By Ober Khok

Friday, June 1, 2012

MAYBE because I am wedding-shy, I don’t know much about symbolic foods in Filipino weddings, although I have attended more than a dozen of “the last march” to see what’s out there for my stomach.

When my friend Ximo got married, I sure did see his symbol of affluence but not any Filipino-ness in the food since the wedding reception was held in a plush hotel.

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He wanted a Pinoy theme, but the bride chose a romantic French one—mais oui or “but of course” in French, where it is often used as a sarcastic response to end a debate by feigning agreement—and so I didn’t see any lechon or pancit (noodles) in the wedding but aperitifs.

The food was easy to digest but tough to pronounce. We had crabe au citron (a what? but it was delicious); foie gras with mustard seeds and green onions in duck jus; terrine de saumon au basilica (something to do with salmon; don’t let me translate, especially because it has to do with a “basilica,” dear me); fondue bourguignone, salade verte (I think sending text messages in French is very hard); emincé de volaille sauce roquefort, pommes de terre sautées (my head is swimming); and other tremendously good dishes.

I attended my Fil-Am friend Shyla’s wedding. The Pinay became a US citizen a couple of years ago and met her Fil-Am husband at the New York hospital where they have been working for more than 10 years. The chap is a radiologist. When they tied the knot, Shyla wanted to do it in Cebu.

She insisted on having the wedding reception at Laguna Garden Café because of its superb food. Her theme was barrio fiesta, with focus on seafood, like rock lobsters, prawns, crabs, squid, and scallops. And lechon, how can you forget that? Symbolic food? No—just another symbol of moneybags.

Maybe the Filipino doesn’t hinge the future success of his marriage on edible symbols.

He dwells on the ceremony and the blessings pronounced by the priest or pastor. He does have wedding traditions and superstitions, but these are not the subjects of this column.

There are symbolic food gestures that Christian and Muslim Filipinos share during weddings. The Christian bride and groom are showered with raw rice when they exit the church, same as the Muslim couple. The latter may also be blessed with a shower of candy or dried fruit.

At a Tausug wedding feast, you might find eggs, satti (like machang, but it is made with glutinous rice, barbecued chicken or diced beef bits and sauce), among other foods and rice cakes. These are symbolic foods, but that’s all I could find.

Why is there no general Filipino symbolic food? Maybe he values the wedding ceremony more, but he will leave no stone unturned to make a fabulous wedding feast.

Barring my friend Ximo’s French-themed spread, the center of the stage in most weddings is not the bride. Not even the in-laws or the pretty bridesmaids. It’s the lechon. And all around it are familiar starlets, like hamonada, special pancit, caldereta (meat stew), beef steak, and other good food.

I think the Filipino symbolic wedding food in general depends on its parts, meaning the so-called cultural minority groups, which have preserved their beautiful wedding ritual foods. The culture of the Philippines is too imbued with many influences from different countries that we can’t separate the parts without changing the whole.

There seems to be a need to offer in schools a subject on the cultures of our indigenous tribes because I myself felt inadequate in filling you in on how we as a people use food to represent the start of a good wedded life.

Maybe this is who we really are: parts of a whole puzzle forming the Philippine archipelago. Without one, we are not complete, and so we can’t disown one culture just because it is different from our personal biases.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on June 02, 2012.

Street parties

Roll out the bunting. The Jubilee is finally here and it’s a great reason for a party. In fact, there are more than double the number of street parties planned for this bank holiday weekend than there were for the royal wedding last year.

There will be plenty of old-fashioned knees-ups out in the East End and one which saw Kate and Will’s nuptials in with roaring success was at Wilton Way Café . This time around there is a 1950s fancy dress theme and revellers are encouraged to bring food and drink to share as they bop from 11am until late on Sunday (londonfieldsradio.com).

Piccadilly will be closed as hundreds of thousands of people converge on the capital for the Thames pageant and 500 tables will run down the street for a very big Jubilee lunch. Local residents taking part include The Ritz, Fortnum and Mason, Bafta and The Royal Academy, so expect food, drink and entertainment fit for a Queen from 11.30am to 6pm. Fortnum and Mason will serve Highgrove beefburgers from a barbecue (booking required, piccadillybigjubileelunch.org).

Also on the Sunday, Leonard Street in Shoreditch is being taken over by The Book Club from noon to 8pm. It is providing brass bands, baked goods and bowler hats. Guilty Pleasures DJs will celebrate all things pop, Lily Vanilli will provide the cakes and there will be an opportunity to win her Queen of Cakes by guessing its weight (free, booking at wearetbc.com).

Back out east, The Water Poet in Spitalfields is hosting a party on Monday with variety performances, artisan ice cream from Gelupo of Piccadilly, homemade pies, local beers and spit-roast hog. There will be prizes for the best Pearly Queens and Diamond Geezers (until 11pm, free, Folgate Street, E1, waterpoet.com).

At Camden’s Stable Market the Jubilee Jam party is on all weekend, with afternoon tea and live gigs (free, book at proudcamden.com).

South of the river, there will be a big lunch at Bellenden Street in Peckham on Sunday, with local businesses putting on events and residents providing food. South of the river, Brad Pitt and Angelina are said to have tickets for Sunday’s Ham and Peteresham Jubilee Tea Party. A bargain at £3.

Watching on TV

The BBC has a near monopoly on the bunting bonanza. Coverage kicks off tomorrow with Clare Balding presenting the Queen’s visit to Epsom Derby. In the evening, Prince Charles pays tribute to his mother in a rare personal broadcast on BBC1 at 8pm.

On Sunday, the Beeb will be the only channel with live coverage of the pageant. Sophie Raworth and Matt Baker will lead the show from 1.30pm to 6pm from a studio overlooking Tower Bridge.

There will be eight cameras on the Royal Barge. Griff Rhys-Jones, Frank Skinner, Omid Djalili and Sandi Toksvig will be on board the BBC’s own boat, presenting an alternative commentary. Fearne Cotton will report from HMS Belfast, Alex James and Angela Hartnett are cooking a Jubilee feast for passengers of the Hollywood, the cast of Horrible Histories will be at Tower Bridge and Balding will be aboard the royal rowbarge Gloriana.

After watching the pageant on the BBC, turn over to ITV for All The Queen’s Horses, 6.30pm-8.30pm, as Alan Titchmarsh hosts an extravaganza of 550 horses and 1,200 people performing to music.

Monday’s Diamond Jubilee Concert will be shown live on BBC1 from 7.30pm. Musicians from the past 60 years of rock, pop and classical music will perform in front of Buckingham Palace. Stevie Wonder and Kylie Minogue are headlining but the Queen’s choice is Sir Cliff Richard, who will serenade her. Hosts include Miranda Hart and Lenny Henry.

On Tuesday, Raworth will be reporting from the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s from 9.15am to 1pm on BBC1.

Over on ITV, Phillip Schofield and Julie Etchingham will present live coverage of the Jubilee procession on Tuesday from 8.30am until 4pm. A team including Mary Nightingale and Natasha Kaplinsky will be at key points on the route between Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s.

If this is all too much for republicans, it’s business as usual on Channel 4, which is showing Come Dine With Me, The Simpsons and a range of films.

Food

If it’s meals on wheels you want, head to Covent Garden’s four-day piazza party from tomorrow where alongside the London Gay Men’s Chorus there will be bistro food in cardboard boxes served up by Street Kitchen (streetkitchen.co.uk). South of the river, some of the eat.st market traders will travel to Battersea Park selling meatballs, burgers, firebread pizza and Vietnamese rolls on Sunday (eat.st), while from tomorrow until Monday, new boys PattyBun will be flipping up royal burgers at the Queen of Hoxton pub on Curtain Road, EC2 (pattyandbun.co.uk). Or, if you want to try Italy’s version of a wrap, I will be making and selling toasted piadinas with various fillings from Pimlico-based deli Gastronomica as part of the World Street Food Festival on the Southbank (realfoodfestival.co.uk) throughout the bank holiday.

From tomorrow until Wednesday, Roast restaurant (roast-restaurant.com) is laying on a patriotic menu made with seasonal British produce — Coronation chicken, the Queen of Puddings and English wine — while the Kettner’s pudding bar in Soho may have some last-minute bookings for its afternoon tea “Fit For a Queen” from tomorrow until Tuesday (kettners.com).

If you own a corgi, take it to any Renaissance pub and get Orkney roast beef with all the trimmings and of course dog biscuits with gravy, free (renaissancepubs.co.uk). A Marmite eater? Then today take a trip to the Ma’amite afternoon tea party at The Botanist in Sloane Square. Until June 10 you’ll get crustless finger sandwiches and homemade cheddar or chive and Ma’amite scones to sink your teeth into (thebotanistonsloanesquare.com).

Out east, Boxpark, the shipping container pop-up shopping centre, is hosting a cake sale and a visit from London’s Pearly King and Queen tomorrow (boxpark.co.uk) while at The Gun in Docklands you can tuck into a Kilravock Farm spit-roast hog and Eton Mess on Sunday (thegundocklands.com).

The Great British clam bake has sold out but if you want to try your luck getting in to eat barbecue fish and pulled pork, head to Émigré Studios, E8 (godsavetheclam.co.uk). Heading south, if you live on Worfield Street, SW11, you can have lunch cooked by a trio of chefs and wine from winemaker Nyetimber — and the first 25 people to arrive wearing tiaras and top hats can also join in.

Courvoisier has created a Jubilee punch recipe to make at home (courvoisier.com) but if you’re out and about, there will be cocktails and singing bar staff in Soho (archerstreet.co.uk), at a pop-up bar selling special British beers. At Leadenhall Market in EC3, there’ll be a buffet outside the Lamb Tavern (lambtavernleadenhall.com). If you can’t be bothered to fight your way to the Thames to watch the flotilla, the secret roaming bar The Fourth Wall has decided to stay put in Bedford Square Gardens in Bloomsbury, selling classic cocktails mixed up by Bourne Hollingsworth (whereisthefourthwall.com).

Parklife

By royal appointment, the Queen’s DJ of choice Norman Jay MBE is headlining the official Jubilee Festival in Battersea Park on Sunday. He’ll be playing tunes all day from a Routemaster bus. Curated by Hemingway Design and artist Clare Patey, the event celebrates all things British, with 1950s swing orchestras and a steam fair (12pm–7pm, £5, thamesdiamondjubileepageant.com).

The Alternative Jubilee is in Victoria Park, with Field Day Festival tomorrow and Apple Cart on Sunday. At Field Day there will be a village green with egg and silver spoon races and teabag tossing. Beirut and Franz Ferdinand headline Field Day; Noah and The Whale will be at Apple Cart. (Combined ticket £76.45, theapplecartfestival.com).

Families can head to Hyde Park for a two-day festival of live music and entertainment from tomorrow. The headline show is a live concert of Disney songs. There will also be performances from Strictly Come Dancing, hosted by judge Craig Revel Horwood and Myleene Klass, left, and excerpts from War Horse (day tickets £20, ticketmaster.com).