Food and FarmingGroup 3-Citizens

Food and farming is the primary source of income and primary source of food that rooted a long time ago. The staple crops of the Visayas were rice, millet, taro, yams, banana and sago. Rice was grown everywhere and was the preferred food but its production cannot sustain the needs of the consumer root crops then was therefore the most common on most part of the year.

During the Spanish colony rice was considered a tribute, Spaniards made much of the fact that Visayans did not produce a year’s supply of rice and that even datus with many supplies cannot cope up with the demand. Many variables affect the growth of rice for example the weather, the supply of water, the pests and the type of land and these variables caused a food shortage or even famines that ended up with parents selling their children as far as Borneo in exchange of food.

. Even if it is hard for them but they took a risk for the sake of their child and their own sakes as well. Some of the children bold would come back to their parents after a long period of time very well nourished and ready to help others.

Rice Rice farming is usually done through

swidden farming or kaingin this is a process refers to the burning of trees for cultivation porpuses.Kaingeros cultivate the area until such time that the soil is no longer good for planting.then, they transfer to another area and burn forest again. Most swiddens were made in secondary growth where earlier ones had been fallowed (bunglayan) or even last years field with the dried stalks.

Sago Made from the inner trunk of the sago palm

(lumbia) or of other palms like nipa or buri. The trunk was stripped, cut, pulverized and was settled in water. Reddish sediment (unaw) collected on the bottoms and the bran (olabot) that was floating in the surface was discarded. The flour (arasip or natuk) was boiled into a paste which could be dried and stored in granaries (sonson or olog). It was the main staple of Mindanao, pressed into molds to make little cakes (landan) which dried as hard as bricks but became soft and palatable.

Bananas A number of different bananas (musa)

and plantains (cooking bananas), boiled like rice or yams when still unripe were another staple food, because before ripening, the sugar content was all starch. These were eaten ripe as fruit or in-between meals. The most popular is the ladyfingers (todlong binokot).

Visayan Farming TermsBakar To till the soil by any

methodBunyag To water plants by sprinkling

Damus/Napon

A field of root crops

Gibo A crude broom for sweeping a field

Habuk To cultivate the soil for planting with a bolo

Kahig A rake/ harrow

Kayog To plant in rows

Lalong To transfer a whole plant

Pusok To plant a while field with one kind of crop/tree

Sandol A paganito (religious rite) for rain

Sun-ad/ sunag

A transplanted tuber

Tagbung/ hamugdas

To plant something whole

Visayan Farming Terms

Camote The Camote or sweet potato (Iponoea batatas) was

brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards though the exact date is not identified. The problem when the Iberians had the 15th century expedition, they had no names for such tubers. The word camote came from kamoti, the Hispanized Aztec word. The word batata is a native Taino word. Batatas was used widely in Palawan, Tidore, Guam, Samar, Leyte and Bohol but with different meanings, not associating the word to the Camote but to different yams. Loarca and Juan de la Isla who reffered to visayans eating camotes.

Camote

Sanchez defined halagbung as “a kind of edible root or camote” and Mentrida defined biga as “large camotes with wide leaves.” In Bicol, Marcos de Lisboa calle ubi as “big brown camotes” and apare “little white Camote like testicles”.

On the assumption that the batatas and camotes reported in 1565 were actually New World sweet potatoes, its suggested that they must have been brought over by the Villalobos expedition of 1543. Its likely that camotes were introduced like corn or cacao as new crops for the benefit of the colony after Manila became a capital, this is supported by Thomas Cavendish in 1588.

Camote However they were introduced, both the

word and the plant were widespread in the Visayas in Alcina’s day, where he said they were brought from Nueva España and were called batatas in Spain, he commented on their difference in size and color but referred to them as the refuge of the poor.

Hunting Visayan hunters called “mangangayam” hunted

with nets and dogs which were called “ayam.” Dogs were highly valued and some were even raised in the house, where they were pampered and fondled. Their masters rubbed noses with them, the equivalent of kissing. Filing the teeth of dogs was thought to increase their bravery. Visayan dogs were small but fearless. Dogs either took a boar in the chase or drove it into a string net (batung) with mesh wide enough for little shoats to pass through but catching large ones (hababatung).

Hunting Pits (awing) or deadfall traps (atub) were used

to caught large animals while smaller animals were caught with snares – balolong in general, balyug for iguanas, gawa for monkeys, anihas for wild chickens, and alikubkub, barang, or bitik for birds. An automatic crossbow or ballista (balatik) was regarded as the most dangerous trap. It had a long stock with a slot to hold the shaft, a powerful bow or string to propel it, and a catch to hold the string and release it when triggered.

Hunting Hunters slept in huts (hukdong) and

stayed out many days. Their first catch was offered to Banwanun, the mountain-dwelling spirit, up on a tree-stump altar. The rest was carried home on the hunter’s back and later shared with others. It was never sold or preserved, although it might be exchanged informally.

Fishing Visayan waters were abundant with fish during

the sixteenth century. In inland streams, inhabited swamps, thick muddy waters and even up to roots of mangrove trees were all teeming with fish. Most fishing was done close inshore and was done at night because schools of fish could be seen shimmering in the moonlight or because they were attracted to torches in boats. Fishermen used nets, traps, and corrals at the mouth of rivers or dammed-up streams.

Fishing Here are the variety of nets used: Paggiyod – dragnets used in shallow water,

fastened to the small of the fisherman’s back by a leather brace (paholan)

Laya – a casting net Holos – similar to laya but lighter and had no

lead sinkers; some were 5 meters across Baring – nets woven like loose cloth; fine nets

were for tiny hipon in the surf; while howar were nets with the widest mesh and used in swamps

Pansag – nowadays called salambaw; a large four-cornered net lowered by a simple derrick mounted on a raft

Fishing Pagbiday was setting nets upright along the edge of

thirty or forty boats strung out along the shore which caught fish leaping into the air.

The variety of ways to catch fish: Rivers were dammed to lead fish into nets or traps; weirs

or corrals (bakod) were made as long as 250 meters Roots, bark, or berries of more than a dozen trees, called

tubli in general, were squeezed into the water to stun the fish

Rattan basket traps (bobo) were set in creeks A hook and line called rombos was also used; as well as

harpoons made in different styles – kalawit or isi which were barbed like an arrowhead; sikap, a two-pronged fork; sarapang, a real trident with three or more points; bontal, a heavier one for catching the duyong or manatee

Domestic Animals Visayan diet had seafood as their main source of

protein, but pigs and chickens were also raised not only for consumption but also for sacrificial offerings.

Some of the domestic animals raised: Domestic pigs were called sohong. Different villages

had their own breed. Pigs were often raised in the house, and was reported to be cleaner than a dog, and was called “princess” (binokot). They were called so because like the secluded daughters of upper-class datus, they never set foot on the ground.

Domestic Animals A cat was also raised in every house to keep

it free of rats. If a civet cat could be caught young enough to tame, it made an even better mouser.

Pet monkeys acted as watchdogs to give noisy warning of approaching strangers.

Household dogs were provided with a special ladder to come and go as they pleased.

Horned cattle or cows were introduced late in the century from China and Mexico

Cooking Visayan cooking was done in a clay kalan stove, or

three stones (sugang) in an open hearth. Besides flint-and-steel, there were three other traditional methods of bag-id (making fire by friction).

By pulling a band of rattan back and forth around a slip stick driven upright in the ground

Rubbing a knife-shapped piece of bamboo along another stuffed with tinder and held horizontal with the foot

Rotating a wooden rod between the palms, drill-like, against a wooden board.

Cooking Staple foods were boiled; though tubers, bananas, and

fleshy leaves or leaf stems were also roasted in hot coals. Viands are frequently fried in coconut oil, and both meat and fish were barcecued or as smoked as tapa. Steamed in sections of bamboo were all kinds of food—

Paylaw- in general Sakot- if rice flour with grated coconut Lotlot- if broken out afterwards to retain their cylindrical

shape Lamur (was any such mixing with millet, sorghum,

beans, or nuts)- used to mix with rice to stretch a limited supply

Cooking Seafood—not only fish but eels, snails, squid, crab,

mollusks, turtles, and turtle eggs—were the main source of Visayan protein. All meat was forbidden on pregnant women— and so was shark flesh because babys sharks were believed to swim in and out of their mother’s womb during her pregnancy.

Daing- fish were preserved and marketed as sun-dried

Barol- split open and salted before sunning Lasi- fermented fish paste or meat brine Dayok, danglusi, and ginamus- high-flavored

adobo-like dishes minced meat or fish. Yaman or panakot- spices and seasoning

Cooking Honey was also an important food.

Seasons were designed by the flowering of trees and plants whose nectar fed the bees—like Katparasan from January to March when the paraasan rattan was in bloom. Honey was eaten as a food together with the white grubs it contained, or made into confections and sauces, used as a preservative for meat and fruit, or brewed into the meadlike kabarawan.

Cooking Rice cakes boiled in a little wrapper of coconut

leaves were called puso after the banana flower, and were prepared in different sizes and shapes:

Linalaki- masculine Binuwaya- crocodile-like Kumol sin datu- datu’s fist Tambol – where made with rice flour Kombo- with rice flour and coconut milk Linanggang- with rice and grated coconut Handab- were deep-fried

Cooking Though Visayans did not make cane sugar, they

obtained an unrefined brown sugar called kalamay- or chancaca in Spanish- from sap, and peddled it in little square packets of palm leaves called parak , ten parak being tied together and sold as one dangkay. Sara-sara was rice mixed with sugar, one of a number of snacks or tidbits called doom.

Salt was served in rock-hard lumps to be given a few sharp blows over the food, or stirred a few turns in liquids. Made by pouring a lye, which had been drained off burnt wood earlier soaked in salt water, into moulds shaped like a little boat (baloto), whence the lump was called binaloto.

Cooking Meals were served on low tables about 20

centimeters high or directly on the house floor on large leaves. Dolot was one serving—whence dolotan was a medium- sized plate. Gakas was the food a guest carried home; and bahaw was cold food left over from a meal, the usual breakfast. Bongdo- meat or fish that were piled in mounds by families or neighbooods in the case of feeding workers in exchange for group labor. In real feast and drinkfests, food was taken casually and in small quanitites to leave time for talk and wine.

Betel Nut Betel nut is a fruit of the areca palm, and is chewed

together with a leaf of the betel piper vine, from which it has borrowed its name. in Visayan, the nut was called bonga (fruit); the betel vine was called buyo, and so was a prepared quid; to chew it was mama, whence the quid was also called mamun.

Preparation, exchange, and serving of betel nut were the most important social act among Visayans.

An essential relationship before beginning any discussion men carried the necessary ingredients with them ready to share segments of the same nut, kulo, and thus become kakulo with another.

For a house-holder who fails to offer betel nut to anyone who entered the house was an insult inviting enmity.

Betel Nut On formal visits, the quids are prepared and served in

valuable metal trays or boxes by females of the household depending on the social standing of the guest.

Also figured in romance and courtship: to offer a quid partially chewed (upa) was an act if flirtation; to send one in response to a man’s clandestine request was an acceptance of his advances; to send it unbidden, an open invitation.

Bonga palms were extensively cultivated, often with a buyo vine planted at their base.

Youths chewing for the first time usually suffered giddiness like that produced by alcohol or korot root, and even the young lady’s first chew was a kind of puberty rite.

In a Suban-on epic, when the hero Sandayo appears before Datu Daugbulawan so young that “the sword at his waist scraped the floor,” he is told, “Bata, k’na ginapong: po dapa no p’nlebon [Child, no lime for you: you know not woman]” (Resma 1982,291).

Distilling and Drinking One of the first things the Spaniards leanred about

the Visayans was that they were good drinkers. Here is some of Pigafetta’s experiences as he ventured with Magellan through the Visayas:

Homonhon: As soon as Magellan landed, the people presented him with a jarful of Uraca, as recorded by Pigafetta, or Arak, Malay-Arabic term for distilled liquors

Limasawa: Pigafetta’s translator Enrique de Malacca got so drunk he was not much use. A few days later, the local harvest was delayed while Rajah Kulambo and his brother Awi slept over a hangover .

Distilling and Drinking Cebu: Pigafetta drank palm wine, tuba

sa nipa, straight from the jar with reed straws with Rajah Humabon

Quipit: Pigafetta mananged to excuse himself after one draught while Rajah Kalanaw and his companions finished off an entire jar without eating anything.

The Spaniards therefore called Visayan social occasions bacanales or drinkfest.

5 KINDS OF VISAYAN ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES Tuba.

2 types: 1. Nipa tuba (paoh) was made from the sap of wild trees added with a ground of tungug or lawaan bark to strengthen and give it a reddish color. 2. Coconut tuba is considered much better. Distilled into alak, oil, vinegar, or nuts themselves. It was therefore a more profitable item.Coconut plantations cover whole islands and Suluan was one of them. Pigafetta got the impression that a family of ten could live off two trees there.

Distilling and Drinking Kabarawan. (from baraw, to temper or mediate)

From Kabarawan wood whose bark was decocted to produce beverage. It is further boiled to half its volume mixed with honey and left to ferment naturally to become a smooth, strong liquor. It was consumed by men gathered around the jar, all sipping through straws until the bottom of the jar.

Intus.Sugarcane juice was extracted with a simple one-man press. A long springy pole was pivoted over a tree stump and kept bouncing up and down with one hand and a foot pedal, while the other hand, the cane was inserted to be squeezed near the fulcrum. The juice was boiled to half its volume. It was then sinubaw, and a small bundle of kabarawan bark was added as seasoning. When cool, it was stored in Chinese porcelains and left to ferment and age. The juice was also drunk as a tonic and served as a substitute for mother’s milk when necessary.

Distilling and Drinking Pangasi.

Pangasi is rice wine fermented in yeast, today called beer.Basi was the mash of cooked rice, already leavened with tapay,which was placed in the jar to produce the liquid pangasi. It was let stand until it became strong and sour, and was drunk with addition of water and, as the jar was drained, the addition of more basi. It was drunk through reed straws called . It was drunk through reed straws called tayuk and halasam, or drawn from the jar with a poot, a node of thin bamboo open at the bottom and with a finger hole near the top, which was submerged in the pangasi until it filled, and then withdrawn with the finger hole closed to create a vacuum to retain its contents. The mash left in the drained jar was called borohu. Pangasi drinking began with formality and ceremony and required for these occasions.

Distilling and Drinking Alak was anything made with a still (alakan ) was

made of a hollow tree trunk (toong) and two Chinese vats (baong, kawa, or karahay). The toong was placed in vats and undergoes a process of boiling and condensing then flows out through a bamboo tube (tadluyan) . The first liter or two are the strongest and best and, in the case of intus, had the qualities of brandy, and is called dalisay (pure or first-class). Lambug was to mix, dilute, or adulterate any of these liquors, and was a common practice. Watered wine was thus called linambugan and so was the child of mixed marriages or adulterous union.

Drinking Etiquette Visayans didn’t drink alone, nor appear to be

drunk in public. Drinking was done in either small groups or social gatherings. Men and women sat at the opposite sides of the room. Women were expected to drink more moderately then men. It was also the women’s duty to stretch their manfolk or spouse out.

Visayan men were proud of their capacity. A Samareno parishioner of Father Alcina will never get drunk no matter how much they gave him. A famous Bohol datu enjoyed the reputation of downing 3 liters fresh from the still in one breath.

Drinking etiquette dialect: Agda –asking some person to take the first drink. Gasa – was to propse a toast to somebody’s

health Salabat – was a toast in which the cup itself was

offered. Sometimes, carried from one house to another.

Naga Itib – for two to drink from the same jar Abong – an honor a datu pays for its timawa by

presenting his own cup after he has taken a few sips himself.

Sumsum – any food taken with wine. Now known as pulutan

Drinking Etiquette Drinking was commonly called pagampang, or

conversation. Neither business deals, family affairs nor community decisions were discussed without it.

According to Alcina, when pratical matters come up whether for public projects, orders from the king or his officials, or any other work, and they discuss among themselves the best, quickest and most equitable way to carry it out, if they meet dry and without a little wine first to enliven their interest, they talk little, discourse poorly and slowly, and decide worse; but after drinking something, he who proposes does it with eloquence, those who respond, with discretion, those who decide, with attention, and all with fairness.