by Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
Foliaging
I had a visitor last week, a chef from the Nayong Pilipino Foundation. It is still Nayong Pilipino, the Filipino houses lining the runway of the Manila Airport of long ago. I’m not sure if the houses are still there along the landscape of the runways. My visitor was being referred to me by my friend, Carie Tharan. Lawrence Lao is his name and he is the brother of Carie’s friend when Carie was still the Dean for Migrant Studies at Miriam University.
From the Nayon Pilipino in our mind, they are now expanding their vision of the practice of foliaging in bringing food to our table. As a chef, he prepares food that come from the garden. This is exactly what i can remember from my Lola Danday where the kitchen of old must have bangerahan. Ug and buslot nga kaha, kaldero ug kon nga nabo-ak, kinahanglan gyud nga tamnan gud ug sibuyas, kamatis ug luy-a.
We had the kind of tomatoes we called lomboyon and the onions are those with small leaves but sturdy base as trunks colored purple. We did not anymore need the sibuyas bombay. This kind of sibuyas bombay smells good and most of them came from the island of Pamilcan.
In my Lola Danday’s garden at that time, we did not have the alugbati; there was bago at the back of our kitchen, but it was not ours. But during my childhood, neighbors were free to pick up the leaves of the bago. Pwede ka rang mamago. Ang udlot ra man gyud ang kuhaon sa bago kay makabukog baya.
In our Pepe and Pilar textbook, houses must have front yard with ornamentals including the back of the house and the side of the house near the kitchen. Kamunggay ang tanglad were usually planted near the boundary line. And free for the picking. I remember very well that the interlink fence in our frontyard was filled with sikwa uban sa mga bunga nga nangumbabit sa mga bagon. We also had lemonsito and avocado. The trees bearing the lanzones, nangka ug tambis are still there in my grandparents’ house now, so with the kalachuchi tree which my Lola Danday planted. The flowers of the kalachuchi tree were and are still handy during the would not go out looking kalachuchi flowers for the Flores de Mayo festival.
And now lets go to foliaging. What is foliaging? It’s simply collecting leaves, flowers, and fruits for the kitchen, food for the table. It’s going back to essentials. And all these must be made available in our front yard or back yard. Unconsciously, I am partly doing foliaging in my abode in Taguihon. Daghan ko ug kamunggay, tanglad, alugbati, ug duna na pud koy mga saging: tondan, lakatan. Naa pod koy bayabas, tangad, kamatis, sily kolikot ug sili diablo nga magdagandagan ka sa ka hang. Kana bang siling kolikot daghan ug kompetensya: manok, ug langgam.
I really miss those days. It was my regular errand, every
Wednesday, during summertime to go to the market and buy the mga utanon nga dahon-dahon . Diez pesos ra gyud akong dalhon ug mapuno na ang akong basket. I was very happy kay duna pako’y mapalit ice cream gikan sa tilingtiling.
It’s not yet too late for all of us. Let’s change our mindset. Let’s give time to our garden. Why don’t try foliaging.