The Pilgrim’s Pots and Pans

January is a month of birthdays for family and friends. I have at least five friends celebrating it this month. There’s one auntie and a cousin. Of course there’s yours truly too. It is like extending the Christmas feast for a month, the way things are going.

On the 15th was Auntie Dinah’s birthday. It has been sixteen (16) years she was home from Madrid and since she flew in on 19 December, was eagerly sampling native fare. Where would it be the place to take her than in a restaurant with native cuisine? Off we went to San Fernando and had a sumptuous lunch. Like any Saplala dine-out, we had the waiters scurrying to and from our table with requests for extra knives, saucers, condiments and whatever else made a meal more enjoyable.

True to form, as soon as we started on the dessert, they started planning for the next meal, the next day’s breakfast and eating out when my Auntie Vicky and Uncle Bert would fly in this month. Why true to form? That’s because planning the next meal and the next day’s meals is something we seem to do as a family when we get together. Not that it takes a reunion to accomplish that. My late grandmother used to start dinner cooking as soon as lunch was done.

Of course that was meant to be economical – not to waste the heat from the firewood while it was going. But in this age of automatic gas ranges and microwave ovens? Well, it is probably our way of keeping Lola’s traditions alive and of course, to better enjoy our time together.

Now the world knows the miracle in Pampanga. Across the world, they were watching the proclamation of our Gov. Fr. Ed live. That is why the SMS I received the morning after the event was a bit disorienting. They were giving out food and groceries in San Vicente, it said.

Vote-buying after the elections? What in the world is happening?

No, it was not. Storekeepers in Sta. Rita town’s commercial area were giving out free food and drinks to their customers in thanksgiving for Friday evening’s momentous event. I didn’t know what to think. What was happening? When did it ever happen in the history of Sta. Rita?

I had to see for myself. And truly, there they were. It was unplanned, uncoordinated but as of press time, I have seen for myself that at least four establishments couldn’t wait for the town fiesta (22 May) to feed their customers and friends to celebrate Among Ed’s victory – their victory!
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Tonipet Gaba, Sapulso segment host interviews May Gosioco-Cuenco while she cooks chicken pochero to be served for dinner at the Pampanga Culinary Tour.

What an event it was the other Saturday, 14 April! I expected a busload of curious culinary enthusiasts, eager to learn more about Pampanga’s cuisine. True enough, there was a family from Bicol who thought of doing the tour to learn about the food which seems to have reached mythical proportions in the realm of Philippine cuisine. What I was not prepared for was a handful of Capampangans hoping to better understand their roots.

Cultural appreciation through food! Isn’t that what I’m really advocating? Fantastic.

After a day eating and discussing the principles and little-known facts about Capampangan cuisine, what do our guests have to say about their tour?

Read all about it on Karlo’s blog.

There you have it! Indeed, a proper presentation of our cuisine, in its right context and a showcase of its evolution is much appreciated. Even with the heat of summer, the tour was such a success that not even a day passed when the organisers were already getting requests for succeeding trips. They just had to schedule another one.

The next trip will be on 5 May 2007. The details are also on the Sleepy Traveler’s announcement.

Some of you may have seen the tour featured on QTV 11’s Sapulso last Monday, 23 April 2007 at 10:00 p.m.

Easter Sunday or Pascung Pangasubling Mebie to Capampangans is traditionally celebrated like Christmas in homes. Food on the table approximates the Christmas feast but what I notice is how the food is more Filipino. Perhaps it has something to do with the summer season which makes it more appropriate to serve tropical food instead of Western temperate zone food which can stand our cool December climate.

In our beloved town of Sta. Rita, Easter morning breakfast consists of what dreams are made of. Many families would serve pistu, the requisite celebratory breakfast dish. This is paired with pandesal and a cup of suclating batirul with singlé duman. It is possible that some sopas would be available, also some ensaimada which might then be carried over to the minindal or the mid-morning snack.

Lunch would most probably consist of asado and a soup. Pochero might also be part of the meal, this time with meat instead of the pochero of Good Friday which is made with fish. Unlike in the Western tradition, our Easter meals are varied although there are patterns of seasonal cooking by town or region.

For merienda or the afternoon snack, my grandmother made lacatan or glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and served with grated coconut (puto maya). What struck me even then was how it was so simple, almost austere compared to the back-breaking and very special bico of Good Friday when we were supposed to be fasting. My grandmother’s simple explanation was that the puto maya was symbolic (mibabague) of the white of the risen Christ.

Very interesting, and if I took it further down the line of literary analysis, it would be pregnant with meaning. White and austere = pure and simple. I really haven’t asked around to find out if this was just our household tradition my Lola started late in her life (because I remember it but my mother and aunties do not) or if it is something more customary.

Happy Easter!

This is how lunch is served visitors in old Capampangan households. Aside from the Christmas season, summer is usually the time we entertain the most, with the Lenten holidays, fiestas and the long vacation bringing in family and friends.

The kitchen is always a beehive of activity. The large pots and pans are taken out from where they are kept most of the year. Special recipes are lavished with all the love it takes to cook them.

Guests often leave fully satisfied and eager to come back. After all, Capampangans are known for their hospitality, as well as for the cooking that goes with it.

Each time I am asked where the best Capampangan food can be found, I am at a loss for words. There is no single place, nor a single town or even a district that has a monopoly over good cooking. Even towns that are famous for specific specialties (ex: tamales from Cabalantian in Bacolor) are most probably known for these because they are successful in selling them.

Many restaurants and chefs are also offering Capampangan dishes and these are very well-accepted but these have already been adapted to the mainstream market.

The best of Capampangan cuisine is served in private homes. This summer, several Pampanga houses are opening their doors to welcome visitors and introduce them to their specialties. One of the families are the Gosioco’s who still live in a large, vernacular house of around 150-years old (picture above).

Karlo the Sleepy Traveler and cultural tourism specialist Alquimista, Inc. are organising coordinating to organise the day trip. Yours truly will be one of the resource persons. E-mail Karlo (karlodeleon@gmail.com) to reserve a slot for the 14 April tour.