The Invisible Process

Letters on the Road No. 46 - Making coconut oil at a traditional Balinese household in Delodsema village, Bali, Indonesia

I am standing in a traditional Balinese courtyard in the village of Delodsema, some 25 km from Ubud. The host has just wrapped a colorful sarong around my waist as a gesture of respect before entering the kitchen. The large kitchen is open to the air yet sheltered from the rain - a space designed for everyday life rather than for visitors. Every object has its place, every meal cooked here follows its rhythm and process, shaped by years of practice rather than performance. In this secluded place at the back of a courtyard, traditions are not explained; they are simply lived, experienced, practiced.

Traditional Balinese family compound, Delodsema village, Bali.

After we crack open the coconut and grate its flesh, we need to patiently squeeze it until thick, white coconut milk slowly fills the bowl beneath.

“This milk will later be heated over a wood fire until coconut oil naturally rises to the surface”, the hosts tell me.

Interesting, and strange at the same time... I follow each step carefully, fascinated by a process I have never really questioned before. Looking at the bowl in front of me, I find it surprisingly difficult to imagine how this simple liquid will eventually become the coconut oil I have been using in Bali.

Freshly grated coconut soaking before being squeezed into coconut milk.

Being part of the process reminds me how often we believe we understand something simply because we know its final form. We see the finished product and assume we know its story, when in reality the invisible steps behind it may be entirely different from what we’ve imagined. Only when we witness the process itself do we begin to understand what is actually true.

The final step: filtering freshly made coconut oil by hand.

This is one of the quiet gifts of travel. When we step into a different culture with genuine curiosity, we are invited into the reality of how things are truly done. It is in these ordinary moments (and not in the famous landmarks) that our assumptions gently dissolve, making room for a deeper understanding of the world and of the many ways life can be lived.

Some truths can only be learned by staying with the process, and the road quietly reveals what the finished product never can.