In this issue: The world’s oldest pyramid might be in Indonesia, a French medley by Stella Jang, & a recipe for Filipino spring rolls.

Is the World's Oldest Pyramid Not in Egypt or the Americas, But in Indonesia?

In the world of ancient pyramids, it seems like there’s always a race to the past. Are the oldest ones in Egypt? Peru? It’s been up for debate since about 2001. But now, there’s a new contender in the historic who’s-who of pyramids: Indonesia.

A team of archaeologists, geologists, and geophysicists recently published a new paper in Archaeological Prospection in October 2023, suggesting that Gunung Padang in the Cianjur District of the West Java Province is not actually the naturally occurring hill that everyone thought it was. Instead, they say it’s actually an ancient man-made structure… Atlas Obscura 

Stella Jang - French Medley

Lumpia Shanghai (Filipino Spring Rolls)

The Filipino dish of lumpia Shanghai shows the influence of Chinese settlers on the Southeast Asian country’s cuisine.

I’ve eaten them many times at restaurants and parties – because no Filipino celebration seems complete without a big pile of lumpia on the buffet table – and no two versions were the same. The only things they had in common were that they were deep-fried, and the filling consisted of lots of vegetables and some pork… South China Morning Post

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