In the southern Philippines, dishes are filled with the scents of Southeast Asia: coconut milk, turmeric, coriander, lemon grass, ginger, and chilies – an ingredient not present in other regional cuisine, except in the Bicol Region whose use of chilies is more liberal compared to others.
Apart from being widely known for his coconut cookery, the Bicolano is also known for his passion for the hottest of all peppers, the siling labuyo, which he simply calls sili [jalapeno chili pepper]. To the Bicolano, there is no need for the adjective as all other pepper varieties do not count.
A common joke about the Bicolano: in the face of an oncoming typhoon [Bicol is battered by several typhoons every year]; the Bicolanos will prop up his sili bush before the nipa hut. But there is logic to this seeming madness, he answers. In a high wind, the sili bush goes first before the nipa hut does.
Some Bicolanos have been known to pluck a branch of the bush afire with ripe-red sili and eat the peppers as if they were salted peanuts. Bicolanos say that food without sili was tasteless and colorless, just as the French would say that a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.
The sili bush is as much a part of the Bicol landscape as the gabi [taro] plant. There are no wide commercial plantings. But you will find the bush in backyards and front lawns and flowerpots in many a rural or urban home. In Bicol there isn’t a single vegetable stall in the public market or sari-sari store by a roadside that does not carry sili in its inventory.
The coconut cookery served in any public eating place in Bicol, especially in Albay, is almost certain to be liberally spiced with sili. The cast-iron kawali [wok] that has been used for years for cooking gulay [vegetables] becomes so impregnated with sili that if you use it to fry rice, your final product will automatically be richly spiced.
[From The Burning Passion for Sili by Honesto C. General]
Chefs at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel’s chic HEAT Restaurant played with fire at the recently concluded Gayon Bicol Food Festival which highlighted blazing Bicol favourites in its Filipino interactive kitchen theatre. The event, now on its fourth year, which had a successful run from 23rd October to 3rd November 2006, was co-promoted by the Department of Tourism’s Bicol Regional Office under Director Nini O. Ravanilla.
“Gayon” is short for “magayon” [beautiful in the Bicolano dialect] and where the name of the awesome Mayon Volcano of Albay is supposed to have come from. Extend the suffix and you have “magayunon,” which means “very beautiful;” and “magayunonon” meaning “very, very beautiful.” One may further extend the suffix to push the meaning to the extremes.
Having experienced Bicol’s hot savoury dishes in the recent Penafrancia Festival last September, it was once again a delightful gastronomic experience for this foodie and pals Christine Dayrit of Philippine Star and FDCP/Cinema Evaluation Board, and hip jeweler/photographer Paul Syjuco, as we grabbed some of the hottest seats to savour the region’s fiery cuisine.
I may not be a Bicolano but my judgment of the food echo that of Congressman Edcel Lagman of Albay, who had fire in his mouth as he delivered his speech about the triumvirate of the Bicolano cuisine – the “sili” [jalapeno pepper], “pili” nut, and coconut.
The food was not just “masiram” [delicious], it was “masiramon” [really delicious]. Thanks to special guest chefs specially flown-in from Bicol for this event: Didette Peralta, a food technologist and chef who owns and runs Small Talk Cafe in Legaspi City; and Kiko Cristobal, a third generation, frustrated architect turned chef-restaurateur, now running the family-owned Waway’s Restaurant – Bicol’s oldest restaurant serving traditional Bicolano cuisine, and the La Rocca Gardens.
During a brief tete-a-tete with the two talented and youthful chefs while the buffet was being set-up, I found out that the spread was somewhat a combination of “fusion†and “traditional home-cooked†fare, owing to several factors including the two chefs’ specializations. Chef Didette’s yummy creations included a few neo-Bicolano dishes like the Pasta Pinangat, and fiery hot Bicol Express served on tomato halves. Meanwhile, Chef Kiko Cristobal showed the more traditional Bicolano cuisine like the real Pinangat, and Beef Caldereta, all in their coconut-y glory.
Bicolano cuisine is famous for its rich and spicy dishes, which are mostly cooked using coconut milk called gata and spiced with a very hot, local variety of chili called siling labuyo. Well known Bicolano specialties are: Bicol Express, a very hot dish made of small bits of meat, bagoong or balaw [fermented shrimps], coconut milk, garlic, onion, ginger, and of course, red and green chilies; Pinangat, fish or shrimp wrapped in gabi [taro] leaves and cooked in coconut milk; Laing, gabi [taro] leaves and stalks boiled into a stew with ginger, chili and coconut milk; and Ginataang Langka, young jackfruit stewed in coconut milk with bagoong [shrimp paste].
A savoury mix of “fusion” and “traditional home-cooked” Bicolano fare like Prawn Fiesta, Fiery Bicol Express on Tomato Halves, Ginataang Alimango, Pasta Laing, Pinangat [home-cooked and air-flown direct from Legaspi City], Kaldereta, and Pili Nuts.
Seen at the launch were: Secretary Nonoy Andaya of DBM, USec Edu Jarque of DOT, Congressman Luis Villafuerte of CamSur, Congressman Joey Solis of Sorsogon, Congressman Edcel Lagman of Albay, Vice Governor Vincent Villaluna of Catanduanes, DOT Region V Director Nini Ravanilla, Ms. Loida Nicolas Lewis, Ms. Grace Enriquez, ASec Cynthia Carreon of DOT, Taiwanese Ambassador, Carolle Luca of the French Embassy, 2006 Miss Tourism International Justine Gabionza, and Caroline Howard of ABS-CBN.
Photography by Paul Syjuco.
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