Desperate Snacks?

Asked by the Manila Bulletin to describe Pinoy street food, which he seemed to be so familiar with, Singaporean food expert KF Seetoh proclaimed quite bluntly that “Filipinos have no street food” and betamax (grilled pork or chicken blood), isaw (chicken intestines), helmet (grilled chicken head), etc, are “desperate snacks.”

DESPERATE SNACKS

So who is KF Seetoh?

He’s been called Singapore’s most prominent expert on local street food.

The Case of 200-Peso Street Food

Alicia Sy on why isaw, kwek-kwek, betamax, et al are not what true Pinoy street food culture is all about

The long line that snaked around Federacion Drive and 9th Street in Bonifacio Global City said it all. For five days and four nights, over 77,000 people joined the revelry that was the World Street Food Congress (WSFC) Jamboree, the first congress hosting outside the event’s native Singapore. Food lovers from all walks of life—from families to couples, expats to yuppies, food critics to chefs—made a beeline to the open grounds, under the scorching summer sun to sample some of the best hawker fares from 25 top street food chefs and vendors. It was a delicious success.

But not everybody was happy. Not everybody was smacking their lips at the tangy spicy smell of Penang Assam Laksa or was in raptures sinking their teeth into a juicy Har Cheong Gai (bagoong chicken) burger. Not even the rows upon rows of glistening spicy truffle rice stuffed lechon from Pepita’s Kitchen could appease the naysayers.

Where were the perfectly charred isaw ng baboy at manok (grilled pig and chicken intestines), the kwek-kwek (deep-fried quail eggs dipped in an orange-colored batter), and the taho (silken tofu topped with tapioca and brown sugar syrup) of their childhood? “How is this street food?” A tortured soul lamented on Twitter. The unimpressed minority, that might or might not have been there, took to social media and blogs to air their grievances. WSFC was, according to them, “too expensive,” “too sosyal,” and even “elitist.” And then there were the hashtags: #misleading #paasa #pafall #hindimasarap—which was kind of the reason WSFC came to be, and why the Department of Tourism’s Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) wanted to bring it to Manila in the first place.

“People throw around that word elitist too easily,” said Town&Country Philippines executive editor and Eat Out Now restaurant guide book author Alicia Sy. “I didn’t get the feeling at all that the event was elitist. It was open to the public and people lined up for hours to get in and then to buy their food. That’s not really elitist behavior now, is it?”

She added, “I eat off the street all the time—barbecue, mangga, taho, binatog, kakanin, inihaw, balut, but I work with a luxury publication. What does that make me?”

The brainchild of “Food Guide Maven” and “Guru of Grub” KF Seetoh of Makansutra, WSFC was created three years ago to capitalize on all the relevant aspects and opportunities of heritage street food culture around the world: To preserve its food ways, heritage, and culture; To professionalize and provide new perspectives of delivering, serving, and entertaining with street food; To imagine new possibilities and seek a new space for hawkers and street food chefs. It is a movement, so to speak, to globalize heritage food and street food and make it even more profitable.

So by having food stalls from the Cordilleras (kiniing-inapoy bingungen or Cordilleran smoked pork, mango, cucumber, egg, and lettuce, in rice), the Visayas (La Paz batchoy and tahong lumpia), and Mindanao (durian panna cotta, and Filipino satay) alongside heritage street food from Malaysia, Singapore, India, Thailand, China, Indonesia, and the US was not just upping the ante of Pinoy regional heirloom dishes but also established how heritage food in the Philippines is at par with the rest of the world and deserves just as much of the spotlight as its Asian neighbors.

Now do we really want charred chicken intestines, chicken heads, and kwek-kwek balls to exemplify the culinary flavors that define our local food culture? Or maybe the problem here is that “street food” elsewhere in the globe is different from the street food we grew up enjoying.

Asked to describe Pinoy street food, which he seemed to be so familiar with, Seetoh said quite bluntly that “Filipinos have no street food” and our betamax (grilled pork or chicken blood), isaw, helmet (grilled chicken head), etc, are “desperate snacks.”

“Those are desperate street snacks that don’t reflect your heritage. These, however, are what you call heritage food,” Seetoh said pointing at the stalls at the Jamboree. “They came from somebody’s heritage and family, repositioned for business.”

While Alicia wouldn’t agree that Pinoy street food, as we know it, is “desperate,” she thought that Seetoh’s observation was insightful, something she never realized before. “I seek our street food like fish balls and Banana Q and turon out so it’s not an act of desperation. But when I think about what he said, we really don’t have a full meal on the street like, let’s say, the Mee Siam (Siamese noodles) or chicken rice. So I see what he means, what we consider to be street food is in fact finger food,” Alicia said.

For Alicia, the idea of street food as a culinary movement is a new concept but food has been sold on the streets for ages now. It is and always has been an integral part of Philippine culinary heritage. “Growing up I would buy fish balls and sago for merienda off the street but I never coined it ‘street food,’ it was simply food. I like the idea of discovering cultures through a country’s food—street, home cooking, and even royal cuisines where appropriate. Everything has its place,” she said

At the recent Madrid Fusion Manila 2016, Alicia curated a street food presentation at the Regional Lunches sponsored by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“The concept of street food as an accessible and now hip way to explore a culture has been trending for a while. When DA Undersecretary Berna Romulo Puyat asked me to participate in Madrid Fusion as a curator again this year, I felt that we needed to now present our food by concept and not by region,” she said. “Last year, we did Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao lunches as an introduction to the flavors, dishes, and indigenous ingredients of each region. This year I wanted to highlight our food in the ‘every day.’”

The direction she gave to the chefs were that they could present traditional fare if they wanted but in the spirit of Madrid Fusion. She also encouraged them to put their own stamp on each dish. Among the featured street-side grub and merienda staples were bold and fun interpretations of mais con yelo, binatog, lugaw, mangga’t bagoong, palamig, dirty ice cream, and the infamous “exotic” street fare balut.

Read the full article at https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/manila-bulletin/20160501/281556585022833