Saving Filipino culinary traditions
Nine out of 10 Filipino-themed restaurants proudly proclaim the novel ways they tweak traditional recipes handed down through many generations. While these innovations are welcomed by many as an indication that the art of cooking is alive and well, many historians fear heirloom recipes and culinary traditions could be buried in the avalanche of youthful enthusiasm, reckless impatience, and the rush to change for change’s sake.
One laudable effort at ensuring that culinary traditions are recorded for posterity is the Mga Kuwentong
Pagkain (MKP), a storytelling/writing contest that gathers food heritage stories and recipes from Filipinos and individuals of Filipino ancestry, a project of the Mama Sita Foundation (MSF), which gives full support to studies on cultural heritage, particularly culinary heritage. It is a fulfillment of the advocacy of the late Teresita “Mama Sita”
Reyes—to preserve, promote, and spread love for Filipino food heritage.
Since its launch in 2012, the annual competition has collected more than 500 entries in the form of stories, essays, artwork, poems, and even a music video from all parts of the Philippines as well as from Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Middle East, and the United States.
Participants vary from young grade school and high school students to 91year-old retirees, from full time teachers to moms, architects and even a monk.
This year, top winners are Shirley Guevarra from Luzon with a narrative on the romance of
mukmukan, the tradition of making nilupak, and Moses Matsuzawa from Mindanao with the story of satti, his region’s favorite dish.
We share their stories with our readers.
The Satti by Moses Matsuzawa
When one asks Zamboangueños what a satti is, everyone can describe the dish. Aside from curacha, satti is one of the most frequently eaten dishes in Mindanao, particularly in Zamboanga, and is distinct to the region.
Satti is a Tausug specialty that has influenced Zamboanga for as long as anyone can remember. This dish is well-loved as a comfort food whether taken as a meal or a snack. Students and workers particularly eat satti after a hard day of work, to energize them, perhaps because of the spiciness of the soup that contains several herbs and spices such as turmeric, curry, lemongrass, onion, native pepper, red cayenne pepper, garlic, cumin, coriander, sambal, and chili, all blended together and thickened with cornstarch.
Usually, the finished product is red like barbecue sauce, with grains of black pepper visible. The only difference between a satti sauce and a barbecue sauce is that satti sauce can be sipped like soup, while it is hard to think for a person to drink a really thick barbecue sauce. While the sauce is the satti’s first major ingredient, meat is the solid ingredient. Usually, it is either pieces of beef cubes or chicken livers that are skewered on a stick, and then grilled. The meat does not include pork since this is mainly a Muslim dish.
The third main ingredient is the rice called tamo that is wrapped in a coconut leaf and cooked. It is also the last ingredient to add to the satti as one has to serve the rice hot. Once the coconut leaf wrapper is cut, the rice that resembles a suman, is sliced into pieces with a knife and tossed into a bowl that contains the soup/sauce and the meat.
This is one of the city’s signature dishes that every Zamboangueño adores. That is why every tourist who visits Zamboanga City is always urged not to leave the city without trying satti.
Courting with Mukmukan by Shirley Guevarra
Nilupak or minukmok is one of the famous delicacies of Sariaya, Quezon. It is a soft, pasty mixture that uses crushed boiled saba banana or balinghoy or kamoteng kahoy (cassava). The mixture is sweetened with sugar, margarine, and young coconut meat. Variants include the addition of milk and peanut butter with cheese sometimes used as topping.
According to oral narratives from local folks, mukmukan or pagmumukmok, the art of making nilupak or
mukmok, is the ritual or the heart of courtship in the municipality.
Since parents were very strict when it came to courtship, young gentlemen would invite ladies to a mukmukan, which is considered a community event that the parents allowed their daughters to participate in. The courtship occurs during the pounding
(pagbabayo) of the mixture (laok) as the gentlemen profess their love to their love interest. There is usually a lot of joking with the ladies often playing hard to get (pakipot).
In mukmukan, the gentlemen take charge of the pagbabayo (pounding) using the halo/panghalo (wooden pestle) while the ladies look after placing all the ingredients in the lusong (mortar).
Superstitions surrounded the ritual of mukmukan. The lovers took extreme caution not to hit and break the
halo as a broken halo is a bad omen to the lovers’ relationship. For those still in the courtship stage, this might mean incompatibility, and could discourage the ladies from entering into a relationship with their suitors.
The mukmukan culminates in the forming of the mixture (laok) by the lovers into different shapes—a heart, bird, flowers, and other forms. The gentlemen will bring these to the ladies’ parents as offerings. More often than not, the parents will allow the entry of the gentlemen into their homes. The local sources claimed that many
mukmukan rituals apparently witnessed many successful courtships.
The present times saw the evolution of the mukmukan as fiesta fare or a performance for guests, tourists, or visitors. It has remained, however, as a venue for kamustahan (catching up) among friends, relatives, and people in the community. In the linang (rural plains) and bundok (mountains), especially the areas at the foot of Banahaw (the mystical mountain that straddles the length and breadth of Quezon, including Sariaya), the local folks still convene a version of the mukmukan, which they refer to as tupadahan (get together). This is a potluck gathering where every household brings ingredients for the event usually held in a public place or in the house of the barangay (barrio) captain. During tupadahan, interactions may range from endless kamustahan, singing, dancing, gossiping to storytelling. Often, a tupadahan (gathering) is held simultaneously with tagayan
ng lambanog (drinking lambanog, a local brew from fermented coconut sap) on the side, especially when discussions are elevated to local and national issues. Some of the men assist the women, with the children lending a hand. The event culminates in the sharing of the laok. Communal activities like the mukmukan/tupadahan have prevailed to this day, symbolizing the community’s solidarity and the simplicity of life in Sariaya.
This year, top winners are Shirley Guevarra from Luzon with a narrative on the romance of mukmukan, the tradition of making nilupak, and Moses Matsuzawa from Mindanao with the story of satti, his region’s favorite dish.