Making a Filipino Meal from the 1800′s

As I occasionally want to write about history on this blog, rather than just recipes of my cooking, I thought I’d research a bit about meals from the Edwardian era (inspired, as you might think, by the Downton Abbey film). But alas, my research brought me back to the Victorian times, with the writing of Sir John Bowring – whom I also cited in my post Puente Grande: Manila’s First Great Bridge and in my opinion one of the best English-written books about the colonial Philippines. It was during his time off from the governorship of Hong Kong, during the mid 1800′s, that he visited the Philippines.

Get the Canin

Rice is the ordinary food of the Indians. it is boiled for half an hour and then called canin. The capsicum or chile is used for a condiment. They eat three meals a day, out of a large dish, helping themselves with their fingers, and sometimes using a plantain leaf for a plate. They also have sauce round the central dish, into which they dip the canin. They introduce the thumb first into the mouth and very dexterously employ the fingers to push forward the food.

Unmistakably, the first thing he notices is the Filipino’s love for rice and his kamayan culture. Kamayan or the manner of eating with hands, pre-dates colonial times, of course, but I like how he also writes the artful technique of pushing it to your mouth with the thumb.

Tapang Usa

There is in some of the islands an abundance of deer and wild boars; they are killed by arrows of two kinds - one barbed with a clove from the wild palm, shot direct; another with an iron head, shot upwards and falling down on the animal. the Indians make a dry venison (called tapa) of the flesh and send it to the Manila market. Much wild fowl is found in the forest, especially of the gallinaceous species. The Bisayan caves are frequented by the swallows which produce the edible bird’s nests, and which are collected by the natives for exportation to China.

I have never had tapang usa before, although I am aware that it is still eaten in the northern regions of the Philippines. The Philippine deer is smaller than what most people are probably aware and it makes sense to find it in the wild particularly in those times. Unfortunately, the Philippine deer (Rusa Marianna) is an endangered animal so I’m definitely not contributing to its decline by eating one. This 1800′s meal will likely take place when I’m in North America or in a place where deer is of high supply.

Sir Bowring also mentions a gallinaceous fowl which is obviously our favorite manok. Unfortunately, it does not mention how the chicken is cooked, so I guess I’m going to have to look further for recipes.

Sabalo

Multitudes of Indians get their living by the fisheries. The fish most esteemed is the sabalo, which is only found in the Taal Lake, whose water is fresh and flows into the sea. in the center of the lake is an island, with its always burning volcano. At the season when the sabalo quit the lake for the sea, an estocade of bamboos is erected across the river, the top of which does not reach the surface of the water… The fish leap over the first barrier, and fall on the platform where they are caught : some of them are as large as salmon. The Bay Lake is celebrated for the curbina, an excellent fish. By the banks of the river enormous nets are seen, which are sunk and raised by a machinery of bamboo, and the devices employed for the capture of fish are various and singular.

This last one is interesting to me because it mentions how Taal Lake flows to the sea, and that might make you wonder because it no longer does in today’s times but the Taal Lake did actually once flow out to Balayan Bay. The sabalo that Sir Bowring mentions is undoubtedly the milkfish or bangus, which is both a saltwater and freshwater fish, and can grow as big as a salmon.

So there you have it. Your Filipino meal from the 1800′s likely wont be any different from the meals you’re having today. Apart from deer, you’re likely still having boiled rice, chicken and milkfish,

Disclaimer: None of the images on this post are mine. I used copyright free images for aesthetic purposes.