Coming a long way from Pangasinan to Study in the University of the Philippines, Cebu Campus, I am a real alien to the realm that I have entered. The idea of living in a dormitory without my family scared the hell out of me. Meeting new friends, learning Cebuano dialect and exploring the island by myself are the top three things you will see in my to-do-list which seems to eat all of my confidence and adds dreaded pressure to my adjusting Pangasinense body.
I can still recall when I would just stay in my room and listen to music all day long or surf the net until my eyes give up to the radiant vibration that the screen of my laptop is showing off during the first days of my official Yaay-I-Am-Living-Alone-In-Cebu weeks. Being sick of this cycle in my life I decided to meet acquaintances that would teach me the Cebuano dialect for me to be able to explore the island without thinking if natives in front of me can understand tagalog. It took me all my courage and strength for me to jump off my bed, go out, say Hi and fake a smile when in fact I am trembling and shouting “What am I gonna do!?” inside my head to my dorm mates.
Alas! I’ve learned some basic Cebuano words like lugar lang( what you should say when you want to go down in a public vehicle when riding one) and the six basic questions; unsa(what), kinsa(who), kanus-a(when), asa(where), nganu(why) and unsa-on(how). With the help of my new friends, I already explored parts of Cebu. Many things in Cebu catch my attention, but what really got me is the Cebuano cuisine. So as the days go by, I would go to malls or certain places like I.T. Park if I want to know more about the edibles of the province.
As I continue to struggle with my studies in UPC, I am also doing my “mission intermission” and that is to taste Cebuano foods. And VIOLA! After months of wasting my money on Cebu delicacies, I can say that, I can already share and state my opinions with regards to the foods I have tasted and on how Cebuanos deal with their foods.
Born as a Pangasinan boy and really trying hard to fit in and be a Cebu guy, I really need to do some serious twisting on the taste buds of my tongue for it to get used to the taste of the foods here since Cebuanos have different perspective when it comes to the taste of the food. Just like my body that needs to adapt to my new environment, my tongue needs to adjust to the taste of Cebu foods, whether it is spicy, salty or too sweet for me .
PUSO- a food whose ingredient is pure rice but is wrapped with weaved coconut leaves- is a delicacy in Cebu in which I am unfamiliar to. I also have a really embarrassing experience with this food. It happened during the pre-enrolment of UPCC, since I was really hungry at that time I went out to look for food. As I was searching, this wrapped food really captured my attention. At first glance I thought it is a real Cebuano native delicacy, I approach the stool and and buy one. I was really happy at that time since I was surprised with the cheap price. When I unwrapped and started to eat it, people who are also buying in that stool is looking at me intently as if I have done something wrong. When I started eating it, it hit me, it was RICE! For pete’s sake, I can feel heat coming up to my face and I know that I turned red at that time due to embarrassment. Next thing I know is that I am already back at UP campus and eating my lunch at the canteen.
I also noticed that some macro infrastructures like SM City Cebu and different universities of Cebu like UP, CNU and USC have many micro infrastructures around it, and those micro infrastructures are the stools for street foods like siomai, barbecue, fishball and toknene. During lunch and late afternoon hours you can see people crowding the place which are full of street vendors as if those little crispy and delicious foods are celebrities that are giving free kisses. According to one of my Cebuano uncles, he wants to eat street foods since it is served fast and you can eat it while walking towards your destination. You can see this kind of behavior in New Yorkers way of behavior on food. Just like Westerners, Cebuanos like their foods to be served swiftly but deliciously.
Since Cebu is an industrialized province, more food stalls and restaurants are present that would make your mouth drool, stomach angry and your pocket empty. Some of the restaurants like Red Kimono and Rai Rai Ken are not present in Pangasinan which makes me eager to try their foods. Red Kimono and Rai Rai Ken are both Japanese and Chinese inspired restaurants which make my stay there quite an experience. The only downside of those restaurants is the prize of their foods. One meal there would cost you your allowance for a day. One fast food chain that really caught the attention of my stomach is Yellow Cab which serves New York style pizzas. My first time to be there is during my birthday. As a meat lover, I ordered pizzas with only different kinds of meats as toppings, Surprisingly, I found it quite heavy- heavy for the stomach and much heavier on the pocket.
If you want to taste real Cebuano foods with only a limited amount of budget, have no fear since there are food stalls in Cebu that are labeled “PANG-MASA”. Pungku-pungku and Larsian, as what Cebuanos call it, are the food stalls that are appropriate to go to with a hungry stomach and a student’s allowance. These two stalls sell street foods with Pungku-pungku focusing on foods like siomai and siopao while Larsian focuses on barbecues. But these food stalls are really great since your rice is the PUSO and you have to eat it with your bare hands. With the two Larsian is my personal favorite. Why? Simple, because barbecue is MEAT! Plus you have the chance to feel like you are really someone very popular because the stall owners persuade you to eat at their stalls.
But just like any part of the country, Cebu is world filled with Filipinos even though I must say that lots of foreigners are present here. Filipinos that seemed enjoy eating full-packed. Filipinos that would devour foods on a buffet as if it is a 50% off shopping barrage. With these observations, I can say that Cebuanos are genuinely Filipinos. They still know the Filipino culture by heart that foods are becoming undeniably delicious and unresistable if added with the spices of Filipino conversations. This way of life of Filipinos is very obvious during drinking hours of bystanders with the food they chew called as “PULUTAN”.
Last conclusion that I can say to Cebuano cuisine is that it is cooked to please the eaters. You can see and say that the foods they prepare and serve to you is rugged but somewhat classy. Can be eaten by the whole people but somewhat sassy. And looks ordinary but has a heavenly taste that can tame even the wildest lion.
However, Cebuano it may be or Pangasinense cuisine, Filipino cuisines is what defines Philippines. Foods can reflect our personality. If foods are spicy you can say that people there are feisty and brave. If it is sweet, people living in that are mostly loving. But since Filipino foods are delicious, these may be the reason why Filipinos have mixed personality making us attractive. Foods are also one of the bases why foreigners labeled us, Filipinos, as naturally good-natured.
If there is one thing that I’ve learned in this little quest of mine, it is that Cebuano foods are not called Cebuano foods because it is found in Cebu. It is called that because it is one of the agents that define Cebuanos. Food+Cebuanos= CULTURE OF CEBU.
References:
Annaliza Cainglet
Kyllie Capacio
Experiences
google Image for some pics
