The Best of Pampanga Eats (with Erwan Heussaff)

Pampanga has long been considered one of the culinary centers of the Philippines. The people here live and breathe their heritage. Ask anyone where to eat good food and they'll either point you to their favorite local restaurants where Kapampangan dishes are championed or invite you into their homes. This is the province that has given us Sisig, Tocino, Brinje, Muro, Tabatalangka, and many more. In this episode, we will explore why Kapampangans are so food obsessed. By having some of the best bites the province has to offer and by holding conversations with cultural bearers who make sure that their heritage is kept alive. You'll need a second serving of extra rice for this one. One of the main reasons Pampanga is known for their food is because the information has been passed down properly from generation to generation. Most of our history and recipes are oral so that chain of information is crucial in guarding local heritage. It represents a distinctive fusion of Chinese, Malay, Spanish, and indigenous culinary traditions and ingredients. Developed through the centuries, it incorporates aspects of these cultures forging a novel and thrilling culinary identity. Kapampangan home cooks and chefs have long been touted as some of the best in the country from the colonial period until today. Throughout the years, it's been celebrated for its creativity from dishes that showcase local thriftiness, utilizing discarded ingredients, or avoiding hunger by introducing exotic proteins to doubling down and fighting over family recipes and techniques. More recently, it's been part of a larger national discourse of what can and can't be done with traditional food. The province is currently at a crossroads of defining its identity. Is it the culinary capital of the Philippines or does it represent the whole of the Philippines and our potential to develop and promote our regional diversity as a unified strength? I'll need a lot of context to explore the food of the province so I called up Jam Melchor. Jam is the founder of the Philippines Culinary Heritage Movement. Through it, he has established Filipino Food Month and is an active member of Slow Food International. He's all about promoting Filipino food locally and internationally and just happens to be from Angeles City. We met up at Annie Beya's Eatery, a local spot where the grill is always smoking. They started off as a small food shop and now they are in a much larger space. Any time of the day, they sell some of the best Angeles has to offer. I also love that they post their menu daily on social media. On the day we went, they had some torta, asado manok, sipo egg, batsui, fried hito, ginataang hipon with mustasa, pitichan, and sisig. Can you tell me a little bit about the dishes in front of us and how they represent Pampanga in general? Okay, so basically what you're seeing is mostly meat. So Pampangans are hardcore meat eaters. We have pistu. We also call that torta sometimes. We have sisig, we have kaldereta, and we have lechon kawale. And then of course your pitichan here and your achara. And this is acceptable breakfast fare? Any time of the day? Any time of the day, basically. Is there a reason why people here are such meat eaters and mainly pork eaters, right? Probably because this is an agricultural region. And there are a lot of pottery and figury around this area. Even way before. Probably because most of the dishes require meat. I know this is trying to kind of navigate Pampanga. And the food here isn't easy, right? There's lots of different areas. It's a fairly big province. But if you were able to kind of sum up the food of the province, would you be able to in like a few words? Well, the easier is I would divide it into two parts. The wetlands and the drylands. So the drylands cover this area. And the wetlands, which covers the areas by the river. So most of the dishes there are somehow based on the produce that they get by the river. And of course, obviously the fare here is what we get. Farms, the community surrounding us. And in terms of historical influences, it's a bit of everything, right? It's a bit of everything. There's some Chinese influences, some Spanish influences, some obviously heirloom and kind of like pre-canolino dishes. Yes, yes, definitely. All right, let's try this. So this is our chicharron. Yes. And you were saying what's the right way of eating this here? Well, in Pampanga, you eat this piti-chan. We call it piti-chan. These are small chicharron. And then you have to add some achara. Achara to it. There. So you grew up here? I grew up here. Born and raised. Definitely our life is surrounded by lots of different events, food events. My parents and my grandparents are active in the scene as well. And good food, basically good food. And we make everything from scratch. Okay, so that's key. So there's still a love of cooking at home versus convenience. People still take a sense of pride in making food at home. Whenever we have a guest, we won't take them to a restaurant. Okay. The experience should be personal. We will cook for them. We will give them the best of the best. That's how the Kapampangans do it. So was that, would you say that was mostly your household or Kapampangans in general? Kapampangans in general, my household. And I think the Kapampangans will agree with me that they're all out, especially when it comes to their guests. It's a big controversial topic. Definitely. No mayonnaise. One that I want to talk about in depth. Because there's this whole idea of what should and shouldn't be, right? If I were to go to 15 Kapampangan households, would all their sisig be the same? Well, if you're here, particularly in Angeles or probably in any town in Pampanga, you won't be able to see a sisig with egg and mayo. That's a mortal sin. Okay. So the standard is onion, ginger. No ginger. Onion, garlic. No garlic. Onion. I'm discovering that my sisig is totally wrong. So just pig face, onion, vinegar, soy sauce. Okay. Pig face. And then chicken liver. Chicken liver. Has to be chicken liver, not pork liver. Yeah. And then calamansi. Okay. Sometimes people use vinegar, but people would usually use calamansi. So that would be an Angeles standard. Let's take a step back. Sisig is more of a method or style rather than a dish with a set of defined rules. In the local language, manisig means to make salad, while mapanisig is one who frequently eats salad or something along those lines. The old Tagalog word sisigan means to make sour. These are said to have influenced sisig. In 1732, Augustinian friar Diego Berganio in the Vocabulario de la Lengua Pampanga en Romance says that sisig is a salad including green papaya or green guava eaten with a dressing of salt, pepper, garlic, and vinegar. Eventually, pigtails and bones were added to the dish. In the 60s, most people actually remember sisig as chopped up boiled pig parts simply dressed with chicken liver, onions, salt, pepper, and calamansi. Similar to how Annie Beas prepares it. Only in the 70s did the boiled then grilled pig parts make their way to sisig and eventually onto a sizzling plate. Aling Lucing's sisig became the norm. This turned the dish into a national sweetheart. But its popularity shouldn't overshadow the dishes that came before it and their styles. In fact, in Pampanga, you'll find different sisigs using different ingredients and techniques. So just like the name and the language, the dish has evolved and will probably keep changing in the future. Why do you think Kapampangas are so proud of their food? They're proud of their food basically because it reflects who they are. Imagine if I start cooking my dish with onion, sauteing onion, and then garlic. My grandmother will kill me. It will always be garlic and then onion. So it's the same thing. I mean, food for Kapampangas basically reminds them of family and their ancestors. The way it was handed to them from generation to generation. The Kapampangas like to preserve the culinary traditions. Any form of tradition, they are into preserving the culture. And they are very strict in terms of preserving it. That's why we enjoy this fare to this day. Because we really use our heart to preserve everything. Not only our skills, but basically our taste buds. Why for you is it still very much and very difficult to study Filipino food? Because we have a diverse food culture and each region is very distinct. You cannot say that this is just your typical Filipino food. When we talk about Filipino food, there's Ilocano, there's Negrense, there's Kapampangan. And each food has their subcategories. You can't like put it in a one box and define it. So we have to celebrate its diversity. Our next stop was Aling Milas. I just keep coming back to this place. Just like Annie Beya's, this was a small hole in the wall before it expanded into what it is today. Her tokwat baboy and pako salad are staple orders and their sisig is different from others. As the pig bits are boiled and then deep fried, you end up getting a more gelatinous yet crisp flavor. So I said it's off cam and I'm going to say it officially on cam. For me, Milas is probably one of my favorite places to come. So this you would already consider not necessarily a very traditional sisig, right? They've played around with the flavors. But in essence, they've kept it quite straightforward. Yes, absolutely. They've just added the... Probably there's some deep fried bits in there that give it extra crunch. Do you remember during the time that the onion prices were very high? Yeah. So what the sisig places here in Pampanga, instead of adding more onions, they added more meat. So it's quite the opposite, you know? Because meat, thank you. Because meat was more... Cheaper than the onions. That's insane. I still find that insane. So why do you like coming to Milas? I like going here because of the food. Most especially because of this pako salad. It really balances with this. Especially for those who don't really consume so much rice. So that's one thing I realized when I was in Iloilo, Western Visayas. Balance is very important there. Is that something that you also find here? That you always need a little bit of sour with some sweet? Oh, definitely. By default, our taste buds, we like to mix and match. Yeah. If I may say. There you go. It's one of the most common ingredients in the Philippines, pako. But still one of the hardest to find when you're in Manila. Exactly. I usually get mine in Farmer's Market. That's right. Yeah, that's beautiful. Really sweet, fresh, lots of texture. Okay, this is the other thing that they're famous for. Is this very kapapangan or not so much? Well, it is. Look at the pork they use. It's also mascara. So mix it in? Go ahead. So this is mascara, soy sauce, deep fried tofu, celery. Red onion. What I like, it's a very different flavor profile. You can go to certain restaurants where things taste the same. Pork, pork, pork, pork. But everything tastes like its own dish. It's very different. Definitely more Chinese in terms of influence, right? So I'm going to ask you about the question that should not be asked. So this whole conversation about a culinary capital. I'm not going to ask you whether you agree or not. What I'm going to ask you is, why do you think people are talking about that? What puts kapampanga and the cuisine here in that kind of conversation where people are debating whether or not it should be considered like a bastion of Filipino cuisine in the Philippines? I think basically because the kapampangas take their food and culture seriously. We're really passionate about it. And when you're passionate with something, you try your very best to protect it. It's a coping mechanism to the globalization of things. So for me, as an advocate of Filipino cuisine, of course, I love the diversity of our food. But you cannot remove the kapampangan in me. Perhaps the kapampangan in me ignited my passion in protecting the Filipino cuisine all in all. One of the major challenges is the government infrastructure, the support. Because in other countries, their government really supports the industry as a whole as a way to promote their culture in other countries. So if we have that kind of support, then definitely it's going to be a strong one for us. That's the idea of food diplomacy. Using Filipino food to build bridges with other countries in terms of understanding our culture and how we are. Right as we were leaving, we met Milagros Gomez herself, a living legend in these parts. I was all porked out from our first two stops that I needed to cool off with something light. And I heard about this sherbet stall that most locals were raving about. Famous. Can I do the isang cheese corn langka buko tap? Ice cream and cheese corn. Tapos isang buko plain cheese. I am a huge fan of strange flavors. The consistency here looks absolutely amazing, especially on a hot day. So I checked online and it's been like 44 degrees celsius, so it's freaking hot. So here I have the cheese corn langka and buko. And already the consistency is beautiful compared to like the more icy sherbets that you see. The corn really comes through very strong, which I love. And that buko flavor is delicious. You know what's funny? When you're a kid, well, how I used to eat my ice candy, I wouldn't eat it straight out of the freezer. I would let it kind of thaw out for a couple minutes, just so that by the end of that plastic tube, I would have remnants of that liquid, sweet, sugary gold just sitting there at the bottom. So I love that this comes not completely frozen in the block, but more like a slushy in terms of texture. Not overly sweet. Beautiful chunks of buko. I'm really enjoying this. Every province of the Philippines has a goto merienda or kakanin spot. We were just lucky that Susie's was right across from where we were. There is a recurring theme here. Susie's was once also just a small karinderia. In 1972, Ms. Anicia Aysan started serving kapapangan dishes and snacks to the travelers who were shopping in Nepomart, which was known at that time for imported goods. Today, they have 22 branches serving their brand of kapapangan delicacies and pasalubongs. It is busy in here. Lots of people. I love to see it. This is, I mean, this is the best sign of whether or not a place is an institution is if one, they have tons of branches kind of all over the province. And two, if it's absolutely chocked full. It's 4 p.m. Like it looks like a lunch crowd, but it's not. This is a merienda crowd. But obviously in the Philippines, we do merienda heavy and proudly. So we have a beautiful pancit palabok. We've got tibok-tibok and a halo-halo, which are all things that I highly recommend that you eat when you come to Pampanga. Let's mix this up. I haven't actually had a really good palabok in a long, long time. For the uninitiated, beautiful rice noodles with usually a sauce that consists of annatto seeds, which gives it that beautiful orange color. Some people use shrimp heads or shrimp stock to really give it a thick kind of seafood flavor. And some people say the best ones come from Malabon. Some people say the best ones come from Pampanga. Let's give this a try. I know Suzy's is very famous for this. That has a really beautiful, deep seafood flavor. So definitely a really strong seafood stock is used here. And finally, they're very known for their tibok-tibok. So a real tibok-tibok is a traditional Pampangan dessert slash kakanin because it is made with soaked rice. But the real mark of a proper tibok-tibok is carabao milk. We actually did a video about this a few years ago, but I'm a huge fan of carabao milk. It has massive fat content, way more than cows. We have a lot of carabaos in the Philippines, and it is one of those industries that I would love to see develop more. Because if you make your coffee lattes, you make your ice creams, you make all your desserts with carabao milk, trust me, you'll just get a much deeper, milkier, creamier flavor, which would be, I would love to kind of see more carabao milk used everywhere. I mean, it has to be really subtle, and they do that really well. Cooked down the stick, you get lots of fattiness from the coconut oil, or the coconut milk that was rendered out into coconut oil, while keeping that sweetness of the coconut that clumps up and gives you such great texture, all the way from blackened slash burnt to really just toasted. It adds a beautiful oily sheen all over it, kind of coats your lips. And the base of the tea book itself, just extremely creamy, kind of gelatin-y and smooth. It still has to be kind of jiggly in your container. And texture-wise, it's not like your leche flan that has a bite to it. This is really just really smooth, and it's like a perfect, coherent, consistent consistency. And the perfect tita kind of comment, not too sweet, which is great. I can understand why this place is absolutely shocking. You've all heard of tocino, but have you heard of pindang? Pindang refers to a cooking method, in the Indonesian and Malay language, of boiling ingredients in brine or acidic solutions. It also has food preservation properties and can extend the shelf life of ingredients. Pindang babi preserves pork in a solution of sugar, salt, black pepper, garlic, and curing powder. In some areas of Bambangga, pindang is also known as burung babi. In Kandaba, for example, this involves fermenting rice with pork in a buried clay pot. It is then fished out and fried. This is the dish that gave birth to tocino, a staple that is now made all over the country. We were invited to tour the massive factory of one of the most popular brands, Bambangga's Best. I actually never realized Bambangga's Best was such a huge operation already. As we walked around, people were working non-stop, and this wasn't even their peak season. Everything is done in-house, in a very clean and efficient manner. I find the production of food at scale so fascinating, so I had to learn more. Can you tell me a little about how Bambangga's Best came to be? It all started way back in the late 60s, when my mother was in politics, a city counselor of San Fernando. But my mother, originally, was from Baclor. We were in the trucking business, and at the same time, a gasoline station. But my mother noticed that the business was not that good. She told me that we need another business, a business that is sustainable. She has a diamond ring. She pawned it in a private person, amounting to 5,000 pesos. For a diamond ring? Yeah. But at that time, 5,000 was already quite a big amount. And from there, she started processing this, what we call, tocino. But first, it was not tocino. It was termed as the local processed meat, as pindang, or they call it the burung babi. And she said that I have a piece of ham leg here. Could you help me? So, okay, I'll help you. I'll process it. But on one condition, you have to sell my product in the wet market. So, her comadre agreed. So, she processed that piece of ham. And that very same day, when her comadre came back, it was sold. Everything was sold. So, she made another order. But of course, she will have to supply her the meat until it has gained popularity. And through word of mouth, they say, okay, we want that product. And this time, it will be on a commercial basis. And she told me, it has to have a name. And not the name that is being called, burung babi or pindang. And what's that name? I asked my mom. Says, tocino. Why tocino? Where did you get that name? And she said that it's a Spanish name, like a bacon or what? A processed meat. That would be the name of the product. And I would give it a brand, meaning a brand. And what would be the brand? Because there are many pindang. There are many burung babi around in the market. And since pampanga is very famous for that delicacy or kind of processed meat, it should be the best in pampanga. And I will call the brand as pampanga's best. And then there was a small factory. But over time, we needed bigger space. And every time, every time we think of a bigger space, and that space is really not enough. This is the fourth plant from the house. And then the next plant was in Bacolor. We sat down for over an hour with Joe Marjison. And during that time, we spoke of innovation, passion, and different ways of running a successful business. If I had a podcast, it would have made for a great episode. But we were running a little late for our next appointment, and my stomach was already ready for another feast. There are a few restaurants that serve massive menus of Kapampangan specialties such as Balay Dotong, Abbe's Farm, Balay Kapampangan, to name a few. But I had never been to Apag Barangle, and I have only heard good things. Apag Barangle is a Kapampangan restaurant. We really branded it a Kapampangan restaurant because we're serving authentic Kapampangan cuisine, which is prepared, cooked, and done in a very traditional way. Apag means serve, Barangle means farm, so served in the farm. We opened Apag Barangle in 2008. For me, the hardest people to please are the Kapampangan, especially as I've said, they know the food best. For example, my asado is different from the asado of my neighbor. Or our inihaw here is different from the other towns. We have our own versions. There is this standard lasa that we know should taste like that. Like, caldereta should taste like caldereta, and asado, and pechado. The purpose is still there to promote and preserve the authentic Kapampangan cuisine. The challenge is still there. Kapampangan dish would never exist without pork. And I think Pako's provenance in Pampanga started with the Haitha community because they were the ones who supplied. So it's really a connection, just like the Chinese community who stayed for three centuries and then assimilated. Ruston Banao is an interdisciplinary artist and visual ethnographer whose creative output combines photography, filmmaking, and traditional art production. He's a staunch cultural advocate and has become fascinated with culinary history, heritage, and foodways. We actually met under really strange circumstances a few years back, but more about that later. Okay, so let's give the crickets a try. So crickets are... Would this be very traditional? There's a documented source that it has been in Pampanga even during the colonial period. Okay. Especially when Pampanga was plagued with... When there was this plague that the Kapampangans were never able to produce the conventional dishes because of poverty and then they started eating what's available. Seen as an alternative protein. Yes, it was a protein. Just like field rats or frogs and stuff like that. And this one is just stir-fried. Tasty, right? So kilayin is lungs and pork. And it's identified as a pre-colonial dish. We have that document. And I think it's similar with the asado. It's like these are part of those lineup of... When you say Kapampangan dish, you have kilayin. Kapampangan in general have always practiced whole animal cooking and eating? Yes, because you can find it in kilayin, in titad, and even in... We have an asado made with pisau. We also have that. Really? And yes, we also have that. And also, I think this is part of those soaked in vinegar dishes of Pampanga. Same lineup with sisig. Vinegar is crucial in Pampanga because we have the palm trees. Because we are near the river. So it's all cow on the rivers. We boil meat to preserve them and to... Especially in a family setup, to distribute it, you need to preserve. Yes, this is the dinuguan. But pork also? Pork also. And the blood is coagulated? Yes. Unlike the other dinuguan where blood is added as a sauce. As a sauce. The Kapampangan titad is basically a dish with a mixture of solid blood. Not just the sauce. So you pronounce it titad? Titad, yes. Titad. They are better tasting when cold. Like for example, you cook them today and then after several days, that's where the flavor saturates. This is what we do with kilay. We cook it mid-week, like Wednesday and Thursday. And then during weekend, when we eat all together with the family, that's where we serve the kilay. The pork definitely has a pronounced vinegar flavor. And you can tell that the vinegar has saturated and dried out the pork a little more. This one feels more kind of like fattier. Fattier. So this has more acid to it. Whereas this has more of that full fat flavor, which is quite nice also. Beautiful. And then let's move on to another pork dish. I think we can... Two pork dishes, yeah. We can try the umba. Just like the previous pork dish that we ate, it is basically made with vinegar. Okay. But the thing with umba is it's a mixture of many ingredients and spices. We have this peculiar ingredient. We call it gulgul. Which you cannot find like even in San Fernando or in Angeles. And it's something that the people in lower Pampanga, especially here in Guagua, use for umba and asado. When you check the gulgul, it's basically a dried oregano. I've seen it. Yes, I've seen it. Yes. And we mix that. And the story about umba is... It looks like marijuana. Yeah. I've seen it in the market. I was like, what the hell is that? Yeah, it looks like marijuana. Dried local oregano. So we mix that with umba. Even in Kilay, we mix that gulgul in Kilay. But in umba, or umba without the H because it's Kapampangan, this shows the identity of the Chinese influence. Because this part of Pampanga is heavily influenced in terms of population, in terms of food culture. With the Chinese? Yes. So this is the precursor of casino. Yeah. Pindang. Pindang or pindag? Pindang. So this is carabao. Carabao. I can already see just the amount of sugar in here. I'm super excited to try this. I'm having this, by the way, with our tabatalangka rice, which seems like a perfect... Wow, that is so soft. And sometimes, like in my family, we would even have this vinegar. Yeah. To dip this into vinegar. I mean, it's already sour. Wow. But this is one of my favorites. I've never had this. First time? Yeah. It's... It's almost ketchup-y in intensity. And it's way softer than any tocinos I've tried, right? The story of the pindang damulag or pindang carabao... Because the Kapampangans treat carabao more useful in farms. So you don't kill the carabao. So in most cases, the reason why we have the pindang damulag or pindang carabao is because the carabao died. Okay. Or because of old age. Okay. So because of old age... Very controversial today. Yeah. Because of old age, the meat tend to become... Softer. Yes. That's how it goes. They ferment it to make it softer. Like when you bite it, it explodes in your mouth. That's the texture. It's so intense. And so you have this both for carabao and for pork. Pork, yeah. So basically, what we do is get the mustasa and then put... This? Yes. This is burung... This is burung shrimp. Yeah. So I like burung shrimp compared to burung dalag. And then this in here also. And this is very traditional. Very traditional. To eat mustard leaves like this. Like even before the arrival of the Spanish, we've been eating burung. We have burung mustasa also, right? Yeah, burung mustasa. Although we put any kinds of vegetables like eggplants. So for people who don't know, Rason and I met a long, long time ago online. The people in Pampanga once attacked me. Because it was chicken sisig, right? Okay. I made a chicken sisig recipe on Tastemade. You remember this? And then we started chatting online through Messenger. And he was mentioning off-cam that you're happy that we're coming. And I was telling you in the comments, there's always people saying, Do you hate Pampanga? Why do you never cover Pampanga? We're here. We don't hate it. We just wanted to do it properly. So I've been asking everyone this, you know, that we've been meeting. Why do you think Kapampanga are so proud of their food and their culinary heritage? I think because food in Pampanga is part of the conversation, everyday conversation. It's more like a common thing that when the Kapampangans eat their lunch, they are already talking about their dinner. So it's kind of way of life that they see food as part of their granular being, as people, as human beings, that they think about taste. They think about umami and the flavor. So it became like identity of the people that we are into food. We are into cooking. And it's an intergenerational practice. In a family in Pampanga, there will always be one or two, or even everybody in the family can cook. That's proven, actually. You can see that in communities. And when I was doing the book, it even cemented that mysticism. Because every time I go to municipalities and then talk to people, and then like, for example, I have this resource person talking about the dish, and then he or she has a family around hearing the conversation, they would even intervene. No, you don't put asin first, you put the rice before fermenting it. Things like that. So they even argue. So argument. In the same family. Yes, yes. They even argue. I would love to see Kapampangan dishes, not just made by Kapampangan people. I think that's the key. I think if you gatekeep your food too much, and I understand in a way that it has to remain authentic, you have to respect the history, understand it, then maybe get creative with it if you want, as long as you have that base understanding of the dish and the culture. But if the thought process is only Kapampangans can cook food from this region, then the food will always just remain in this region. Show me any Filipino food restaurant in the world, I can probably name 90% of the menu without ever seeing the menu, right? Adobo's gonna be there, lechon's gonna be there, sisig's probably gonna be there. And sisig did come out. Sisig came out of the Kapampangan food realm and became kind of like almost a national dish, right? And I feel like for the culture to spread, and for the love for Kapampangan food to spread, it's really important for all these other dishes to really still be seen as Kapampangan food, but also be seen as Filipino food, right? Which I think is really key, really important. When today when we talk about sisig, we're talking about pork sisig, when is it okay for that to start being, like start being, I don't know how to use that word, but like embraced by adobo at home, I take my liberties, right? If you want to do adobo which is super social with balsamic vinegar, you know, go for it, whatever makes you happy. When is that okay? Or how do you approach that? I think it has been okay ever since. The real problem emerged when that idea that a certain group is the best in cooking and in culinary tradition became like a weapon. Yeah, okay. To standardize and gatekeep, like for example, the sisig, this is the only way you can cook sisig. And that's the reason why the idea of the culinary capital is an idea I wanted to dismantle because it actually never helped in exploring and unraveling and even sharing the idea of food. Because even if you go to Pampanga, sisig has multiple versions. Like we have sisig in Lubao, which is entirely different from the sisig in Guagua, but these are neighboring towns. Like in sisig in Lubao, it's made of like the banana heart. Okay. Yeah, the banana heart. It's made of banana heart and usually sauteed with shrimp or even a little bit of pork. While in Guagua, the sisig is just simply boiled pork and with vinegar and chili. And you go to Angeles, which is more like the modern version that we know today. If you compare them, these are three different dishes, but named as sisig. So that alone would at least inform people that food is not really just like a one-time put-in-a-box thing. It's something that evolves. It's an expression of the people that this exists. And every community has their own expression. We could have gone on and on with Restoran. It's great to see people recognizing astronomy as our cultural heritage while never losing sight of how food changes and evolves with the times. I didn't know that there are three different Rezon's brands. Rezon's by Glen, Rezon's of Guagua, which you've probably seen all over, and finally this one, the original Rezon's. They all started as one, and this is probably the closest to the actual first location. It was started by three sisters in Guagua, Pampangua, where we are today. They got famous because of their alu-alu, without the H's please, and eventually different people from the family expanded the brand with their own versions of it. I just always loved how pretty this is. It's probably one of the cleanest looking alu-alus. It is different. People say that, right? They're like, oh, the original tastes different. This is very different in terms of the flavoration. You compare it with the Rezon's of Guagua in Manila. It's way more subtle in flavor. They are the ones who make all the ingredients. They process it in their house. The bananas, the coconut, etch-a-plan. I think that's where the magic starts. They don't buy pre-made ingredients, unlike the commercially available alohalo. It's very tedious to make alohalos. There's a lot of elements you have to make from scratch. Yeah, that is seriously one of the best. That's probably one of the best alohalos. We call Palabok as Luglug. It's a Kapampang term for Palabok. The same story of those Chinese ancestry, that the Chinese arrived in Guagua and stayed for more than three centuries and assimilated with the people. These are the remnants of that transmission of that culinary heritage of merging of the Chinese and the local people and creating special dishes. Yeah, thanks for taking me here. I thought I've tried the proper one. I didn't know this was the proper one. Pampanga is a really busy place, but obviously there are parts of the province where there's still a lot of farms and they're still agriculturally heavy. As you know, in these places where food sometimes and food sources can be tough, that's when you have these really cool recipes with fermentation. That's where everything really develops. We're on our way to meet a really cute Lola who does fermentation and burros in a really special and unique way. You can't talk about Pampanga and not mention burro. We have many ways of extending the shelf life of our food in the country and fermentation is one of them. Some burros are ingredients lacto-fermented in a water and salt brine. Others are more traditionally pickled with salt, sugar, or vinegar. But the most famous and possibly most polarizing ones are those where fresh shrimp, fish, or even beef intestines are mixed with cooked white rice, sealed, and left to ferment over time. Nanay Priscilla David, 73 years young, makes burro for a living. She was born and raised in Lubao, Pampanga, and has specialized in the art of fermentation over the last 40 years. She is known for her burrong asan and hipon, fermented shrimp and fish in rice. She makes them weekly and gets orders from both locals and people living in the US or in the UAE. After making her ferments, she takes her bike and sells her burro to neighbors and at the local market. Her story reflects the dedication of home cooks to traditional cooking in the province. How do we eat this? I think it's, we can eat it with our bare hands, like get the vegetable and dip the vegetable. And how about the fish? Where do you put the fish in? Usually you put it in your plate and then together. Okay, but we can dip just the vegetables. So I'll try the... Wow, that's good. I think if people never try this, it's a hard thing to describe, but there's like a very soft, subtle sourness. This is the fermented shrimp. Fermented shrimp. I actually like it hot. Yeah. Is it supposed to be, when you serve this, should it be cold or hot? No, no, I think it's hot. Hot? Okay. Think of like a sour goto, right? Flavor-wise and texture-wise. It kind of breaks between your palate and your teeth. And then you get like a almost miso-like funk right at the back of your throat. That was a full day of eating and I finally get my cheese rolls. I know if I finish this video and people did not see me eating cheese rolls, we'd have a comment section that is on fire. We had a little mishap this morning and weren't able to make it to the bakery, but at least I've got the original ones from the original location. You got that granular, sugary kind of texture and like that munai-ish bread inside. For me, that kind of represents all the food that we've been discovering so far in Pampanga. It's very familiar, very close to us in terms of distance if you live in Manila. It's something that has those comforting notes and flavors of Filipino cuisine that we all love, yet it has a certain uniqueness to it that makes it truly its own. Exactly like this little piece of pastry. These are all flavors that you know, but somehow here, they're slightly different. They're regional, they're localized, they're absolutely delicious. So to answer the question that I posed in the beginning, is Pampanga the culinary capital of the Philippines? Like I said, it's a question that it's impossible to answer. It's impossible to self-proclaim that because there are so many beautiful, 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 is very difficult to say, yet I do believe that it is probably one of the most important provinces that we have when it comes to food alongside provinces like Cebu or regions like Western Visayas who do a lot with great food. So I do really think the food that they have here is quite special. And if you stick around over the next month, for the whole month, we'll be running Pampanga content. So we have about nine videos lined up. Everything from a beautiful lola that you saw today making us beautiful fermented burros to someone gathering and fishing for some crabs and making that tabatelangka that we absolutely love and other documentaries that I think you will adore while watching and gain a better understanding, perspective and maybe newfound love for Kapampangan cuisine.