Bango mania blog

Through Enda Nasution's blog, I found this community of kecap* Bango fans: bango mania. The blog is said to be presented by bloggers, from many countries, who love, enjoy or crazy about kecap Bango. It does not have any ties with the producer of kecap Bango.

As amazed as Enda was, I'm very happy to find this blog, particularly because it says it's presented by bloggers from many countries. My first thought was that it has informations and postings on where to find kecap Bango. But unfortunately it has only one post on the topic in Singapore.

I myself am a loyalist of kecap Bango. Most of the time, I can distinguish Bango from the other kecap (which my wife finds it a bit weird). I think it's the thickness and sweetness that set it apart from the other kecap.

I find it more difficult to find kecap Bango abroad, as compared to kecap ABC. Even here in Malaysia, as Coffeeliqueur also confirmed. It's kinda not nice to ask visiting friends and family to bring a couple of heavy bottles or refills of kecap Bango.

Back in the U.S. we were pretty much dependent on online merchants like indomerchant.com, though some Chinese grocery stores might carry some.

After the brand acquisition by Unilever in 2001, it is said that the business size has grown by 2.2 times, while market share grew by 3% annually. Now it's the matter of distribution worldwide. Bango should benefit from Unilever's worldwide network, as ABC probably does after being acquired by Heinz. So the hope is there.

* Kecap is soy sauce. Bango, in particular, is sweet soy sauce, which has a thick, almost syrupy consistency and a pronounced sweet, treacle-like flavor due to generous addition of palm sugar. It is a unique variety; in a pinch, it may be replaced by molasses with a little vegetable stock stirred in. (Wikipedia)