A Filipino Birthday Party

Filipinos like to make a lot of noise. And eat a lot. And dance.

So this is where it all comes from!

Generally, they just love to have fun. And there’s no one better than a Filipino to show you how to put some of your western stuffiness aside (Stuffy? Me? No, never!) and point you in the right direction.

When there’s a birthday party or an event to celebrate, which there is seemingly everyday here, it’s all the more excuse.

Two days ago I arrived in Calapan, Mindoro, the home town and island of my mum, just in time for my aunty’s 50^th birthday. Now, the Australian in me would have thought that everyone would be saving themselves for the feast that was to come that night. Something light beforehand perhaps, or at least just one meal for lunch.

But really, I should have known better. If I say it once, I’ll say it again, in the Philippines, it’s eat, eat, eat all the time, and you definitely have to love their enthusiasm for the task.

Lunch two was a spread of chicken curry, golden yellow and inviting topped with pulsing red capsicum, as well as plush crabs legs with plump flesh and a fresh taste that paired perfectly with the light ginger soy sauce it was cooked in. (I actually missed lunch number one as I was still on the boat. However, my cousin and I did have hotsilog each, a meal of fragrant garlic rice, yolky fried egg and a sweet hot dog as, you know, just a pre-lunch snack.)

I dug in.

After lunch, it was siesta hour, a heavenly invention and simply godly in its creation, particularly when placed straight after a big meal. Or when brought to a close with more garlic and ginger smells from the kitchen, marking merienda hour — snack time.

“We eat just before going to a big party?” (it was 5:30pm, party was set for 6) I asked shyly, praying they wouldn’t put away the buffet style tray filled with pancit (Filipino noodles) and its five varieties of meat. “Yes, we eat all the time! Come on Ate Yas, let’s eat now!”

Kain na tayo is a phrase you’ll hear all the time here in the Philippines, filled with not just a desire to eat, but a desire to share too. When we arrived at the party, it was now 7:30pm, (on time, by Philippine standards) and I was thinking how grateful I was for my pre-feast snack.

Yet again, I should have known better.

In the door, and out came the calls “Kain na tayo!” Let’s eat now! The claps and mixed voices agreeing with this reverberated joyously through the hall. In the big upstairs space of my aunty and uncle’s office was a banquet laden for hundereds (small, by Philippine standards), and immediately a line had begun to form. Luckily, I was pulled by my cousin to the head of it, without which I would have been eternally grateful for the pre-feast snack (well, just in case the party was somehow more Aussie in style where waiting for food is often a virtue put to practice.)

Now, all this may sound entirely gluttonous, with no ceremony or restraint placed on food. But I’ll disagree. Sure, maybe the Filipinos do eat too much. In some classes of the nation, obesity is certainly a problem, as is high cholesterol and diabetes.

But here, food is a symbol and eating a celebration of life, an activity which brings people together, not just at the dinner table, but in spirit, mind and thought. Just as music in the Philippines — singing and dancing — is too, food is the backdrop upon which life is played out, tickling out with sweet smells and melodic sounds, laughter, smiles and good times.

At the party, everyone looked happy, with guests ranging from the governor and mayor through to local workers coming together over lechon (Philippines’ famous whole roasted pig), lumpia shanghai (fried dumplings) and leche flan.

To my mind, if happiness is something that should be restrained, then maybe they should turn down the cd player and switch off the wok’s flame. But personally, I like the noise and smiles and laughter. I like the heat. So for me, kain na tayo, I say!

Tagged as: Birthday Cake, Birthday Party, Lechon, Pancit, Philippines