NOHS Canteen

Wala nako kapugngi nga dili imantala ug ipaambit dinhi kining usa ka sugilagbay bisan ug wala pa makapananghid sa iyang manunulat (my apologies). Dako ang akong pagkahisagmuyo kay para baya nato yano ra man ang canteen sa NOHS pero sa pagkahubit sa nagsulat mao ang nakahatag ug pagka-interesante sa niining atong kan-anan nga sa daghan nang panahon atong gisalohan sa atomg mga kaagi. Ug dili pud madale kini nga article kay sumala sa editor sa Asian Journal kini nga essay usa sa mga finalist sa 2005 "Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Awards." Padungang sa pagka-miss nato sa atong pinalanggang high school. Basa lang. Naa pud diha ang iyang numero sa sa telepono mao nga order dayon.

kinutlo gikan sa: http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=55&a=9583&sid=94fb24e0c0072931ff0d2ba1a61cfc37

The Sweetness of Dumaguete

“IN a sea of dust-colored buildings, the school-owned canteen of the Negros Oriental High School (NOHS) in Dumaguete City stands out as a gleaming white beacon to the school's 4,000 students. Above its entrance is a white sign with a pink border. It reads "Speak English.”

“The white-and-pink faux marble tile floor is glossy and polished despite constant foot traffic. The canteen's front, left and rear are open to provide ventilation but delimited with white bars. Girls and boys hunch over white tables and chairs. The right walled side of the room is occupied by a showcase of rice, hot meals, desserts, candies and biscuits. Baskets of V-Cut, Piatos, and other chips hang from the white lintels. To the back of the room, the kitchen is abuzz with staff cutting, mixing, boiling, steaming or frying the next meal or snack.

“The canteen is managed by Wilfreda Villalon. It has three principal cooks. A wizened Mang Tonio is responsible for the hot meals. Youthful Jo-an does the baking. Sixty-year-old Auntie Flora Oira is the canteen's equivalent of a pastry chef.

“From Mondays to Fridays, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Auntie Flora is dressed in an apron and a hairnet as she prepares the day's sweets: puto maya (a sweet rice cake eaten with hot chocolate), champorado (chocolate rice pudding), and dinuldog (sweet coconut milk pudding, ginataan in Tagalog), among others.

No bigger than a forefinger

“One of her culinary treats is budbud kabog, a sweet cake the size of an adult's forefinger. There are different kinds of budbud. Some are made, for example, of malagkit (glutinous rice). But what distinguishes this budbud is the use of millet, kabog. Hence, it is generally only available in Dumaguete, Bayawan, and other localities where millet is grown.

“Auntie Flora does not speak Tagalog or English. With the help of her colleague, Isabel Romano, Auntie Flora explains that she only learned how to cook three years ago, when she joined the NOHS canteen. She cooked at home, but her dishes were limited to "mga ordinaryo lang (the ordinary ones)." Working in the canteen required her to expand her repertoire. Mang Tonio and Villalon mentored her on new dishes and food preparations.

“To make budbud kabog, Auntie Flora soaks the kabog one hour prior to cooking. She squeezes the milk from five coconuts and combines it with sugar. She boils the solution until it is thick and adds the kabog, cooking until it is tender. She then forms the budbud kabog by wrapping cooked kabog in young banana leaves and steaming them for one hour.

Smell of banana

“Whether freshly steamed or reheated (it freezes beautifully), budbud kabog smells of sweet banana leaves and rich coconut milk. It is soft without being mushy and firm enough to hold its shape. The individual millet grains meld into a unified whole. Budbud kabog is sweet but not satiating. The coconut oil gives it a buttery texture that allows it to slide almost unperceptively down your throat. You can easily gulp down five or six pieces and still want for more. Villalon recommends eating budbud kabog with thick, native chocolate and ripe mangoes. The combination is divine.

“Auntie Flora says that, for budbud kabog to be good, "Kailangan eksakto ang timpla (the combination of ingredients must be precise)." Is there bad budbud kabog out there? Yes, there is, Villalon says, "Yung kulang sa gata (Those that do not have enough coconut milk)." Some budbud kabog-makers, she says, are too commercial. The NOHS canteen, on the other hand, emphasizes service and not profit, so their food's prices are low while quality is high.

“The emphasis on service also leads to a full disclosure attitude towards recipes. Both Auntie Flora and Villalon are surprisingly forthcoming with their formulations. "There are no trade secrets," Villalon says. A teacher of Technology and Livelihood Education, she says, "These are the same recipes I give to my students." Although she has not taught them budbud kabog this year, she is thinking of including it in her November syllabus, when she teaches native delicacies.

“The canteen caters primarily to NOHS students. However, it accepts orders for budbud kabog and other products. The staff routinely entertains requests from teachers, the Department of Education Division of Dumaguete City, government workers from City Hall, friends, and visitors. To order budbud kabog from the NOHS canteen, please call Villalon through the principal's office at (035) 2252684 or (035) 4220326. Villalon also recommends their empanadas, but that is another story.