FEATURE ARTICLE By Manny C. Dela Cruz
MOST Filipinos have accepted that the traditional use of wood-burning stoves has disappeared from our culture and history here in the province of Bulacan. It is part of the Filipino tradition to cook on a stove made of red clay and we even have a stove that is fixed on three pieces of adobe called ‘tungkong kalan’.
In the days gone by when the population of the Philippines was not large and there were few houses then, the vast land could be seen with fruiting and non-fruiting trees such as santol, mango, avocado, acacia, kakawate, bamboo and other more trees.
The people of that time had plenty of firewood, especially in remote areas surrounded by trees. The branches of the acacia tree are cut and cut into small pieces then spread out in the sun to dry and then cut down to gradually be used as fuel for the wood stove.
In the 60s to 70s, 90 percent of Bulakenyos used wood-burning stoves. They say that rice wrapped in banana leaves is delicious, which the Tagalogs call ‘balisunsung’ and also called ‘talulo’ especially if the rice is freshly harvested. Rice cooked in a wood stove has a unique flavor and aroma.
When there is meat that needs to be softened like buffalo meat for example with buffalo fat, it takes a long time to boil the meat and fat to soften. The meat and legs are placed in a large pot. A lot of wood will be burned and boiled for a few hours until it becomes soft, then the meat will be added with ingredients depending on the desired dish.
For example, when there is a fiesta in the barrio, of course there are many dishes to cook that require a lot of firewoods. Extensive cooking is performed on the eve of the fiesta. The people of the barrio prepare firewood early. Because there are abundant trees around and there is no problem with firewoods during the cooking session.
Since firewood is not bought and is only taken from the forest, there is no extra cost in preparing or cooking food. But now, it is very expensive to cook food when holding a fiesta in the barangay. Many LPG fuels can be used to cook food and the cost of LPG fuel is very high today.
So the barangay people’s option is to just buy cooked food or contract a food caterer. The cost of cooking at home or catering is almost the same.
It is not possible to go back to cooking with firewood because the forest that source of firewood to be used for cooking food is gone.
On the other hand, it is difficult to bring back yesterday when the environment was still abundant in woods. The large tracts of land that were once full of firewood trees are now occupied by houses. It’s hard to bring back the past, so only in memory can we bring back the memories that we became dependent on the use of wood stoves.
If here in Bulacan there are almost no trees in the plains, there are still mountains in our province with trees that can still be seen. If there are people living in the mountains, they are probably the only ones who use firewood in the traditional way of cooking food. (UnliNews Online)
