The passion of cooking combined with the passion of love
“I believe in love. The love of my mom and the love of my father. In life, we have to do everything with love. If you don’t love it, don’t do it”.
Those are the words of Darma, owner and founder of Warung Alam Damai on Gili Air. With his friendly smile he welcomes us at his warung located in the center of Gili Air, where guests are peacefully eating their food, which Darma cooked in his little kitchen.
A Local Warung
Darma is a warm and kind local, who will definitely make you feel welcome when you enter his warung; “I want all my guests to feel like they are home. I wanna open my door for everyone and make them cook together with me in the kitchen”. It’s definitely not the first time we are visiting Darma’s warung. We have been eating here for years, as Darma is such a friendly man - and on top, he cooks amazing local food. Darma has been cooking food since he was 8 years old and started his passion in the kitchen with his mother; “I started when I was very young. When I was young, I had a very close relationship with my mother. She always teach me how to cook in the kitchen”.
Darma - Warung Alam Damai, Gili Air
Gili Air Island
But originally, Darma is not from Gili Air. He grew up in a small village in Bali, but chose to settle down and build his own warung in Gili Air. When we asked him about why he ended up in Gili Air, a big smile automatically appeared on his face; “I fell in love with the island of Gili Air. I really like to live in a peaceful and natural place with no drama. Gili Air is like that.”
And that is exactly how Gili Air is. A peaceful and quiet island, where drama and stress is not a part of the everyday life. This no-vehicle island brings pure and calm vibes to everyone who visits, and that is why we chose to bring Slow Food & Yoga Festival to the island.
Slow Villas Gili Air
Slow Food & Yoga Festival
In our opinion, Darma cooks the best Ayam Lalapan (fried chicken with rice and vegetable) on the island, which is the reason we invited him to join Slow Food & Yoga Festival on Gili Air. And lucky for us, Darma wants to be a part of our festival; “I will bring my love for cooking. I will bring my passion to the festival. I cook with local ingredients from my garden, which is good for the festival”.
Slow Food & Yoga festival invites visitors into the heart of the Sasak culture by bringing local food, local ingredients and local people to the island to show the uniqueness of the Indonesian kitchen. It’s our aim to showcase the best of what Gili Air has to offer, which is why we want the food of Alam Damai to be on the menu.
Local spices from Warung Alam Damai - Gili Air
Darma only cooks with local ingredients from his garden, and he is excited to be a part of the festival; “I hope that the festival will continue and come to the island every year. I will support the festival, cause it is very good for our community. To make the island strong again after the earthquake. I will support if I can, cause together we are stronger”.
And those exact words are what the Gili Festival is all about. Slow Food & Yoga Festival is a four-day event (June 20-24), incorporated in the ‘Gili Menggawe’ festival, which means “Gili Working Together”. The aim of this one month event (June 15-July 15) is for Gili Air to rise again after the devastating earthquakes in 2018, and for the Gili Air community to work together and stay strong - #gilistrong #gilimenggawe #weareready
Darma - Warung Alam Damai, Gili Air
Join the Festival
Darma hopes that a lot of people will join the festival; “It is very good for our island and our community if people come”. He hopes to inspire tourists with his local food and to bring people to the island. It’s easy to feel the true and peaceful vibes of Darma, when he speaks about his passion for food and his passion for the Gili Air community. Warung Alam Damai, which means ‘Peaceful World’, is definitely a place to visit, and we are proud to present Darma as a participant of Slow Food & Yoga Festival. Slow Food & Yoga Festival is hosted and sponsored by a collaboration of locals and foreigners; Pak Subur; Kepala Desa & Biba Beach / Julie Thonnard; www.slowgiliair.com / Emily; www.flowersandfire.com / Hero; Warung Sunny. You can visit our page Slow Food & Yoga Festival or find us on Instagram @slowfoodandyogafestival
