floring’s Carinderia: The Home of the native Chicken Adobo wriTTen by MDPN ANTHONY KEN J. BUCASAS and MDPN. BRYAN L. HOLZKNECHT PHOTOS by MDPN. BRYAN L. HOLZKNECHT
T
he light before the sun sets still shares its heat. Neighing horses were at large at this moment, exhausting due to a whole day of hard work as they serve the people of a humble barangay located at the heart of a province. Suddenly, a strong aroma of spices lurked the whole place, drooling the people around. It came from a small house. Everyone knows that it is Floring, making again a masterpiece that would greatly satisfy her husband’s pallets. She starts by slicing the neck part of a native chicken, blood would run from the veins of the poor creature but it was not wasted, a small basin was being filled by the red substance. When movement is already absent, she will then submerge the chicken to perfectly heated water to shred the feathers without damaging its skin. After preparing and cutting the chicken into small pieces, she would then prep the spices and ingredients needed. After all the preparations, she will then cook with passion and with her whole heart. Who started the native chicken adobo recipe? Florenia Escoton Jalipa was the first to make the native chicken adobo. She was born at Brgy. Ilaures, Bugasong,
Antique on December 15, 1948. She was then married to Julito Soriano Jalipa and settled to live in the same place where she was born and gave birth to five children - Kenneth, Charlote, Judith, Geralyn and Karyl Ann. Back then, she was only a housewife cooking adobo for her husband every dawn which serves as a pulutan - a food prepared by Filipinos to be eaten as they get drunk with alcohol. Their house is located near a terminal where passengers from Valderrama, Antique trades their local products for money from buyers who would re-sell them to town. One night, as the cold breeze fights the heat coming from a gas lamp and while her halfdrunken husband and his friends sing sonatas, one of her kumares ask her why don’t she build a small eatery in front
of her house, because it will be a good business area. Florenia also dreams of being a restaurant owner and as days go by, her dream became a reality. Floring’s Carinderia was made into reality around 1972. It was just a small eatery where the foundation and walls were primarily made of bamboo while the roof is made of weaved coconut leaves. What were the struggles did the restaurant face in the past years? A lot of devastations like strong typhoons challenged the humble native style establishment of Floring’s Carinderia. But out of it all, nothing can beat the destructive force brought by Super Typhoon Yolanda last November 3, 2013. The roof of the establishment almost kissed its floor. It left the family of Lola Florenia a ruin. It did not stop them still to serve the people who enjoyed their adobo. Their top customers which were businessmen and politicians help them by lending some financial assistance to fastly rebuild what has been lost.
The DOLPHIN | OCTOBER 2019
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PHOTO SOurce: lakadPiliPinaS.cOm
fEATURE | inTERViEW
