Hospitality and Halo Halo

I feel truly touched by the hospitality I have experienced here in the Philippines. In any context, from family, it is somewhat expected but, not a given. Yet the enoturage of titas (aunties), titos (uncles) and pinsan (cousins) I have here have gone above and beyond their call of duty, stuffing me full of food and pinching my cheeks in an expression of welcome that is truly Filipino.

And I have growing love handles and a rosy complexion to prove it.

Yet, I have seen this hospitality in more than just my family. From the hugs and soft touches my Tagalog teacher bestows upon me to the invitations to dine with people I have just met, I see it everywhere. Sure, I’m a little more dubious of the tricycle drivers’ half-winking intentions, but — touch wood — I ain’t got a scratch on me yet bar those caused by my own (*cough*) drunken clumsiness.

And from what I can see, it has a lot to do with how the Filipinos’ understand the notion of family.

Just last week, I was commissioned to write a ‘foodie tour’ article on the Philippines for an Australian wine magazine and I suggested to my editor that I cover Pampanga, a small province just north of Manila dubbed the culinary capital of the Philippines, or Negros, an island in the country’s mid region of Visayas, famous for its bbq chicken inasal and its love for all things sugar — the vestiges of the sugar plantations set up in the 1800s.

My editor said do both.

I said: whatever you say!

From the moment I’d arrived in the Philippines, I’d always heard a great deal about Pampanga in terms of its food — “A Pampangan speciality!” a menu would read, “the best cooks in the country are from Pampanga,” a friend would nod in knowing, and “if you can’t cook, you’re not Pampangan,” a Pampangan would staunchly assert. But it was the descriptions of my friend Lee-Anne, a half-Pinay like myself that I’ve known since high school and an eater too, that really had me interested in the region.

That, and an invitation to spend time with her family there; I was on the next bus out of town.

Lee-Anne had organised at late notice for me to stay with her family in San Fernando, the capital of Pampanga, and after one day, I had swiftly fallen into feeling as though they were my very own flesh and blood. In their big ancestral house in the heart of the old town proper, I made myself at home, just as they’d asked, scuffling around in slippers they’d lent me on their polished dark wood floors. Perhaps it’s the constant heat here in the Philippines — you’ve little energy to keep up your guards, particularly after the CONSTANT big meals — so feeling relaxed comes more naturally.

But I think Dalsa, Lee-Anne’s beautiful young aunty described it best when recounting how they celebrate noche buena (Christmas) here, where their house is filled with only God knows how many friends and relatives. “Whoever is family to our friends and family,” she said smiling, ” is family to us.”

As an Australian, I always feel conscious that I am imposing — it’s the guilt of our culture — particularly when I see to what lengths the Filipinos go to make your trip enjoyable. For example, Lee-Anne’s family, within ten minutes of arriving had organised a weekend of volcano touring, meryenda eating, Pacquiao fight watching and eating around town to help me with my article, regardless of what plans they already had for their days off.

But such is the way here and as I have come to learn,  something they enjoy doing just as much. As Dalsa said after we’d scoffed down the best halo halo I’ve had in the Philippines yet for Saturday afternoon’s meryenda, “We love to show relatives around town… you know,  it’s really fun for us.  And it gives us an excuse to get to know Pampanga better… and you know how we like to eat!”.

Why, of course it is, doofus! It’s fun for us Aussies too, and for just about everybody around the world I imagine. But, when it comes to the Philippines, and I’m introduced to strangers’ kids as their tita (aunty) and toured around town as one of their own, I can’t be more thankful than for the Filipino family…

* Halo Halo, the Philippines’ national drink cum dessert, is thought of in near reverential terms, and finding the best close to the quest for the holy grail. Razon’s, a famous halo halo house, the original of which is in Pampanga, is considered by many to be as good as it gets. And I’d have to agree.  Usually halo halo contains a mixture of goodies including sweetened mixed beans, ube and jello, beaneath a bed of crushed ice and cool milk, however the Razon’s version forgoes these in favour of just the other three main incredients — leche flan, macapuno and sweetened saba (banana).  The result is the sweetest, creamiest, most refreshing ice-cooling slushy shake you’ll ever try. And until you’ve had one, you won’t really know what that means!