Spices are essential to the Balinese cooking and eating experience, and there is a standard spice paste used in many dishes known as Basa Genep. It commonly includes chili, garlic, small red onions, ginger, lime, turmeric, coriander, lesser galangal, laos, tamarind, candlenuts, coarse sea salt, pepper and sugar. On the sweet side, dessert snacks, such as brightly colored sticky rice cakes, coconut milk mixes, and pancakes *all have more than their fair share of sugar thrown in.

In everyday life at home, eating is usually quite individual, with family members coming and going and eating from prepared pots of food as they please. On special occasions, however, the preparation, cooking and eating of the food as a family or community affair is a significant aspect of Balinese life. Religious holidays, such as Galungan, are occasions for extensive and elaborate food preparations, as are cremations, weddings and tooth filing ceremonies.

Snacking is a favorite pastime in Bali, and you will see many Balinese sitting in a warung or at a roadside stall watching the world go by snacking on crispy prawn chips (krupuks), sipping sweet bright coconut drinks or munching on a roasted cob of corn.