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Schedule a meeting now! Get advice from our admission expert Katharina. Request a spot in our meeting hub and we will call you back!
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Summer Course upskill study of Udayana University Bali
Intercultural Communication in Bali Through Food, Tradition, and Communal Learning at Warung Pak Tekor
3 minutes reading
As part of the Upskill Study Program field lecture series, our visit to Warung Pak Tekor offered students an important introduction to Balinese communal culture, traditional food systems, and the role of shared spaces in intercultural communication. Attended by participants from Cardiff University, and alongside facilitators, the Upskill team, FISIP student buddies, and beloved lecturer, Ibu Inez, the field lecture became a valuable example of how cultural learning in Bali often happens outside conventional classrooms.
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Photo: Students of the Upskill Intercultural Communication Summer Course together with Ibu Ines, Kak Tekor, and the Upskill team during a communal dining field lecture at Warung Pak Tekor, exploring Balinese tradition, megibung culture, and community-based learning through shared food and cultural participation.
The visit took place after the students completed activities in Banjar Toh Pati earlier that day. Arriving ahead of schedule gave everyone additional time to observe the atmosphere of the warung itself. Traditional wooden furniture, stone flooring, open cooking areas, freely roaming chickens, and handmade decorations created an environment that immediately felt different from the highly commercial dining spaces many international students are used to encountering while travelling.
Upon arrival, students were welcomed with coconut leaf hats and fresh young coconuts before the communal meal preparations began. While Pak Tekor’s team prepared the food in the background, students had the opportunity to observe daily interactions inside the warung, including traditional cooking methods and food preparation practices that are still actively maintained within local communities.
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Photo: Students were welcomed by Kak Tekor before the communal dining session began, receiving an introduction to the cultural history and social significance of megibung, a traditional communal eating practice originating from Karangasem, Bali.
One of the most important aspects of the visit was the introduction to megibung, a traditional Balinese communal dining practice originating from Karangasem, East Bali. Before lunch officially began, Pak Tekor explained the cultural meaning behind megibung, including its emphasis on equality, togetherness, collective participation, and social etiquette. Rather than eating individually or separately, participants gather around shared dishes and experience the meal collectively.
For many international students, this becomes an important intercultural learning moment because the activity challenges highly individualised eating habits that are common in many parts of Europe, Australia, and North America. Through megibung, students begin to understand how food functions not only as nutrition, but also as a social structure that strengthens relationships, identity, and communal belonging.
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Photo: Molly and India during the megibung session, enjoying traditional Balinese cuisine while learning to drink from the caratan, a traditional clay jug used in communal dining practices originated from Karangasem, Bali.
The students were also introduced to the caratan, a traditional clay drinking jug used during communal meals. Pak Tekor demonstrated how to drink from it correctly without touching the jug to the mouth, which quickly became one of the most memorable and entertaining moments of the afternoon. Some students succeeded immediately, while others ended up laughing through failed attempts, creating a relaxed and participatory atmosphere that naturally encouraged interaction and connection.
The meal itself included a wide range of traditional Balinese dishes such as sate lilit, ayam sere lemo, lawar kambing, jukut urab, spinach soup, fried corn fritters, fried bananas, and locally prepared coffee. Beyond introducing students to Balinese cuisine, the experience also highlighted the amount of collective labour, preparation, and hospitality involved in maintaining traditional food culture.
Within the context of intercultural communication and sociology, field lectures like this demonstrate how communal spaces continue to function as important sites of knowledge transmission. Students are not only observing culture from a distance. They are participating within it, communicating through it, and learning how social values are embedded within everyday practices such as eating, serving, gathering, and sharing space together.
This approach remains central to the philosophy of the Upskill Intercultural Communication Summer Course in Bali, which will welcome a new cohort of international students this August. Many students who join our summer courses often describe experiences like these as some of the warmest and most memorable moments of their time in Indonesia because they offer a form of cultural connection that feels immediate, personal, and human.
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Photo: Pekak Tekor's space remind students that cultural preservation often survives through small, consistent acts: growing food locally, cooking collectively, gathering together, and continuing traditions across generations.
As globalisation continues to reshape lifestyles and social behaviour around the world, traditions such as megibung also carry increasing significance. Cultural practices survive because communities continue to practise them collectively and because younger generations, including international students, are willing to engage with them respectfully and meaningfully. Through experiences like this, students leave Bali carrying not only academic insight, but also a deeper understanding of communal living, hospitality, and cultural continuity.
Field lectures at places like Warung Pak Tekor therefore become more than culinary visits. They become living examples of intercultural communication, community-based learning, and the importance of preserving social traditions through direct participation and shared human experience.
By LK
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