Bibingka? You there?

It was the summer a few years back, when my grandmother took me with her to go to the North part of Cebu—a Philippine province. We bought 5 to 10 lechon manoks or roasted chickens,a bagful of the sweet, sticky, elongated, banana leaf wrapped rice delicacy or budbud and 2 or more bags of food. While on the bus I asked her where are we going, my lola or grandmother just shrugged and told me that she is visiting some friends. I thought the trip would just be short but I was wrong, the trip lasted for almost 3 hours—3 hours of hot, sweaty, and exhausting bus ride. I was so irritated because I was so uncomfortable and hungry and bumpy and dusty road didn’t help at all in soothing my temper but my lola was prepared to soothe my temper, she gave me some bottled juice and some food. I was still not happy for being there in that trip but I nonetheless ate what my lola gave me because having a full stomach and being irritated is better than being hungry and irritated. I stared at the food in my hands, it was a small just slightly bigger than my hand or just about that size, its bottom part was wrapped in banana leaves, which I knew were burned during the cooking process, leaving the top part open. Some areas of the top part were a bit charred but everywhere else it was a delicious golden brown color just like that of a fried chicken. With my stomach grumbling, I directed the food in my mouth but before it reached my awaiting taste buds, my nose picked up the sweet, burnt smell of it that just made me sigh, then the food arrived at my hungry mouth and it was stupendous with its sweet and a bit acidic taste, the fine spongy texture, and the rustic aura. When I was younger, I always see people selling this delicacy, outside churches or in the sidewalks, but I never really paid much attention to it. But now, I suddenly noticed that the stalls that were selling this food are getting fewer—I don’t see it outside the church anymore. And that their sizes seem to be getting smaller or their prices become higher or that some of it has lost its original taste. After that experience, I suddenly had a soft spot for bibingka.

Bibingka is a local rice cake delicacy with a mostly sweet and a bit acidic taste. It is made up of finely grind rice or ginaling na bugas, coconut milk or tuno sa lubi, sugar and yeast—but traditionally it’s tuba or alcohol/wine from coconut trunks’ juices. It can be found almost everywhere in the country. The origin of the bibingka is still vague but some say that the term bibingka is an adaptation from the Goan(Indian) bebinca, which is a multi-layer pudding made up flour, sugar, coconut milk, eggs, butter, and garnished with almonds. It is also found in former Portuguese controlled areas like Macau and East Timor. Bibingka is cooked with heat, produced by burning charcoals,that is above and below the bibingka mixtures container, which is traditionally a specialized terracotta pot.

In Cebu, some bibingka makers use the traditional way of cooking although for some, they already use ovens. The reason for the shift of way of cooking is because of time constraints.  When one uses ovens, the cooking time is much faster and it requires less effort compared to cooking bibingka traditionally through charcoal. Mrs. Lilibeth Campanilla, who has been in the business for almost two decades and one of the famous makers of “Bibingka sa Mandaue” or “Bibingka from Mandaue”, the renowned bibingka all over the province of Cebu which is named after Mandaue City (the place where it the delicacy is made), has said that cooking bibingka through oven is indeed faster but that using ordinary ovens would not yield the approximately same result as making it traditionally. So, one must use a specialized oven that mimics the traditional way, and that is what Mrs. Campanilla is doing. But however one turns the world, one can never deny that bibingka is indeed a delicious delicacy and that these local delicacy is part the parcel of Philippine heritage and culture. It’s just sad that that most of the younger generation has lost their interest over this certain delicacy.

The continuous inflow of foreign influences in the country due to globalization has had many effects in the country. Nowadays, we can relate to different cultures it seems that foreign names and products are now quite common amongst the new generation. Like we know what Pad Thai is, or where Kimchi came from, or who the Kardashians are, or the new fashion trends, and all of these things. Globalization has broadened our horizons and brought many new ideas for us to ponder and apply to our society. But with the influx of ideas also comes the inflow of foreign goods. It is not a secret that most of the powerful countries nowadays are capitalist, and they will take advantage of Globalization as they send many of their products to our country. And the Philippines, being as “accommodating” as possible continuously accept and patronize foreign goods that are, in fact, creating a competition with the local products. Think about it, most of us would really prefer a foreign product because a) They’re imported, it means its classy (colonial mentality), b) It just cost the same with the local product, some even lower in prices, and c) foreign products do have good quality. For example, when a Marikina made shoes and a Sketcher shoes were on sale, with the same price, which one would be most likely be chose an average Filipino? We may not notice it but we are slowly killing our own industries by continuously buying these foreign products—and that includes the local food industries.  But it’s not just the preference for foreign products that is killing our bibingka industries; there is also the problem of the agricultural lands being turned into industrialized lands. According to the National Statistics Office, “the country’s total farm area decreased by three percent after a period of more than one decade. The decrease in total farm area could be attributed to the conversion of farmlands to residential and commercial purposes. As a result, the average farm size declined from 2.2 hectares per farm in 1991 to two hectares per farm in 2002.” This conversion of the agricultural lands has lead to the rise in prices in rice and sugar prices. This has even led us to import rice from Thailand during the 2008 food crisis, which is ironic since it was the Philippines that taught Thailand to technology to boost their agricultural sector and now, we are importing rice from them. There has also been the rise in sugar prices because of the lack of supply and the high demand for it, that has triggered the rise in bread prices many months ago but, as of today, the price of sugar is around 50 peso per kilo, more stable but still higher compared to the 40 peso per kilo from before. All in all, these problems are still rampant in our country and unless we do something about it, it will continue to, at the very least, cripple most of our local industries.

The heavy foreign competitions and the rise of prices in the ingredients of bibingka have done some damages and have led to some drastic changes in the industry. Some makers had their recipes changed so that they can cut cost. I once overheard a woman said, “Di na jud pareho ang timplada. Commercialized na kayo” (The product has been commercialized that it doesn’t taste the same as the bibingka before) and I silently agreed with her. Others have changed their measurements or have raised their prices in order to still have some profit but this just drove some customers away. I asked a vendor if the profits have been all right, he said that it was still okay because some still buy bibingka even though their prices have rose slightly, but compared before it has been a bit lower. While others have been faring well enough, others just didn’t get so lucky and closed down. It’s a sad seeing one of the things that has been a big part of my childhood, slowly thinning but I’ve not yet lost hope that it will continue to strive. I now see bibingka in some malls and some restaurants, which is a good avenue for re-introducing bibingka to the new generation and also I noticed some of them in sidewalks and streets being sold by small, movable stalls. But even though there is the reappearance of these products in the market, how can we ensure that it will constantly be there? One can only hope that the industry will remain steadfast in the face of many problems and not vanish.

Comm 1 Exercise

In the text-area below each group of sentences, combine all of those sentences into one effective sentence containing only one main thought (independent clause).

1.
Mark Twain is the author of Huckleberry Finn.
Huckleberry Finn is a classic American novel.
Mark Twain's real name was Samuel L. Clemens.
He lived in Hartford for several years.

       Samuel L. Clemens, popularly known as Mark Twain author of the American classic "Huckleberry Finn", lived in Hartford for several years.
 
2.
Mark Twain's house was very elaborate and elegant.
It was on Farmington Avenue.
It was in an area called Nook Farm.
He was a neighbor of Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. 




       Mark Twain's elaborate and elegant house is in Famington, Avenue in Nook Farm where he is a neighbor of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of  "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

 
3.
Mark Twain's home has a large side porch.
Windows and a balcony overlook the porch.
Today, people say the windows and balcony remind them of a steamboat.
In his youth, Twain piloted steamboats on the Mississippi. 

       Nowadays, when people say that the windows and balcony that overlooks Mark Twain's large side porch, reminds them of steamboats that back in his younger days, Mark Twain used to pilot.

 
4.
Mark Twain was one of the first three people in Hartford to own a telephone.
The telephone was first used commercially in nearby New Haven.
There was practically no one to talk to.
Mark Twain never really liked this newfangled gadget. 

       Being one of the first people to own a telephone in Hartford, Mark Twain never really like the gadget since there is no one to talk to unlike in New Haven, where the telephone was first used commercially.

5.
Mark Twain loved industrial inventions.
He lost a fortune investing in them.
One of these inventions was the elaborate Paige typesetter.
Unfortunately for Twain, this machine was developed at the same time as the Linotype.
The Linotype machine was much simpler and less expensive. 

       Mark Twain, who loved industrial inventions, invested in the elaborate Paige typesetter which unfortunately cost him a fortune because the Linotype machine, which is simpler and less expensive, was also developed at the same time.

 
6.
Mark Twain's beloved daughter, Susy, died in the Hartford home.
She died of spinal meningitis.
Twain never felt the same about the house again.
He soon left the house and Hartford.
He returned only once.
He came back for the funeral of his friend, Charles Dudley Warner.

        Mark Twain left his house and Hartford because he never felt the same way about the house since Suzy, his beloved daughter, died there due to spinal meningitis but he did return once for the funeral of his friend, Charles Dudley Warner.

...Figures of Orality...

1.)  How does food become the center of power relations between master and slaves?


                     In the selection, food and power were closely related. It was there that "food" became the metaphor for "slaves" and those who have this "food" in abundance (the white people) are the "masters" or slaveholders. The Black women slaves were basically treated in an inhumane way. The slaveholders can do whatever they want to these women (e.g. forcing them to eat dog food, monitor their every move, spewing on their food, sexually abusing them, etc). So it seems that the "masters" are the all powerful ones.
                But, on the other hand, there was the grandmother. She was the one that nourished some of those White people; She was the one that cooks food for them; She was the one that makes their clothes. This kind of dependency of the White slaveholder to this Black woman slave makes her powerful herself. The nourishment that sustained this White slaveholder is from a Black woman slave. And, the slaveholders are afraid of this "power" that their cook or wet nurse or slaves, in general, has on them.
               So, food in this selection is the center of the power relations. One is the power to be oppressive and the other to nourish. There is a power struggle between these two.


2.) How is food associated with a mother?


               Being a pregnant woman is no easy task. A pregnant woman must eat (healthily) for herself and for the child that she is carrying.   Then, after giving birth, she must breastfeed her child. Feeding her child with her milk could have different meanings but it is essentially giving the child a chance to have a life or giving life itself. In the case of the Black woman slaves, they are nourishing a child that is not their own (and perhaps feeding a child of her own at the same time). Or in some scenarios in the selection, it is associated with the abuse of the slaves. All in all, food can have a variety of meanings to a mother. It can be good or bad or both. 

"Do Nations Express Themselves in their Foods?"

The main idea:

              That a nation's food or cuisine reflects the nation's people-- their lifestyle, their culture, and their history-- and the nation itself.

Supporting Points:

• Firstly, comparing North Americans and some Europeans to Arabs (in terms of everyday eating), we can say that Americans love fast food because it doesn't take much time to eat while Arabs eat more at a leisurely pace.
• Secondly, in preparing food, Americans like it fast and easy while Middle Easterners and some parts of Spain like to cook it slow.
• From the article, it seems that the Moroccan tradition of eating with their hands from common dishes is still very much alive. As a tribute to their forefathers and their past.
• Another, is the mixture of  Mexican personality-- a mix of Arab, Spaniard and native American.
• And what we eat may be correlated with how we feel with our lives-- just like what the Bulgarians and Cubans showed. (This is from the article)
• In Malaysia, where it can be seen that the mixture of British, Arab, Chinese, Thai, and other influences has lead to the evolution of Malaysians. They have become adaptable to many things. It helped shaped them as people and as a nation..