IS PAMPANGA the Culinary Capital of the Philippines?
How can it be otherwise? What with the sangguniang panlalawigan passing unanimously Ordinance No. 863 on Feb. 26, and Gov. “Delta” Dennis Pineda approving it on March 7, both this year, declaring the province as such “for so many reasons” not the least of which is Pampanga’s “long uninterrupted reputation for being home to culinary talents – from the chefs who cooked for the Malolos Congress in 1898 to the chefs who prepared the meals for the athletes of the 30th Southeast Asian Games in 2019.”
The ink on Delta’s signature hadn’t even
dried yet when former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led her three cabalen congressional
cohorts in filing House Bill No. 10014 seeking the declaration of Pampanga as
the “Culinary Capital of the Philippines” in recognition of the province’s
“formidable culinary history” and to further boost the province’s thriving
gastronomic tourism. Their proposed measure literally turning into a bill of
fare with a banquet of the choicest Kapampangan dishes at the House, delectably
digested by their peers.
Were legislation the only
determinant to a culinary capital entitlement, then Pampanga is it most
assuredly, its political leaders having jumped the gun on all other provinces
in the country.
But is it? Is it even within
the powers of Congress to legislate taste?
De gustibus non est
disputandum. A truism I have kept
from my seminary Latin that has withstood the test of time. Indeed, the
self-evident truth that “about taste, there is no argument.”
In matters of gustation, I
find as much predilection for the Kapampangan begukan as for the Bicol sinilihan,
for the Ilocano dinakdakan as for the kinilaw de Oro and
Dumaguete’s binakhaw. Or for chicken, be it inasal, kulub, lechon or
pinaupo. The gourmand in me
couldn’t care less of the origin of the food on-plate, all that matters is its tastiness.
I leave anything above that to the snootiness of the gourmet.
Why, a taste of ambrosia
to me may just be a cause of nausea to another. I suddenly remember the
Bicolano journalist Ben Gamos who, despite working in Pampanga all his life,
never found the “usual” Kapampangan food beyond plainly edible – “panlaman lang
ng tiyan” Whenever ribbed of his proclivity for laing and Bicol
express over sisig and tocino, he was wont to riposte: “Kanya-kanyang
poor taste lang ‘yan.” Of course, the inference goes both ways. Yummy to
one, yucky to the other.
Concededly, Pampanga is a
culinary haven. Conceitedly, Pampanga is gustatory heaven. Just about everyone
that has come to dine in a Kapampangan home – from the humblest hut to the
grandest mansion, or in a Kapampangan eatery – from the lowliest carinderia
to the classiest gourmet restaurant, attests to that indubitability. By and
large.
Food, glorious food, has
long defined Pampanga in the nation’s cultural psyche, affirmed in one
generation, reaffirmed in the next. So niched, shall it remain.
Still, does that make
Pampanga the Culinary Capital of the Philippines, meriting national
legislation at that?
Currently breaking the
internet is Erwan Heussaff’s FEATR on Kapampangan food. It is – to me – the
most substantial take on our culinary excellence yet, seasoned, so to speak,
with the perspicacity of contextualization by culturatus Ruston Banal and Jam
Melchor, founder of the Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement. Every cabalen
worth his palate ought to see, indeed, savor this cultural fare. It is a
nourishment to the Kapampangan soul.
At the end of the video
feature came the inevitable: Is Pampanga the Culinary Capital of the Philippines?
“A question that is
impossible to answer. It’s impossible to self-proclaim that [title] because
…there’s such beautiful diversity when it comes to Filipino food to claim that
one place only can represent the country as its culinary capital.” Heussaff,
definitive and succinct here.
And en punto: “It’s very difficult to say. Yet, I do
believe that [Pampanga] is one of the most important provinces that we have
when it comes to food alongside provinces like Cebu or regions like Western
Visayas.”
Talking of Western Visayas, its regional capital Iloilo City
was included last October in
the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) for Gastronomy, a “recognition granted to applicant
cities for their culinary history, tradition, culture, and identity – which
integrates education, science and technology, crafts and farming industries,
and environmental endeavors that contributed to the sustainable gastronomic
heritage.”
Notwithstanding this recognition from no less than UNESCO
itself, Iloilo City did not endeavor to be declared – by law – as the
“Gastronomic Capital of the Philippines.”
Might the gastronome Heussaff have had this at the back of
his mind when he pondered the impossibility to the question: Is Pampanga the
Culinary Capital of the Philippines?
The Philippines’ first in the gastronomy category, Iloilo
City joins in the prestigious
recognition Baguio City as UCCN Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2017, and Cebu City as the country’s inaugural UCCN Creative City of
Design in 2019.
Crafts. Folk art.
Design. Realms of culture and innovation where Pampanga excels too, but
unrecognized, alas!
No harm to
Kapampangan pride there as a whole, only a prick on our culinary conceit.
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