15 MARCH 2019

24
LIFESTYLE
Dinah S. Ventura, Editor
Friday, 15 March 2019
Daily Tribune
A story in
every bite
Namnamin was conceived as a celebration of the
literary with the other arts through the subject of
food. The title is derived from NAM, acronym of
National Arts Month that is celebrated in February
Text and photos by Roel Hoang
Manipon
The kaldereta (beef stew) and
the kare-kare (stew in peanut sauce)
were remarkable everywhere we
went — rich and really malinamnam
(tasty). “We never scrimp on
ingredients,” they always say in
Pampanga, widely regarded as the
Philippines’ culinary or food capital.
Appropriately, the Central
Luzon province was the venue
of Namnamin, a conference that
proved to be multi-sensory with
dances and other performances,
feasting, exhibits, tours and, of
course, talks on food, food culture
and writing.
Namnamin, held from 25 to
27 February 2019 at the Orchid
TIBOK-TIBOK of Susie’s Cuisine.
Gardens, a resort, hotel, events
venue and dining complex in
Pampanga’s capital San Fernando
City, was organized by the National
Commission for Culture and the
Arts’ (NCCA) National Committee
on Literary Arts (NCLA), in
celebration of the National Arts
Month.
“Namnamin was conceived as
a celebration
of the literary
with the other
arts through
the subject of
food,” the head
of the NCLA, writer
and Cebuano literary
scholar Dr. Hope
Sabanpan-Yu, said.
“ Namnamin i s
derived from NAM,
acronym of National
Arts Month that is
celebrated in February.
The event is termed as
such by the National
Committee on Literary
Arts as a celebration of the
role of food in all artistic
endeavors,” Pampangan
literature professor Dr. Juliet
Mallari, who was the event’s
director, explained.
“Namnamin hoped
to engage the artists
and the local community
in a celebration featuring
the melding of food and
art. When consumed with
pleasure, both are savored
in the ‘namnamin’ sense.
And I think this objective has
been achieved as various
performances during
the event in Pampanga,
known as a culinary capital,
were visually appetizing and
gastronomically as well as
intellectually satisfying.”
She further said: “Visually
delightful were the festive
and artistic renditions of the
kamaru (mole cricket), sisig
and taramindu (tamarind)
dances, which are representing
signature Kapampangan dishes
and a local fruit, respectively; the
funny portrayal of local color in
the comedy skit of the students
about a cooking contest; the
entertaining regional folk art forms
such as mascota, Kapampangan
folksongs, Visayan tagay ta and
Bicol tigsik, which also highlighted
food-related themes. Gastronomically
satisfying were the mouthwatering
cooking demonstrations and the
sisig tasted after the dance number
of the Sinukwan Kapampangan
dance troupe. Intellectually
stimulating were the
moving recitation
of spoken word
poetry and,
of course,
t h e
informative
plenary and
panel sessions that
provided fresh insights
into Filipino culinary arts.”
Garnishes of performances
and exhibits
During the opening event,
between talks and during dinners,
there were several performances
spicing the whole conference,
serving like garnishes and
heightening the experience of the
event. Most of the performances
were on local folk traditions,
some of which are vanishing,
giving participants a taste of
the richness of local culture and
heritage.
PAMPANGA Agta performers during the opening.
PSAU’S tamarind-inspired dance.
Welcoming Namnamin
delegates and attendees, mostly
teachers, to the event halls The
Forum and The Orchidarium were
the Pampanga Brass Band, the
Dolores Rondangklung and a group
of Pampanga Aytas.
The literature of food offers
a rich and complicated
history of value systems
implicit in preparing,
serving, and eating of food.
The opening program featured
a Pampangan oral form by Rene
Salor; a Kamaru Festival dance from
the town of Magalang; a tamarindinspired
dance by the Pampanga
State Agricultural University (PSAU)
Performing Arts La Granja Modelo
Dance Troupe; a comedy skit by
the PSAU Performing Arts; and a
poetry performance by poet Dr.
Vim Nadera.
A miniature version
of a sisig festival was
also held with a
sisig-inspired dance
by the Sinukwan
Kapampangan
Dance Troupe. A
short talk revealed
that the dish for which
Angeles City is famous
was originally made up
of chopped fruits such as
papaya, guava and green
mangoes, or banana
heart, made even sour by
vinegar, bilimbi (kamias
or iba in Filipino) or
calamunding. It evolved
to what we know of sisig
today — pig’s ears and
cheeks boiled, grilled and
finely chopped, blended
with chopped onions,
seasoned with vinegar
and/or calamansi juice,
salt, black pepper and
chili slices and sometimes
minced grilled chicken
liver and served on a hot
plate.
Other performances included a
spoken-word performance by Prolet
Sanchez; a rap performance by
AKT; a mascota, a wedding dance
of the Ibanag people of Cagayan;
and tigsik, Bicol short poems often
funny and pithy.
Aside from the performances, an
area in the event venue was dedicated
to small exhibits: “Kauyagan: The
Blessings of Life,” a solo painting
exhibit of Salima Saway-Agraan;
selected paintings on food by visual
artist-chef Claude Tayag; photos on
food and food culture by a group of
Mabalacat photographers; and an
exhibit featuring National Artists
for literature.
Meaty talks and lectures
The conference proper was as
intriguing and sumptuous as the
food consumed. “The literature of
food offers a rich and complicated
history of value systems implicit
in preparing, serving and eating
of food. Sharing food, breaking
bread, raising a toast, summer
picnics, formal dinners, drinking
traditions — all have certain
LILIAN Borromeo makes the sanikulas cookies.
cultural and ethnic significances
which we hoped to highlight
by bringing in tradition to the
discussion and into performance
Turn to page 23
New faces,
going places
As the Daily Tribune continues to
expand and grow, we welcome the newest
members of our family!
u Super scribes
Entertainment stalwart Isah V. Red joins the
team as a columnist — his “Simply Red” column
will appear in the Spotlight section every Monday
and Wednesday, starting 18 March. He will also be
the sub-editor for the section headed by lifestyle
and entertainment editor Dinah S. Ventura.
Prolific features writer and book author Jojo
G. Silvestre, who joined the Lifestyle team as a
society columnist (“Proust Is Back” every Friday
and “Let’s Drink To That” every Tuesday) last year,
will now also handle the Living Spaces section
that comes out every Sunday.
u Experts in the field
The Living Spaces section, which covers
property development, architecture and design,
will carry a weekly column penned by one of the
Philippines’ experts in the field, Jose Ramon
“Pinggoy” Aliling, who became perhaps the
youngest construction magnate when he took
over the Jose Aliling Construction Management
in 2006. In his 20s, he became the youngest board
adviser of De La Salle’s College of Engineering
and was named the youngest president of the
Construction Project Management Association
of the Philippines. He was the very first Civil
engineer cited in 2015 as one of The Outstanding
Young Men for Civil Engineering.
Meanwhile, the Wellbeing section debuting this
17 March introduces doctor-couple Brian Michael
Cabral and Monica Therese Cating-Cabral, who
will alternately write a weekly column every
Sunday. Brian is a certified specialist in
transplant nephrology and internal
medicine, while Monica heads
the osteoporosis and bone
health clinic.