Out of Rice: Reminiscing Iloilo’s native merienda

When you talk about ibus, suman, and kalamay-hati, it is almost always associated with laborious procedures and preparations. More often than not, it is also associated with the traditional and old fashioned.

Kakanin as a word and as a merienda-companion is famous to all. Its name was derived from its main ingredient, which is kanin (rice). Not the regular rice but glutinous rice or in dialect we call it pilit. This native food is always a part and never been missed in the Filipino eating tradition, always in the list of food in every occasion, a favorite merienda and also breakfast. Its importance and demand is evident through the many vendors or hawkers in the streets or public places selling this great food. This authentic Filipino food is not only a favorite of its creators but also captured the taste of the foreigners, the reason why it is always a part of the buffet of the leading food establishments in the country, usually in the dessert section.

The History…

These native rice-made snacks or desserts symbolize the celebration of bounty harvest of the Philippine Islands. Ancient customs and practices also use these foods as offerings to the gods and anito’s. Every island, province or town may have their own recipe depending on their geographical location and the area's basic staple food like purple jam and tarp. Food to the Filipino, as in other culture, is a precious source of strength and spirit and could be a vehicle of harmony among friends, relatives, and even strangers.
The 1613 Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala of Fr. Pedro de San Buenaventura uses the Mexican word tamales to translate suman and ibus. In another text he describes it as arroz envuelto or wrapped rice in leaves, lacking the exact term to render it in Spanish.
Kakanin wrapping is an art in itself. It is also part of the fun and its aesthetics. Like presents, wrapped kakanin is most festive. They use leaves found in their environment. The most common is banana leaves and coconut fresh ibus sprouts called lukay.
Cooking kakanin requires a special stove made of clay which is called bingkahan. This cooking instrument is made to work by live coals over the stove’s metal lid. Cooks of suman and kalamay-hati should have patience and endurance, because primarily it requires continuos fanning of the coals or blowing on it using a blower (a narrow pipe, made of wood.)Also, kakanin should be stirred continuously for a well-blended mixture and that it should not be burnt; while other native pastries can be cooked by steaming, frying and boiling.
They make variations in shape. In Iloilo Province the late grandmothers used to wrap ibus like a rectangle while in Antique, Capiz, and Aklan wraps it like a balisunsong. They choose the younger banana leaves as they are sweeter. These tiempos años great grandmothers are now gone six feet under the ground and nobody can wrap our ibus as well as they could wrap a hundred pieces in a jiffy. “ Kung sobra ka hugot malupok: kong sobra ka halog masigabong.” It almost sounded like a rhyme when Lola Pepay reminds her nephews, nieces “kung paano putson ang sang ka kudot nga kan-on.”

The Making…

We know how difficult the process is. The pilit rice is thoroughly cleaned and polished. Some rice varieties are now even harder to find like the bugas nga tapol (lavender) . Sometimes, rice has to be wet-milled to a sticky consistency. We still keep the stone mill used by my grandmother at home now just as an accent piece. Coconut meat should be scraped finely from the shell in a kudkuran and then squeezed to get the gata. Then this is mixed with other ingredients like sugar and salt in delicate proportion, and afterwards individually wrapped in fresh banana leaves, or young ibus leaves of coconut palm. Sometimes nipa leaves, young nodes of bamboo or empty coconut shell, if available.
The wrapping is an art in itself that has to be mastered. It distinguishes one kakanin from the others. Then it is baked, steamed or boiled to perfection. If one is remiss, it ends in disgracia.
The process of making suman is not written in recipe

books for it may vary with the available equipment. The taste depends on the obtainable ingredients peculiar to an area. The “secret” is handed down from the lola to her apo by them making kakanin together. Precious lessons, like tancha-tancha lang, are taught in the process. Improvements are made from the mistakes. But if the apo is not good enough to remember, much of the secret may be gone with the lola.
There is indeed joy in the anticipation of our traditional foods. These are not only breakfast food to fill the stomach but also painit food to warm the heart. For lack of exact translation, early Spanish dictionaries translate them as comidilla or slight repast, as the peculiar pleasure afforded by this food strikes our fancy, as opposed to comida, which is a full meal to satiate.

The Hidden Story …

In Iloilo City we could find still these special people called manuglibud. They are small families in the barangays that cook and sell native delicacies like inday-inday, ibus, bitso-bitso, puto lanson, suman latik and more. This cooks could still be found in Kaingin, La Paz on which is the main source of native food sold in the city, popularly in the Supermarket.
These manuglibod use baskets to carry the goods, either putting it on top of their heads or having it both their hands while shouting for their wares.
Almost everyday Mrs. Ofelia Malpetria sells her native goods . Inside her basket are freshly cooked alupe, suman, muhasi, puto-lanson, suman latik, and sometimes mais. She started it way back from 1989. When I’m still in high school, my classmates would call her “ Manang Britney” and that some would tease her to have their “utang” on her wares. Whenever we have our breaktime or feel the tremors of our stomach we would roam around the campus and find her just to buy bitso-bitso. She is the only one that finance the needs of her family, much of her money is spent for their food and her two children who is still schooling.
Almost everyday is a struggle for Manang Britney. Early morning she has to get her wares at Kaingin together with other manuglibud and put all the kakanins inside thier baskets. All of them should remit their sales not later in the afternoon, their percentage depends on how many goods they sold. In an interview she told us “ Kung kis-a gani nga indi pa ma-ubos asta alas tres, libuton ko gid na nga libuton ang bilog nga WVCST asta maka lab-ot alas singko. Malaka lang nga temprano maubos, kung pigado gid ang bintahanay, ti wala ta mahimu. Kung pilang-nahot lang ang nakita mo, ang ginansya dira, amo lang gid ina ang dal-on mo sa inyo balay.” This business in tradition is not just kept in a stall and the customers will just come to buy, instead she should sell her goods while trodding the sidewalk, “ ma-agahan lang ang biso-bitso indi gid ma binta kung mag tinir ka lang sa kilid-kilid.”
Some of them are obviously losing interest in native delicacies and are starting to cook spaghetti and other fast-food items, which saddens Iloilo’s traditional folks very much.The influence of fast-food fare was evident everywhere. At the market, the native bitso-bitso and muhasi were sold side by side with hamburger sandwiches, spaghetti, cheeseburgers and other popular fast-food items. Needless to say, plastic containers and wrappers had replaced most of the traditional lukay and banana leaves. We should initiate a revival of Iloilo’s delicacies and develop the traditional food industry into a tourist attraction. We have to do something to save the dying manuglibud tradition.
We should bear in mind that this alupe, suman, muhasi, puto-lanson, suman latik, kalamay-hati, etc. will forever be a symbol of a true Ilonggo table.