Going on a Mama Sita food trip

My cellular phone registered an unknown number, and the caller identified herself as Mila Magsaysay-Valenzuela. She was inviting me to join the group being hosted by the popular Filipino brand Mama Sita to the Parada ng mga Lechon in Balayan, Batangas. Having met the gracious Mrs. Valenzuela at the Peninsula five years ago, when my youngest brother won his first Palanca Award, there was no wavering on my part. It took about a minute for me to decide to drop everything and agree to go to Balayan with the group.

I have been acquainted with the Mama Sita brand for the longest time, too. In the 1980s, when my siblings and I traveled abroad for summer camp, packets of Mama Sita adobo savory sauce mix were always a mainstay in our luggage. This ensured that we were adequately prepared for National Days, and could prepare tasty and effortless adobo each time. At my first summer camp in Norway, the chicken adobo turned out to be extremely popular, and I was besieged by orders for Mama Sita seasoning. Thus, when I got home, I found myself mailing packets of adobo mix to friends all over the world. It was only after months of enduring a severely depleted allowance when I finally mustered the nerve to charge my friends for the endless requests for Mama Sita.

Currently, Marigold Commodities Corporation (MCC), maker of the popular Mama Sita label, has successfully penetrated markets in Asia, Oceania, North America, and the Middle East. With Filipino seasonings such as adobo, palabok, sinigang sa sampalok/bayabas, ginisang munggo, tapa marinade and many others, foreigners and our homesick countrymen can now enjoy the flavors of Filipino food with less effort required. The Mama Sita brand also carries a popular sarsa ng lechon atbp, and thus, the significance of their participation in Balayan’s Parada ng mga Lechon. After all, lechon without the delicious sarsa is never complete.

Our group bound for Balayan knew that it was going to be a food trip in the truest sense when, barely five minutes into the trip and pausing at the very first traffic light in Makati, Mama Sita’s Heidi Ozaeta passed around tasty brownies and empanaditas for everyone’s delectation. However, knowing that lunch was an hour and a half away, I exercised much restraint and sampled only one of each.

Good things come to those who patiently wait. I was glad that I exercised enough self-control and refrained from gorging on snacks. Luncheon at Casa Rap in San Jose, Batangas was a visual and gustatory feast. The restaurant was set in a beautiful garden, with flowering vines interspersed with ferns, shrubs, and bamboo. Narrow and winding paths led to secret pocket gardens, and the edge of the property overlooked a lush, forested ravine. At the bottom of the canyon, unseen, a brook gushed merrily along, fortified by recent rain showers. And as I paused in appreciation of the cool, clean country air, two birds with blue wing tips flew out from their hideaway between the clumps of yellow and green bamboo poles.

The meal at Casa Rap consisted of a light and tasty kalabasa soup, grilled tawilis, halabos na hipon, and ginataang manok. String beans or sitaw were harvested from a trellis and sautéed with garlic, onions and Mama Sita oyster sauce. The simple dish was delicious, and a second batch had to be prepared posthaste since we all helped ourselves to generous helpings. Along with the pako (fern) salad served with tomatoes, onions, and violet ternate flowers, I enjoyed the sitaw dish best. Afterwards, we were served an uncomplicated and tasty dessert of avocado with queso real ice cream, and endless glasses of refreshing pandan iced tea. Then we were off to our next destination: To the tsokolate tableya-makers.

Jojo Recinto is a third generation member of a tableya-making family. He showed the group how cacao is dried, roasted, and then prepared as the tsokolate drink that we all love. Some members of the group were unfamiliar with the process, but since we have cacao trees in our farm, I already knew how tableyas are made. As Jojo demonstrated the steps in making tsokolate, I remembered a humorous instance when a friend mistook cacao for coca: It could have been our katiwala’s accent, but many years ago in our farm, the friend suddenly started chewing on cacao leaves. We were puzzled when he explained, "We have a long way to walk. You won’t tire if you chew on this." It soon dawned on us that he confused cacao for coca when he started talking about Central America, the drug cartels, and various Indian tribes who used the leaves for religious rituals. We all had a good laugh, after that. Unfortunately, our friend had already chewed on too many cacao leaves. Perhaps this did not agree with the various things he had ingested and the poor guy had to be hospitalized for a severe case of the runs that evening.

We ended our first fun-filled day in Batangas City’s Hotel Pontefino where chef Dennis Edillon prepared served us a buffet dinner of tuna and pork adobo sa dilaw, chicken barbecue with java sauce, kaldereta bulalo and steamed fish with (Mama Sita) garlic oyster sauce. To end the meal: Batangas crepes (with peanuts), a cold dessert called afogato barako, and a rice cake called sinukmani. As we were scheduled to leave for Balayan early the next day, it was decided that we call it an early night.

It seemed that I barely caught forty winks before it was time to get up for breakfast and then leave for Balayan. I snoozed throughout the trip, waking up only when a strong spray of water hit the coaster’s closed window, signaling that we had reached our destination.

San Juan or St. John the Baptist is Balayan’s patron saint, and dousing passersby is part of the festivities. Our vehicle slowly wound its way to the ancestral home of Congresswoman Eileen Ermita-Buhain’s family, where our group was invited to view the parade from the safety of the second floor. Not all of us wanted to risk getting wet.

The parade was soon underway. Close to a hundred uniquely costumed roasted pigs rode the floats. Lechons dressed up as Batman, a carpenter and Darna followed lechons wearing sunglasses and multi-colored attire. The Mama Sita float was themed after the popular telefantasya Encantadia and all the pigs were swaddled in plastic wrap to prevent them from getting soaked and soggy.

I joined the intrepid group led by MCC corporate services officer Ramon Reyes (of the famed Reyes cooking clan who owns the Mama Sita brand) who gamely decided to join the street festivities. We were immediately accosted by water hose and tabo- wielding adults and children, and were dripping wet in no time at all. As we walked throughout the streets, I experienced ice water being poured down my shirt. However, the sprays of water felt good after a while. It was almost midday but despite the huge crowd packing the streets, the heat was not oppressive. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. The experience was turning out to be fun.

Back at the Ermita’s Spanish-era home, a quick shower and change into dry clothing, and then lunch that included – what else? – lechon! There was a constant flow of visitors, with the affable congresswoman and her family graciously welcoming everyone. This, I felt, was traditional Filipino hospitality at its best. But soon, it was time to head back for Manila.

On the ride home, I decided that Mama Sita’s Balayan adventure was a lovely trip that made me appreciate even more that fiestas are not about food alone. More importantly, Filipino feasts are celebrations of fellowship, friendships, tradition, and home.