Let's Eat Halloween Issue

NOVEMBER 2016

LET'S EAT — November 2016

NOVE M B E R 201 6

W H AT ' S IN S IDE

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THE HALLOWEEN DISH PORTFOLIO

ESSAY: AN UNSWEETENED HALLOWEEN

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ESSAY: THE UNDAS FOOD TRADITION

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ISSUE NO. 43

LET'S EAT — November 2016

L E T ’ S E AT DON JAUCIAN Managing Editor

PATRICK DIOKNO Art Director

SPANKY HIZON ENRIQUEZ Writer

GABBY CANTERO Photographer

BERT SANTOS Photographer’s Assistant

JL JAVIER Contributing Illustrator

LUCIEN DY TIOCO SVP for Sales & Marketing

ANNALYN DELGADO Editorial Assistant Let’s Eat is published by The Philippine Star 202 Roberto Oca St., Port Area, Manila For inquiries, call 5277901 local 132 or email letseat062013@gmail.com Facebook: facebook.com/LetsEatPhilStar Instagram: letseatph

O N TH E C O VER

A Nighthawks Halloween Illustration by RAXENNE MANIQUIZ

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We asked some of the most exciting names in the local food industry to concoct spooky dishes, drinks, and deserts inspired by the spirit and flavors of Halloween

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES 01

LET'S EAT — June 2016

DINUGUAN

BY JP ANGLO of SARSA

We challenged JP Anglo to create a new version of Dinuguan, something with his signature spin: a strong Negrense identity imbued on a Filipino heritage dish. We caught him just in time: the chef is in a creative culinary outburst, celebrating Sarsa’s sixth branch in only its third year, with a slew of new specials. This Dinuguan recipe has chicken and pork cooked in a witches’ brew of tuba, ginger, lemongrass, and a generous dousing of pig’s blood.

And just to make sure that it’sso-good-it’s-scary, Chef Jayps served it with chicharon bulaklak for crunch and that unmistakable fatty umami taste.

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LET'S EAT — November 2016

ICE CREAM

BY IAN CARANDANG of SEBASTIAN’S Ian Carandang’s been called the Willy Wonka of ice cream, a crafty genius who can probably make an everlasting gobstopper flavor if he was so inclined. He’s also the Tim Burton of sundaes, and his creeepy production makes full use of Sebastian’s three seasonal flavors: Gummi Berries, Peanut Butter Cup, and Trick or Treat. It’s a terrifyingly tasty graveyard of Gummi Zombies, rising out of crumbled chocolate cookie “soil” and “grass” of green sugar, lumbering towards unsuspecting children for a surprise attack guaranteed to elicit delighted squeals and screams this Halloween.

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LET'S EAT — November 2016

UBE PIE

BY WILDFLOUR

The sweetest food trend this year is the discovery and the elevation of our humble ube as a truly global dessert. The violet root crop is suddenly everywhere, from Los Angeles to Toronto, and on everything — from waffles to lattes. So this Halloween, it made absolute sense to ask Wildflour’s world class bakers, using co-founder Ana De Ocampo’s recipe, to create a local counterpart of classic pumpkin pie: a flaky crust filled with ube custard, topped with whipped cream, and sprinkled with freshly grated ube.

‘Tis the season: purple yam is the new orange pumpkin.

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LET'S EAT — November 2016

BLOODY MARY

BY MICHAEL TUBIERA of RAMBLA

The Philippines’ 2016 Bartender of the Year’s bespoke cocktail for Halloween is a dramatic ode to a vicious Hungarian, Elizabeth Bathory, one of history’s most notorious killers. This isn’t your typical Bloody Mary: beet roots, not tomatoes, turn the drink crimson, and release a dark aroma reminiscent of wet earth being shoveled into a grave on a dreary, rainy day. Watermelon and Campari next, to represent the deep hues of the human blood that the vile lady was believed to bathe in. Finally, paprika and honey to provide a bittersweet finish to this, “The Blood Countess”.

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LET'S EAT — November 2016

CHOCNUT BARS

BY BUCKY’S

Chocnut is the Philiippines’ Reese’s.

An addicting peanut and chocolate confection that’s been a favorite of generations through many decades.

One of the most loyal chocnut fans is now a grandfather, who still indulges in his childhood treat every week. One day, he asked his son, Miguel Vargas, the entrepreneur behind Bucky’s, to bake a brownie that integrated his favorite sweet.

The result? A dense, ultra-fudgy dark chocolate cake slab studded with chunks of chocnut.

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LET'S EAT — November 2016

unsweetened tooth WORDS BY DON GARCIA

PHOTOS BY GABBY CANTERO

M

y mom always liked to tell people she craved brownies when she was pregnant with me. This apparently led to my saccharine and, at times, hyperactive personality, and an unfathomable craving for anything sweet. It’s normal for any kid to want to eat sugary treats — I mean, what kind of child would resist a jar of thick chocolate chip cookies? — but apparently mine was more rabid than your garden variety five-year-old.

I’m surprised I didn’t get diabetes early on, what with my endless consumption of Stik-Os, Whammo’s, Kisses, and choc nut every chance I get. It was something that, even as an adult, would be a defining characteristic of who I am.

And when you’re used to just eating something for almost three decades, an all-out ban on sweets is just one of the most ungodly things ever. Until now.

It was an unbelievable thing to hear: my doctor telling me I should quit eating anything too sweet since sugar will just worsen the infection (apparently bacteria feed on sugar).

It was more unbelievable that I was so willing to do it right then and then. It meant giving up on my late night trips at 7/11, stocking up on Oreos, chocolate covered pretzels, and donuts — of all the things I have to give up, this one was the hardest — to fuel my movie marathons. It meant no longer relying on a chocolate bar for a short burst of energy when

I haven’t had the chance to eat a proper meal. It meant giving up something that has been my source of comfort ever since I was a kid.

Right after the doctor’s appointment, we had to buy a few things to substitute all the refined sugars I’ve known in my life. It was the week leading up to Halloween and the grocery’s front aisles were all brimming with every kind of candy imaginable. I never knew that a supermarket’s candy aisle could mean torture but here I am, gawking at all the things I can’t eat — at least for now. It was like going to the toy store to just window shop.

In “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” Harry was offered chocolates to recover from a terrifying Dementor attack. For me, the notion of chocolate as a simple yet comforting food captured its inherent appeal to kids and adults alike.

It’s like biting on a piece of heaven itself, something so familiar and comforting. A chocolate bar packs in all the great things about being a kid that’s why even the sight of a Snickers bar in the checkout counter would make us consider just chucking it in with the rest of the week’s essential supplies. It’s such a delight to sink your teeth into that some people would spend years and years perfecting the right recipe for a great chocolate chip cookie.

Halloween without chocolates or candies is like Christmas without the ham — or noche buena even. It’s just that pointless. And I guess I’ll just have to live with that. Now pass me the crackers.

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Til Death Do Us Reunite

ILLUSTRATION BY JL JAVIER

WORDS BY SPANKY HIZON ENRIQUEZ

In the Philippines, Undas has become some sort of a family reunion. And with a gathering of relatives come the bountiful feasts.

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n 998 A.D., St. Odilo, then the Abbot of Cluny in France, was advised of a specific place along the pilgrim’s route to the Holy Land, a spot where “moanings of impure souls arose” from an opening in the ground. These were supposedly the spirits trapped in Purgatory, and a prayerful tradition for their ascent to Heaven was soon established: “Undas,” from the Latin ‘unda,” which means “smoke that billows.” By the 13th century, the holy days reserved for praying for the dearly departed, All Souls Day and All Saints Day, had been codified.

When the Spaniards reached our shores, many of the rituals of our deeply spiritual animistic ancestors were cloaked in a Christian context.

“Nangangaluwa,” is one: lost souls supposedly went around in groups to visit houses, and the people living in them had to sing songs for

the ghosts, lest they commmit some form of haunting mischief. Rice cakes also had to be offered, otherwise the spirits would steal the chickens in the homesteads. It seems that our forebears already had a version of trick or treat, many centuries before we embraced the American Halloween traditions.

Felice Prudente Sta. Maria, author and eminent historian of early Filipinos’ food and culture, gave me wonderful insights on the history and observation of Undas in the Philippines; to this day, some families in Leyte still offer rice cakes, now in the form of suman, on tombs. The practices of our grandparents’ grandparents had a touch of morbidity, but certainly sounded delicious. One such yearly ritual that went on until the 1920s was the enjoyment of “Huesos de Santo” or Saints’ Bones: marzipan shaped into bits of human bone,

the hard white surface made from almond paste, and stuffed with the “marrow,” a yellow tinged lemon frosting.

Ige Ramos, the peripatetic traveler, award winning book designer and food writer, as well as a proud Caviteno, shared that in his home province, All Saints is “Undras.” The extra consonant, an indicator perhaps of how devoutly, and differently the holiday of obligation is observed there. In Cavite City, fervent preparations begin a week before the 1st of November. No stone is left unturned, as families will not be caught dead with insufficient culinary preparations. Black is the color of Undras; even the food served is black, to signify solemnity and mourning. In the town of Naic, “Alikaya”, a black-colored biko made from a dark-hued glutinous rice called “pirurutong” is served along with pansit pusit, bihon or sotanghon

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noodles blackened by squid ink.

Tatung Sarthou, bestselling cookbook author and the chef-patron of the newly opened “Agos” restaurant at the Mall of Asia, related how, in his native Cebu, the rice cake tradition during Undas takes the form of biko, offered in home altars as well as in the cemeteries. Many families still practice this, just as their ancestors did before the arrival of Magellan in 1521. The chef recalls that as a child, before gadgets and the internet, he would tour the cemetery grounds reading the inscriptions on tombstones, looking for the oldest dates and ages of deceased. His grandmother would ask her grandkids, one by one, to lead the praying of the rosary, and the endless litanies and novenas, the monotony broken by dinner, where place settings were prepared for the departed, complete with food and candelabra.

Ige’s childhood memories revolve around the dozens and dozens of cheese, salami, and tuna sandwiches and the gallons of iced tea in those oldfashioned Igloo jugs his mother would prepare for the never-ending stream of visitors to the family plot. Undras was a long day of reunions, where one meal seamlessly slid into the next: a buffet on paper plates, tinapa and rice for breakfast, jacobina and camachile biscuits for snacking in between the heavy lunches and dinners of kare-kare, adobo, and kilawin. Lots of gossip and storytelling, but mainly, it was lots and lots of eating.

Felice’s memories of her family’s observance of Undas is quite different. The Catholic ceremonies observed strictly, holy mass and prayers, followed by reminiscing about the great grandparents and the generations that came before: who the sternest great-uncle was, which lola was the most beautiful

as a young girl. Felice and her cousins would be allowed to collect the still-warm candle drippings and sculpt flower petals, pigs made from two balls of wax, and round fruits like santol. Finally, games of “who’s afraid of the dark”, where the older male cousins would lie in wait, ready to jump out like goblins to scare the younger children.

Undas in the present day seems much less meaningful and so much more casual than it was in the past. Scenes of reunions and storytelling have been replaced by snaps of kids lost in their own private screens. Pizza and burger deliveries have replaced home cooking and handed-down recipes. While respect for our dearly departed will always be there, I pray that a reverence for our forebears’ traditions will continue as well.

D OWNL OAD I SSUE S OF L ET’ S EAT F OR FR EE ON BU Q O

L E T ' S E AT DOW N LOA D T HE A P P

L E T ' S E AT Y OUR G UI DE TO THE C I TY’S B ES T FOOD S P OT S EVERY LA S T S UNDA Y OF THE M ON T H