Merantau: Stories of Indonesian Food and Migration explores the deep relationship between food, culture and migration within the Indonesian diaspora.

Part-cookbook and part-anthropological document, Merantau brings together recipes and personal stories from Indonesian households living across Victoria. 'Merantau'—meaning to wander, journey or explore, an impermanent migration—reflects traditions of movement and exchange that have long shaped the Southeast Asian archipelago.

The first Merantau story of peoples into Australia is that of Makassan seafarers who built deep connections with Yolŋu people of North East Arnhem land, sharing language, technologies, cooking practices and ideas during the pre-colonial era of the 1600s. This book project visits nine households across Victoria to document the Merantau stories of today and the recipes that have moved with them. The book situates contemporary migration stories within a much longer history of connection between Indonesia and Australia.