By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

I finally reached my destination at Sky Villas thirty minutes after the appointed time. I know I will be late, given the traffic situation, but the driver told me, “Di na ho tayo mag-Waze, waste of time. May alam po akong short cut!” I learned a new route, better than the ones I took when going to the same area, just minutes away from Mateo’s Restaurant Cafe.

Years ago, I was at Sky Villas for a poetry reading and jamming with the accompaniment of Calle Manu’s guitar. Sisters Ache Lyn Rosario and Ache Florangel “Flor” Braid sang old favorites, Manu sang his own compositions, Connie Madarang and I joined in the chorus. Santiago “Sonny” Villafania was trying to cook something before we all sat down to read poetry. It felt like only yesterday. Time seemed to have compressed itself, deleting the unnecessary in-betweens, a short cut to now.

The conversations evolved from getting to know each other with Ache Flor introducing each. Army Bersamin spoke of the many local food she had tasted on her travels, and an interesting fact.

“Ipinaglihi ako sa kamaro (mole cricket)”. Noong ipinagbubuntis ako ng Nanay ko, yan ang paborito niya.” (During the time of her pregnancy, my mom had a special craving for kamaro).

Ipinaglihi comes from the word lihí, a condition in which a pregnant woman has an often unexplained strong craving for something. When I was inside my mom’s belly, she had a special craving for “pusit” (squid) dipped in sukang Iloko and adobong pusit cooked with its black ink. That is the reason, she says, I came out darker than most of my siblings.

The kamaro dish is an exotic delicacy made from crickets which abound in rice fields in many regions of the Philippines. While they are considered pests by rice farmers, it is used as food in West Java, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and other parts of Asia. “In Zambia, mole crickets are thought to bring good fortune, while in Latin America, they are said to predict rain.”

Armi also shared her documentation of making “deremen” (Ilocano: dudumen) a burned glutinous rice delicacy made in Pangasinan, Ilocos and other regions of the country known under different local names. My grandmother Bai Ina used to make me watch this long ceremony of making deremen, where I participated in the roasting, the pounding, and the cooking with gata (coconut milk) and young strips of coconut meat. It was always a community affair, where people gathered around the fire, burning the rice with its husk, under the light of the full moon.

From there, the topic focused on local food and ingredients with culinary gastronomic enthusiast Ige Ramos sharing the projects under the Ugnayan Center for Filipino Gastronomy where he acts as Managing Director. Joining the discussion were book editor Chona R. Sienes-Yap, UNESCO Consultant Ramon Tuazon, Ache Flor, Human Rights activist Connie, Development consultant Armi and myself.

I shared the evolution and the implication of Pangasinan dishes like bagisen, pinapaitan, egado and some others in the backdrop of the Spanish period, as related to me by Pangasinan’s old folks. The Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC) should undertake a serious study of the history and intersection of food with identity, ideology, politics, culture and traditions, vis-a-vis its present and its prospects. There are no short-cuts to understanding and developing the Pangasinan identity.  The aim of digging up our gastronomic past is to feed our soul.

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