Tupig:
A Food for Festivals, a Source of Livelihood
Several provinces have competed to make it to the Guinness Book of World
Records for preparing the longest
tupig
(a variety of rice cake).
For the people of the northern provinces of Luzon island, cooking and
selling
tupig
is rooted in their way of life, is a source of livelihood, and a regular
fare during festivals and the Christmas celebrations.
BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat
URDANETA,
PANGASINAN (183 kms north of Manila) Several provinces have competed to
make it to the Guinness Book of World Records for preparing the longest
tupig
(a variety of rice cake).
For the people of the northern provinces of Luzon island, cooking and
selling tupig
is rooted in their way of life, is a source of livelihood, and a regular
fare during festivals and the Christmas celebrations.
|
|
Linda Damascon
(left)
sent her only child through college by selling tupig
that she learned to make and cook from her mother.
Ambulant vendor Doming Orbito (extreme left) sells tupig,
prepared and cooked by his wife, in buses and bus stations
PHOTOS BY
AUBREY MAKILAN |
Tupig
Tupig
is a rice cake preparation which used to be associated with Christmas and
New Year celebrations. Old folks say that
tupig used to be served during the noche buena (Christmas
eve dinner). Elders also give tupig to young carolers instead of
money.
In the late 60s it became commercially available in the market with
several variations in preparation, taste and quality. It has similar
versions in Ilocos Norte, Isabela, Tarlac and Pangasinan.
Intemtem
in Pangasinan, or popularly known as
tupig,
is made of
ground rice, sugar and buko (young coconut) strips, rolled and wrapped in
banana leaves, then grilled over live coals. This native kakanin
(rice-based food products) belongs to the suman (rice cake) family.
Tupig
has been one of the favorites of devotees to the Our Lady of Manaoag
Church in Pangasinan province. But the commercially sold
tupig
is very thin, with only a
tablespoon of mixed ingredients wrapped in banana leaves.
Through time, this native delicacy has
also been developed in different flavors such as jackfruit, pandan (screw
pine), guava, ube (purple yam) and strawberry.
Although best eaten hot, it
can be stored up to three days under room temperature.
Source
of living
Linda
Damascon and Doming Orbito are from Urdaneta and Carmen, Pangasinan,
respectively. They both try to earn a living by
tupig.
Damascon
sells tupig,
which she cooked,
at her makeshift stall along McArthur hi-way in Urdaneta from 7 a.m. to 6
p.m. By 9 a.m., she would be competing with other vendors also lined up
along the hi-way.
Damascon, 50, learned making
tupig from her mother who also used to sell the native kakanin.
Though her husband is jobless, she was able to send her only child to
college by selling tupig. At a selling price of P25 per pack of 10
($0.49 at an exchange rate of $1 = P50.13), she earns from P300-P400
($5.98 – $7.97). Her customers are locals and travelers from Manila who
stop at her post to buy pasalubong (take home).
Meanwhile, Orbito, 34, carries a box with packed tupig. He sells
them by boarding commercial buses or at bus stops were passengers wait for
buses.
His wife
prepares and cooks the
tupig
in their house in Carmen. He earns about P300 ($5.98) a day.
Rooted
in the way of life
As a native delicacy, tupig is also
a source of pride of the north.
Many provinces in the north have been
vying to set the record for the longest tupig in the world.
The first record in the Guinness Book was
set by Laoag City, Ilocos Norte in 2002 for its 1.5-km tupig. But
Solano, Nueva Vizcaya beat this record after cooking a 1.8-km long
tupig. However, in 2005, Lasam, Cagayan prepared the longest tupig
so far at 2.82 kms long.
The longest tupig was displayed in
the town's poblacion (municipal center) and was eaten by over 5,000
people. About 100 people grilled the tupig for about five minutes.
Tupig
is rooted in the way of life of the Ilocanos (people who originated from
the Ilocos provinces).
The people of Cagayan province cooked the
tupig during the town’s 3rd Aringay Festival on May 19.
The Aringay Festival is a tribute to the special and aromatic rice variety
which is resistant to pests and bad weather conditions, planted on the
slopes of hills and mountains there. It is a week-long festivity in the
town as thanksgiving for the abundant harvest of rice, the main source of
livelihood of the people in the province known as the rice granary of the
north. Bulatlat
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