section_path: History/Southeast Asia
section_name: Southeast Asia
paragraph_text: Southeast Asia
  
  Soybeans were mentioned as kadêlê (modern Indonesian term: kedelai) in an old Javanese manuscript, Serat Sri Tanjung, which dates to 12th- to 13th-century Java. By the 13th century, the soybean had arrived and cultivated in Indonesia; it probably arrived much earlier however, carried by traders or merchants from Southern China.
  
  The earliest known reference to it as " tempeh " appeared in 1815 in the Serat Centhini manuscript. The development of tempeh fermented soybean cake probably took place earlier, circa 17th century in Java.