PANCIT MALABON -FIESTA STYLE

PANCIT MALABON -FIESTA STYLE 

f you ask any Filipino what foods define his culture, he will give you three dishes: lumpia (spring rolls), pancit (noodles), and adobo (meat). Lumpia and pancit are dishes borrowed from the Chinese. Although adobo is indigenous to the Philippines, the word “adobo” is Spanish. This brings up an interesting question. If the foods that I associate as “Filipino” are actually Chinese or Spanish, what defines something as “Filipino?” By taking a quick glance at the history of the Philippines, we can obtain a plausible answer. The first Filipino hero Lapu-Lapu led his army against Ferdinand Magellan and his conquistadors at the Battle of Mactan. Lapu-Lapu was the “first in a long line of heroes to resist the culture of the west” (Joaquin 51). He was hailed as a hero because he resisted outside cultural influence. But if we define Lapu-Lapu as a Filipino hero, does being Filipino mean that I should reject all foreign influence? I do not believe so. In terms of my food pancit, it is evident that acceptance, not just rejection, is also part of our culture: how we take something that is not ours and mold it and assimilate it into our cultural identity defines the Filipino. 

Pancit was shaped by Filipino interaction with both China (through trade) and Spain (through colonization). The Chinese first came into contact with the Filipinos during the ice age. At this time, “travel to and from the Philippines was easy, especially during the last ice age when the already shallow South China Sea receded about 150 feet, creating land bridges between the Asian mainland and the islands” (Rodell 8). In addition, there is ample archeological evidence in the form of pottery and other trade items indicating extensive early links with Thai, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, and Chinese merchants. Although many countries interacted with the Philippines over the years, China was especially active in the Philippines thanks to its merchant visitors, who served a dual role as cultural emissaries.  Their influence had the greatest impact on the Filipino diet and the general material culture because of the goods they exchanged for local products (Rodell 9).

During these hundred years of trade, Chinese merchants undoubtedly brought pancit with them on their trips. When they were in the Philippines they likely shared meals with their Filipino trading partners. Despite the frequency of these interactions, the process of adopting elements of Chinese cuisine moved slowly until the establishment of a Spanish colonial presence in Manila. Before this event, Filipino centers of commerce were decentralized and spread across over thousands of islands. Because of this geographic diversity, Chinese traders had no reason to linger in any one place (Rodell 104). However, once the Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi established Manila as a protected port city in 1571, there was finally a concentrated area for trade. Chinese merchants began to do business for longer periods of time. Because of this, they eventually began to share their cuisine (Rodell 105). This explains why Antonio Pigaftta, an Italian scholar and pasta enthusiast who accompanied Magellan during his expedition, did not mention, in his many descriptions of what Filipinos were eating in 1521, the presence of noodles on our tables - Filipino exposure to pancit had only just begun  (Joaquin 53). This established center of commerce not only facilitated the integration of these two cuisines, but also further solidified the process of cultural acceptance. It is important to note that “before the arrival of the first Spaniards, Filipino religious beliefs, social organization, gender relations, and material culture were already well developed and exhibited strong similarities among all groups in the island” (Rodell 9). The process of integrating foreign influences into pre-existing culture was very selective and intentional. The fact that pancit survived this selection process is a testament to the significance it holds in Filipino culture.

Pancit Canton: The Birthday Noodle

In order to determine what the Filipinos decided to keep, we can look at the symbolism of pancit. For Filipinos, noodles represent long life and good health. In Chinese culture, the noodle is also a symbol of long life. The Chinese taught us that if you want to have many more years to come, you should eat noodles (Lumen). This is the reason why Filipinos eat noodles during birthdays.  No matter where I celebrate my birthday, whether at a restaurant or at home, noodles are a must.  And when you’re eating pancit, the noodles must not be cut because cutting them short corrupts the symbolism. I find that this rule puts me in a tough spot sometimes. If Filipinos are this picky, how am I supposed to eat without chewing? Despite this paradoxical problem, the symbolism of pancit has been so thoroughly absorbed into our native culture that its meaning is not disputed. 

Furthermore, by looking at the etymology of pancit, we can trace even more specific instances of adaptations into Filipino culture. The word pancit itself, which comes from the Hokkien pian + e + sit, is still recognizably Chinese. Although the Hokkien word for pancit is similar, they have entirely different meanings. In Hokkien, it literally means “something that is conveniently cooked” (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Fernandez 62). According to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, pancit now means “sautéed rice noodles with bits of vegetables, sausage, and tiny shrimps.” Because there are multiple variations of pancit, I believe a more encompassing definition of the word should be “a noodle dish consisting of vegetables or meats.” Although the definition has changed over time, contemporary Filipino cooking trends still connect to the original definition. Pancit, compared to many other Filipino dishes, is a conveniently cooked noodle dish. The ease has been maintained. 

Just like the word pancit has stayed throughout the ages, rice noodles have always been used in Filipino cuisine. However, the first pancit that was brought to the Philippines, by a Chinese merchant, was likely made from wheat noodles (Lumen). If wheat noodles were first brought to the Philippines, how did rice noodles surpass them to become so commonplace? The earliest empirical evidence of noodles ever found described “two kinds of millet, a grain indigenous to China and widely cultivated there 7,000 years ago” (Roach). The Chinese merchant that brought these wheat noodles must have ran out of them and had to make his own. With the help of the inquisitive Filipino natives, he “may have experimented with batch after batch until he produced something that looked like what he may have had in his homeland” (Lumen). However, since rice, not wheat, was on hand, he made rice noodles. Rice is the nation’s natural crop, a staple in the Filipino lifestyle. The Philippines’ tropical 80°F climate and rainy monsoon season makes it the perfect place to grow rice, not wheat (Rodell 5).  It only made sense for him to adapt to the new environment using local ingredients to make his dish.