUNTUT

I have windingly told you about what 'soup' is to the Javanese and Indonesian people. 'Buntut' is the Javanese word for 'tail'. The same word and the same meaning is within the Indonesian lexicon, too, but the status is as an informal and colloquial term -- the official Indonesian word for 'tail' is 'ekor'.

In this case, it is the tail of a cow. Soup made of such a material is expensive in Indonesia, comparable in status with the soup of shark's fin to the Chinese; and the Javanese also consider it a rare treat.

The dish might have originated in East Java. The Eastern Javanese always found a way to serve what used to be inedible to Central Javanese -- such as the mouth of goats, served as 'rujak cingur' ('cingur' is actually a very rude Eastern Javanese expression to convey the meaning of 'mouth').