Taken from this site: www.myhome.ph
Growing up in the rustic province, anything coming from the big city is considered exciting and exotic. While generally food coming from the provinces is considered good food – fresh and organic vegetables, chicken and other products, they do not hold a candle to the various unfamiliar and fabulous city products. Admittedly, home cooked meals and ubiquitous party fares such as kare-kare, escabeche and such were delicious, it just does not have the element of the exotic and the fascinating. Back when Dunkin Donuts cannot be found anywhere else in the Philippines but Manila, it was the ultimate pasalubong from relatives flying in for vacation. You can still see traces of that at airports where travellers carry boxes of that saccharine goodness. McDonald at that time held some sort of a mystical spell for a probinsyano boy like myself. Now, those growing up in the urban jungles would find the notion of a McDonald as exotic absurd. Why would one consider a hamburger or a donut exotic? Indeed.
The notion of the exotic is a contested idea. Recent developments in culture studies, influenced by multi-displinary efforts, have problematized the representation of cultural identities and the establishment of the notions of the “exotic.” Implications of racism, misrepresentation and essentialism have now overturned generally accepted understanding of identity and cultural collectivity, and hence the idea of the exotic. These representations are not neutral portrayals, but are rife with issues of power, and the Focauldian notion of discursive production. Understanding ethnic identities are now mixed up in relation to marginality, of centrality and of being in the periphery. There are now ideas of how artificial some of the categorizations that were once held as true in establishing identities, and in delienating one’s community (culturally, racially, ethnically). Thus, identity representation becomes a complex, if not impossible enterprise fraught with the crisscrossing and weaving of discourses of sex, gender, nations, class, etc. Put in simple terms, the idea of the exotic is perspectival. We have different notions of the exotic – of that which is the “other.” Growing up in the province for example, stuff like burgers and donuts, and others are considered exotic – different – binary categorizations and all.
Thus, on a recent trip to Manila, I have been treated to different fares that were considered exotic from a urban dweller’s perspective. Ironically, what is presented to me are usual fares one finds in the province: fried hito, green mangoes, longganisa, sinigang, etc. – common, albeit presented with interesting and delicious twists. Fely J’s in Greenbelt 5 for example. My good friend (and brother from another mother) Garvic, and his wife, Ruby took me there. Fely J’s boast of serving the best Filipino dishes, and their menu is an array of traditional and usual Filipino fare, but served with a twist. We were hungry and didn’t care about the philosophical underpinnings of the restaurant. We just wanted food – as soon as possible, and plenty of it.
We proceeded to demolish an array of “exotic” food – kare kare, sisig, sinigang (here comes the twist) salmon fish head. It was decidedly delicious. While the kare kare that I’ve tasted in the province were also delicious, no one there would put it in a ceramic bowl that cost an arm and a leg. It had the right texture, the delicate interplay of the strong flavors of the ox tail, tripe, the peanuty sauce, and the shrimp paste (aka alamang) was exquisite. It hinted at the flavors of rural paradise nostagically recalled by those who had never lived there. The sisig was served in disappointingly small amount, but however meager the serving was, it had the tenderness and the flavor of the sisig you find on roadside eateries in Pampanga. We ordered buko juice for drinks. Now, I live in a house that has coconut trees right in front of it, and where one can have buko juice anytime, but there was a hint of decadence being served P90 glass of the ambrosial drink. The piece-de-resistance was the sinigang salmon. The pink flesh of the salmon was bursting with flavor, the sour soup as perfect foil to the oily richness of the fish. While the vegetables that came with the sinigang was a bit overcooked, it held with integrity this usually common but delicious quintessential Filipino dish.
The next day, a group of friends gathered for an Independence Day lunch. Café Juanita, featured in Time Magazine (why it was feature, presumably, was because of its excellent food, among others), also presented its own version of the exotic. While Fely J’s had the generic look of a fine restaurant, Café Juanita boast of a bohemian, rustic ambiance. It had beautiful wood paneling, an eclectic collection of, well, collectible knick knacks. I think they were going for an “Old Manila” look. There was a surfeit of lace, glittery chandeliers and bells (to summon the waitstaff?). The decorative items can be bought by guests, or so I am told. I liked the quirky, almost whimsical décor.
Our host, Benjo, chose our lunch fare: tom yum goong, dalag and green mango salad, deep fried lapu lapu fillet with I-don’t-remember-what sauce, bagnet and, kare-kare. It was a good combination, the makings of a great lunch. The dalag and green mango salad was a surprise – made of common enough ingredients (that is if you live, say, in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat), but it was presented in a such a novel way it looked and tasted really well. The dalag was processed and fried to a crisp –almost lace-like shroud that covered the shredded green mangoes. The contrast with the crispy dalag and the sourness of the green mangoes was something I enjoyed, and helped myself to several servings. The tom yum was the right kind of sourness, but was a bit mild. I wished it was spicier just like the ones I tasted in the streets of Bangkok. Fely J’s kare kare was still fresh in my mind, and taste buds, so I was able to compare with relative authority. I find Café Juanita’s version better. The sauce was flavored and colored with atsuete, and the peanut complemented well with the beef. The bagnet was crispy, and lightly drizzled with olive oil and was on a bed of tomatoes and onion – the guilt over eating pork was balanced by the vitamin-rich garnish.
The conversation turned to the places we have visited, and how we enjoy “going home” – the ephemeral idea of our places of origin and where we belong. We laugh at how sometimes people from home are puzzled over our interest in places that were commonplace for them. “Why? It’s just an ordinary place,” they would say. I recalled how I took photographs of interesting scenes I saw at one place, and how my host who was that from place laughed and wondered why I took those pictures. “These are ordinary places and sceneries!” she exclaimed -which proves my point about the exotic. While as a young boy I pined for exotic donuts and burgers, others might have a different idea of what makes something exciting – exotic.
Comments