'Maka-on ta!' A 'tabu-an' experience

One of the greatest pleasures of traveling (and eating) around the country is discovering the sheer diversity and intricacies of our multi-layered cuisine, not to mention seeing all our natural wonders, meeting the warmest, most hospitable, and happiest people on the planet, and having some of the most malinamnam food there is. Our continuing journey made us discover the richness of our cuisine, or should I say that despite all of our regional differences, it is our common love of malinamnam food that binds us together.

Sometime last month, I was in Iloilo City again for the umpteenth time. It has been my second home since my first visit in 1978, and is my most frequented local destination to date, not only because of my aunt, Dr. Alicia Tayag Saldaña, and my cousins who live there, their warm hospitality and charming dispositions, but also because of the plentiful nami (delicious) gastronomic delights the city has to offer that I can’t seem to have enough of.

Over the years I’d find every excuse to go there, mainly to satisfy my craving for that Ilonggo thing with fresh oysters, managat (mangrove jackfish), imbao (large clams), lechon, batchoy, and inasal (in that order).

I remember quite vividly back in 1978 that my aunt drove me all the way to Tiolas, the last Iloilo town on the border to Antique. We would stop intermittently as we came across roadside vendors and food hawkers along the way. I had my first bite of a deliciously grilled fish steak oozing with fat called sibingan, peddled by an elderly lady as we were nearing Tiolas. It was clipped between two flat bamboo sticks, much like an elongated clothespin.

As I bit a morsel off the somewhat-charred fish steak, oil dripped down my lips. It was the belly portion of what I was to learn much later was a blue marlin. It was still unheard of in Manila then, but the experience was indelibly etched on my taste buds. Needless to say, that got me hooked.

During subsequent visits over the years, I’ve had my fill of many more typical Ilonggo daily fare like kadios kag baboy at langka, a.k.a. KBL (pigeon peas with pork and green jackfruit); ubad (pith of the banana trunk) cooked with native chicken; takway adobado (gabi root) simmered in vinegar; pancit Molo; kansi (bulalo); and sweet delicacies like pinasugbo (thin slices of green saba banana fried and made chewy with caramelized sugar), biscocho, hojaldres, galletas, broas, and rosquetas that will surely sate any sweet-toothed person.

Just when I thought I’d tried most everything Iloilo has to offer, boy, was I in for a big surprise during this last visit. I was there mainly to be one of the judges in the first-ever “Tabu-an: Western Visayas Ilonggo Heritage Cooking Competition and Food Fair.” Held at Esca’s Garden Restaurant in Iloilo City, five teams from different schools in the Western Visayas region competed in preparing the best Ilonggo heritage dishes.

The panel of judges having an actual tabu-an lunch, kamayan or kinamot syle, at Iloilo City’s Central market

Unlike most culinary competitions where only the panel of judges gets to taste the dishes (leaving the poor audience drooling from across the cordoned table), this event also had a dinner component with some 200 tickets sold to the public for an actual buffet, giving each diner a chance to also vote in choosing the best dishes.

Thus, the challenge was not only for the competitors to showcase their culinary skills by preparing the industry standard of two plates per dish (one for the judges to taste, the other for the display table), but also cooking for 200 persons during the allotted time. It was indeed a tall order.

Tabu-an means “meeting” or “marketplace” in Ilonggo, while Tabu-an the culinary competition is the brainchild of chef Rafael “Tibong” Jardeleza, an Ilonggo culinary heritage advocate coming from several generations of butchers and heritage cooks within the traditional Jaro Huwebesan tabu-an, together with Eugene Jamerlan, another indefatigable Ilonggo cultural warrior (my former classmate at UP Architecture in Diliman, QC, ages ago).

The main objective is to encourage the new generation to keep the Ilonggo flame going while promoting Ilonggo heritage dishes (that there is more than batchoy and pancit molo) and make known the culinary treasures of the Western Visayas provinces (Region VI), which includes Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and 16 cities making it the region with the highest number of cities, with Iloilo City as the regional center. They had the full support of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog; acting director Helen Catalbas, DOT Region VI; Flavors magazine; Coca-Cola; Passad for the trophies designed by Anto Lee; SMIC; Esca’s Restaurant for providing the venue; and Jamerlan noted the choice of Tabu-an as the apt and catchall name for the competition. Historically, he said, the tabu-an is the prototype of all food markets in the Philippines.

Ensaladang Puso ng Saging nga may Tulapo is Colegio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus team’s appetizer entry. Though tulapo refers to chicharon taba (pork-fat crackling), this banana heart salad is topped with chicharon bulaklak (flower fat crackling). The team’s main-course entry, Estofado nga Pato sa Tuba (duck cooked with tuba or coconut toddy), was among the most popular during the buffet dinner, together with their dessert entry Dinulce nga Ube, Niyog kag Mangga Taho Sorbetes kag Ilang Ilang, a trio of desserts having ube haleya, bukayo and a traditional ice cream made with mangoes and salabat (ginger brew) with ilang-ilang essence.

Found along main crossroads, river intersections and seaports, the tabu-an started as a trade center for surplus agricultural products using shell currency and ceramics in the pre-colonial beginning and silver during the Spanish colonial period. The Spanish administration took advantage of their convenient location and marked these trade centers within the plaza complex as the Laws of the Indies marked these settlements as the center of their grid configuration. The Jaro market is a traditional tabu-an example.

Goods landing at Molo from China and other Asian ports ended up in Jaro. Porcelain and other mainland Asian ware were exchanged for goods brought down from all over Panay and the other Visayan islands. Jamerlan further said the town drew its wealth from the trade fair that eventually became institutionalized as the Huwebesan (Thursday) feria, still existing to this day since the 16th century.

Thus, the Tabu-an competition honors this tradition by celebrating with a culinary competition. A series of lectures was offered and a market of traditional Ilonggo tabu-an products was set up at the entrance of Esca’s for the duration of the festival.