It’s kiping time again

It’s May, and by now many houses in Lucban, Quezon, must have been adorned by kiping (brittle rice waffers).

It’s in celebration of the internationally known Lucban Pahiyas Festival in honor of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saints of farmers.

Pahiyas is a Filipino term coined after payas (grand or spectacular) and hiyas (gem). Kiping is derived from the word kipi or kinipi, which means to remove extra water from the dough of soaked and ground rice.

Records show that although the practice of making kiping started in Lucban in the 16th century, it was only in the early 18th century that a native in Lucban, Juan Suarez, learned the basics of making the Mexican tacos or taquitos and started preparing tacos by using rice dough in banana leaves.

"The leaf dorms of kiping that we know today are credited to the Japanese, who taught the Lucbanins to use the leaves of the kabal tree, which grows abundantly in remote areas of Lucban Historical Committee, as reported by Diadem B. Gonzales of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice).

Kiping-making is lucrative, said Lamberto Tiope of Lucban, a maker of the popular rice wafers. A ganta (2.5 kilos) of rice, which costs P150, can make 150 pieces of kiping.

"Usually," Tiope noted, "people buy one aranya (three-layered kiping ‘chandelier’) with 900 kiping for P2.70"

The Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Shoemart, Glorietta, Shangrila Hotel in Makati City, and other entities adorn their establishments with kiping during May. The RiceWorld Museum and Learning Center of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) devotes a section on the Pahiyas Festival.

Kiping was displayed during the recent launch of the 2004 International Year of Rice (IYR) by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) in Rome, Italy. Kiping also adorns a small section of the World Bank in New York, USA.

Recently, too, kiping has found its way to Paris and Canada. – Rudy A. Fernandez