Dishes

Rendang

ren-DAHNG

Also Known As Randang The Minangkabau spelling, the dish's own originating language.

Citation Formats

General Reference

Food and Drink Atlas. "Rendang." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://food.interactiveatlas.org/dishes/rendang.

APA Style

Food and Drink Atlas. (n.d.). Rendang. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://food.interactiveatlas.org/dishes/rendang

BibTeX

@misc{foodanddrinkatlas-rendang,
  author = {Food and Drink Atlas},
  title = {Rendang},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://food.interactiveatlas.org/dishes/rendang},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A dry, richly spiced meat dish rooted in the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, cooked slowly in spiced coconut milk in an uncovered pot until the coconut oil separates and the meat fries in its own reduced sauce, coating it in a dark, concentrated glaze. Carried as a long-keeping travel provision by Minangkabau migrants (merantau culture), it spread across the Malacca Strait region. CNN International's 2011 worldwide poll of readers ranked rendang first among 50 dishes as the world's most delicious food.

Facts

Disputed

Origin Period, From (Year)

from 1400 1

Marks the Malacca Sultanate era (1400-1528); food historian Fadly Rahman places the earliest reference to rendang in the manuscript Hikayat Amir Hamzah, associated with that sultanate.

Origin Region

West Sumatra, Indonesia, among the Minangkabau people, who carried it as a travel provision along the trade routes of the Malacca Strait. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections