Goat's head soup with Bourdain
Everybody knows by now that the Philippines boasts the best roasted pig in the world — at least, according to Anthony Bourdain, host of No Reservations shown locally on the Discovery Travel & Living channel.
Bourdain is a former chef who took a different path in the TV foodie world: trekking across Asia, mostly, looking for unusual things to eat. He’s not Bear Grylls, munching on fresh-killed reindeer to show he’s Wilderness Guy; he’s not like the Survivor or Fear Factor contestants who suck down the occasional earthworm or crunch on a cockroach to win big bucks. It’s more like he enjoys eating weird stuff.
We saw him slurp down fresh porcupine stew somewhere in Vietnam’s mountains. He had a grin on his face. If a noodle house has peeling wallpaper, wet floors and dripping signage, you’ll see Bourdain’s face light up: it’s his kind of place, as long as the smell is right.
Finally, Filipinos will get to see and hear Bourdain’s take on local cuisine as Discovery Travel & Living airs the Philippine episode on Wednesday, 9 p.m. Oct. 14.
We quickly learn that the trip almost didn’t happen.
Augusto, a New York-based Fil-Am who convinced Bourdain to come do a show on his native country (a place Augusto later confesses he has only visited once, for a “few weeks” during the previous year), sends Bourdain a home video showing off his country’s local flavah — shots of jeepneys, EDSA billboards, riot cops, Heinz ketchup bottles and lechon, among others — that the TV host calls “lively” and “pretty high quality, compared to most.”
It must have been the lechon that sealed the deal.
But Augusto almost blows it in the follow-up interview by admitting that he’s never seen Apocalypse Now — one of the host’s favorite movies. But then Bourdain considers “there are a lot of Filipino fans of this show, and many of them are getting mightily pissed” that, having done shows all around Southeast Asia, he’d yet to touch down in Manila.
The episode begins with Bourdain taking a food tour with a local guide named Ivan. He quickly notices the American influence in local cuisine: “Hamburgers and fried chicken are well represented,” the chef points out, “but underneath it all, there’s an older story.” Visiting Manila’s Chinatown, Ivan brings him to Food Street, where they chow down on chicken balls, taho and pancit palabon. (“Not the best thing ever, but good” is Bourdain’s verdict.)
They head to a wet market and select their own ingredients for regional dishes: pinakbet with shrimp paste (from the north), crab with coconut milk (from the south) and shrimp adobo with lumpia (from all over).
This is where No Reservations really scores: showcasing local markets and turning even the most disinterested diners into dedicated foodies. Bourdain’s chief insight is that Filipino food, unlike other Southeast Asian cuisines, is much more New World than Old Oriental — the Spanish colonizer influence is deep in every dish.
Those who caught wind of Bourdain’s stealth visit to Manila last year only got a small taste of his food trip; before entertaining food groupies and fan boys in a sitdown chat in Manila the host had reconnoitered and repasted with Claude Tayag in Pampanga.
Tayag and wife come off well in this episode, showcasing some legitimate masterpieces of local cuisine, and Bourdain is suitably impressed.
Goat Four Ways is a hit with the New York foodie, who washes down the bitter bile soup with San Miguel. “There was nothing about this dish that sounded good: uric acid, bile, bitter, sour, and guts,” Bourdain confesses. “But this is good!” He even attacks the goat’s head — brains and all — with a gusto that only the Rolling Stones might appreciate.
Bourdain also confesses his love of “that strangely addictive” mélange known as sisig. “Oh, sweet symphony of pig parts!” he enthuses as they visit a street resto (Aling Lucing’s in Pampanga) where the dish was reportedly invented.
He’s less impressed with Fil-Am Augusto, who seems almost a stranger in his own land — or perhaps just too camera shy. No wonder the No Reservations host has to rely on more seasoned food guides to light the way.
Naturally, the episode’s “money shot” comes with the arrival of roasted lechon in Cebu. We see the hand-turned pigs over the hot coals, almost smell the roasting skin. “I’m going right for that cheek,” the New Yorker warns Augusto. “Just try to keep any hands or digits out of the way.”
Bourdain’s verdict? The skin is “like candy.” And after several burping visits to the pig pile, he declares it “the best pig ever, far and away.”
Bourdain asks Augusto’s family the very question that has puzzled Filipinos for decades: Why hasn’t Filipino food created its own identity in foreign countries?
One of Augusto’s relatives ventures that it’s because Filipinos have had to adapt wherever they live and work in the world, sacrificing their own food in the process. Bourdain has his own explanation: “I think it’s because you’re too damn nice.” You can choose to take it as a compliment.
Of course, the food featured on this special episode of No Reservations is nothing new or revelatory to Filipinos; it’s what they’ve been eating — with relish — all their lives. But rarely has it been showcased so well, in a style that just may open the eyes of thousands of Westerners about what tastes good here. Why Filipino dishes have yet to crack the Western food consciousness is a puzzle worthy of Dan Brown. Maybe Anthony Bourdain’s show will do its part to bring the message home.
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No Reservations airs every Wednesday on Discovery Travel & Living channel. The Philippines episode airs Wednesday, 9 p.m., Oct. 14 and repeats Thursday, 7 a.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.
