Mga Kuwentong Pagkain

 Of mango picking and picnic food

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

The Mama Sita Foundation invited mediamen to a mango harvest picnic one drizzling Tuesday morning to a farm in Barangay San Roque in Mexico, Pampanga. While some in the group wanted the sun to shine its brightest, the rest of the company welcomed the rain because it meant not getting the scorching rays of the midday sun, except that we needed to rinse the mangoes we picked so they don't rot once we stored them. Ideally, mangoes needed to be picked dry before being placed in storage to ripen.

Philippine mangoes (Mangifera indica) take 8-9 days to ripen after picking. Ideally, they are picked before ripening. The farm we visited used grafted plants from the Pampanga State Agricultural University. Planted 15 feet apart from each other, it takes 3-5 years of growth before they are harvest-ready. Grafted mango trees are reliable and predictable with their fruit-bearing. Seeds/seedlings, on the other hand, take 7-8 years before becoming a fruit-bearing tree.

The mango picking event is part of Kusina ni Mama Sita's continuing Mga Kuwentong Pagkain series - an initiative of the foundation to seek out and share little-known food stories and experiences celebrating our Filipino food traditions - in a vision that inspired the late Teresita "Mama Sita" Reyes to share her culinary journey and legacy to a wider audience.

Through innovation, Mama Sita developed culinary concoctions from home such as sinigang and kare-kare mixes, and turned them into convenient seasoning that are easy to pack. This began the range of mixes and spice packets that consumers are familiar with today.

According to granddaughter Precy Reyes, these convenient packets are now available in approximately 122 countries worldwide. Celebrating its 10th year, "Mga Kuwentong Pagkain" series took us to Mexico, Pampanga for a mango harvest and a sampling of prepared picnic lunch of inihaw and barbecues at the Cafe Fleur in Angeles City. The set menu included platters of inihaw na hito/tilapia/liempo, grilled boneless chicken, sisig paella, okoy & pako salad, together with buko pie and slices of local fruit as sweet ending.

"If one is prepared to weather some inconvenience, one will be rewarded with memorable and unique experiences that have shaped our character and values," intoned Joyce Sandoval, another granddaughter of Mama Sita and director of the foundation.

Since 1999, the foundation, with the help of Philippine scientists, has supported the development of various crops and plants including banana, calamansi, camote, and makopa, among others, while highlighting our local agricultural produce through traditional and contemporary culinary application, research, continuing education, and marketing promotions.

Ten years ago, Mama Sita's "Mga Kuwentong Pagkain" was launched as a platform to bring together people from all walks of life in rediscovering our provenance and celebrating Filipino food traditions anywhere in the world.