{"id":2897,"date":"2017-03-23T16:09:35","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T16:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2024-05-14T10:33:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T02:33:35","slug":"discovering-the-mouthwatering-bibingka-a-la-luisiana-laguna-and-getting-life-lessons-along-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/discovering-the-mouthwatering-bibingka-a-la-luisiana-laguna-and-getting-life-lessons-along-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering the mouthwatering bibingka a la Luisiana, Laguna (and getting life lessons along the way)\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Different towns (not even provinces) in the Philippines have different takes on the kakanin<\/em> (snack fare) \u2013 e.g. bibingka<\/em> (rice cake). Metro Manilans (as exemplified by the bibingka<\/em> served during Christmas) serve theirs with either cheese or itlog na maalat<\/em> (salted egg). In Midsayap in North Cotabato in Mindanao, bibingka<\/em> is mixed with sukang tuba<\/em> (coconut vinegar), so it tends to be somewhat sour. And then in Luisiana in Laguna, the bibingka<\/em> sort of \u201cmerges\u201d with another local delicacy, the buko<\/em> pie, as slivers of fresh buko<\/em> (young coconut) are added as ingredient for a kakanin<\/em> that\u2019s truly\u2026 mouthwatering.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started the selling of bibingka<\/em> (in Sitio Dapi, Barangay San Antonio, Luisiana, Laguna),\u201d said 60-year-old Mercedes \u201cMercy\u201d Ayala in the vernacular. Supposedly, 18 years ago, \u201clumipat kami rito<\/em> galing<\/em> Pagbilao, Quezon (we moved here from Pagbilao, Quezon).\u201d And when they moved, \u201cdala ko ang turo sa akin ng lola naming na pagluluto ng bibingka<\/em> (I brought with me my grandma\u2019s bibingka<\/em> recipe).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercy\u2019s bibingka<\/em> is prepared differently. Instead of just making the rice cake plainly, sans any halo<\/em> (addition), hers has shreds of fresh buko<\/em> mixed with the ground malagkit<\/em> (sticky rice) and asukal<\/em> (sugar). The end-product is a moist rice cake that is more akin to\u2026 say, brownie (sans the choco), than to any bibingka<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The bibingka<\/em> became so popular, Mercy said, that relatives and distant relatives soon imitated making a somewhat similar offering, so that there are now bibingka<\/em> vendors along the highway of Barangay San Antonio. And \u2013 if you hear these vendors talk \u2013 they\u2019re all \u201crelated\u201d, so that they can all claim to be using the \u201coriginal recipe\u201d supposedly handed down to them through generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westerners may say \u201cintellectual property rights\u201d violation; but Mercy said she\u2019s okay with the \u201cimitation\u201d. With the bibingka<\/em>, she was able to help send their seven kids to school (her husband is a fisherman). \u201cNakakakain naman ng tatlong beses sa isang araw<\/em> (We\u2019re able to eat three times a day somehow),\u201d she smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is also something she hopes others can learn from. \u201cPara makatulong sa asawa, magtinda<\/em> (Sell to help your partner in life),\u201d she said. \u201cNakakasadya naman kung ika\u2019y tumulong<\/em> (It feels good if you are able to help).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though in Mercy\u2019s case, it helps that the bibingka<\/em> she sells is something truly wonderful\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"bibingka2\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"bibingka3\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"bibingka4\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Luisiana in Laguna, the bibingka sort of \u201cmerges\u201d with another local delicacy, the buko pie, as slivers of fresh buko (young coconut) are added as ingredient for a kakanin that\u2019s truly\u2026 mouthwatering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11,7],"tags":[1589,1591,1590,650,110],"class_list":["post-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations","category-nutrition","category-travel","tag-bibingka","tag-laguna","tag-luisiana","tag-nutrition","tag-travel-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9281,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions\/9281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}