THE FOOD ART OF SAN MIGUEL, BULACAN: ENGENDERING

WORK, CRAFTING IDENTITY

A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Graduate School
Ateneo de Manila University

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts

by
Patricia Andrea B. Gonzalez
2008

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

iv

LIST OF TABLES ..

viii

LIST OF FIGURES.

ix

GLOSSARY.

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION ..

Background of the Study..

Food art and intangible heritage ..................

San Miguel de Mayumo ...

Research Problem and Objectives

Significance of the Study .

Scope and Limitations of the Study ...

Review of Related Literature ..

10

Festive Foods and Food Art .........

10

Ornament, Craft and Identity Construction.....

13

Analytical Framework

15

Methodology

17

CHAPTER II
MAYUMO: LOCATING THE FOOD ART TRADITION
IN SAN MIGUEL, BULACAN ..

22

vi

San Miguel: late 1600s early 1970s .

23

San Miguel: mid-1970s 2008 .

29

Sources of livelihood .

29

Transportation and the built environment .....

33

Families and households ..

34

The Development of Food Art in San Miguel ...

36

Origins ..

36

Decline, revival and transformation .....

44

CHAPTER III
KUMPORME SA DESIGN: CRAFTING MEANINGS
THROUGH WOMENS WORK .................

49

Forms of Differentiation in the Production Process ..

49

Procedures .

50

Spaces of production ...

53

Production of discourse

59

Womens Work As a Source of Power ....

65

Transmission of knowledge ....

66

Access to market ..

68

Status and prestige ...

70

Multiple meanings .

74

CHAPTER IV
PALITAWIN ANG GANDA:
IMAGINING IDENTITIES .

79

vii

Imposed From Above ...

79

Pistang Bulakan sa Las Vegas, 2005 .....

80

Pistang Pastillas 2006 ......

81

Pistang Pastillas 2007 ...

83

Generated By New Intermediaries ....

91

Appropriated By Outsiders...

97

Observed and Interpreted ...

101

CHAPTER V
KAILANGAN DIKIT-DIKIT:
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..

104

Dying Tradition or Changing Practice?......

104

Recommendations.

106

Transmission and Innovation ....

106

Expanding Contexts....

110

Future Research......

111

APPENDIX ..

113

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

126

LIST OF TABLES
Table
1.

Page
Data Sets and Sources ..

viii

21

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Sugar has been an agricultural product for export in the Philippines since the 19th
century and sweetness (tamis) is one of the flavors recognized as part of the Philippine
palate (Fernandez 1994). Many different cities and regions in the country produce their
own sweets specialties Ilocos Norte is known for its biscocho (hard biscuits), Los
Baos for buko (coconut) pie, Baguio for peanut brittle, Albay for sweetened pili nuts and
the list goes on. These are items regularly selected as pasalubong (gifts brought back
from a trip). These food, as souvenirs, are valued for their ability to represent a place or
encapsulate the visitors experience (Hendry 1999). Not all pasalubong items are sweet,
however. Bulacan offers savory as well as sweet dishes: sukang Paombong (nipa
vinegar), ensaymadang Malolos (buttered, sugared roll), pan de sal Baliwag (bread with
a crunchy crust; Cordero-Fernando 1992).
Among the sweets considered local delicacies, there are some which are
considered more special because of the artistic expression that has gone into its
embellishment or packaging. These include kiping (colorful square or leaf-shaped rice
wafers), Pan de San Nicolas (dough pressed into a wooden mold to take on the shape of
the patron saint), Turumba cookies (biscuits prepared by cutting out an outline of the
Virgin Mary and then pressing her image onto dough)1, achara (pickled fruits and
1

The Pan de San Nicolas, traditionally made in honor of the December 6 feast day of St.
Nicholas, is a cookie pressed into a wooden mold to take on the shape of the patron saint.
Turumba cookies, on the other hand, are made by cutting out an outline of the Virgin Mary and
then pressing her image onto dough. The latter are made in Pakil, Laguna on the occasion of the
feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows.
1

2
vegetables preserved in vinegar and spices) and carved fruit preserves as well as
skillfully wrapped food like suman (sweet glutinous rice cakes wrapped in coconut,
banana or nipa leaves), tamales (savory rice cakes wrapped in corn husks) and pastillas
de leche (candied carabao milk and sugar sweets). Items such as these have been
identified by journalist Doreen Fernandez as food art edible, ephemeral art which,
having been decorated themselves, are then used as decorations (1994). I first read
about food art in her writings while undergoing coursework as a graduate student and
when I finally began looking for a thesis topic in earnest I decided on it because it
combined my research interests in material culture and heritage studies and my
personal interests in cooking, craftwork and dcor. In line with Fernandezs definition, I
define food art as locally produced food which has been decorated either through its
packaging or by embellishing the food itself. Food art is more than just garnish, however.
It is not an adjunct to food but the food itself. Food art does not add to the taste of food
but, through its ornamentation, is meant to give visual pleasure.
Among the many choices for field site were Pampanga, Laguna, Quezon and
Bulacan places where food art is made. I did a bit more research on the sites and
discovered that two of the foods itemized above decoratively wrapped pastillas and
carved fruit preserves originate from one place, San Miguel, Bulacan. This, to me,
suggested that the practice of food art in the municipality was strong and multifaceted.
This municipality is famous for folk arts and crafts (basket weaving, woodcarving, etching
and fine metal work) as well and well-known figures in the Philippine arts and literature
hail from there: Francisco Buencamino (music), Cecile Licad (music), Jose Mossesgeld
Santiago-Font (music), Nicanor Abelardo (music), Narcisa Buncamino-de Leon (cinema)
and National Artist Virgilio Almario (literature; Tangco1997).

3
In San Miguel, pastillas and minatamis are also presented in plainly packaged,
unadorned form the first, wrapped in white paper, the second as dried fruit or sweets in
syrup without ornamentation. In this paper, however, I focus only on decoratively
wrapped pastillas2 (i.e., sweets wrapped in Japanese paper that have been with cut to
form a design) and burdadong minatamis (i.e., fruits and vegetables carved with incise
designs and then pickled in bottles; hereinafter, bordado). I use the term food art to refer
only to pastillas and minatamis in this embellished form.
Authors playing on the origin of the name San Miguel de Mayumo (hereinafter,
San Miguel) from the Pampango word mayumo (sweetness) have called it a town of
sweets (Tangco 1997; Fernandez 1994) and labeled it pastillas capital of the
Philippines (Manila Bulletin, 7 May 2006). In 2006, San Miguel held its first Pistang
Pastillas (Pastillas Festival) to celebrate the role pastillas has played in the towns
history, the economic benefits which the pastillas-making industry has brought to the
households that engage in it, the sweets ubiquity at occasions for gift-giving in the
community and its capacity to symbolize the townspeoples worldview (Manila Bulletin,
6-7 May 2006). Further research into the topic however, showed that while the sweets
industry was strong, the practice of making decorative pastillas wrappers (hereinafter,
wrappers) and bordado were proclaimed dying, endangered and nearly extinct
because they were practiced solely by elder women in the community and younger
generations showed a marked lack of interest in learning the skills (Manila Times, 6 May
2006; Tangco 1997). Reasons that have been given for the impending death of the
tradition point to modern values (i.e., efficiency), fast-paced lifestyles that do not leave

Decorative pastillas are locally referred to by many names: pastillas na may design
(designed pastillas), pastillas in decorative wrappers, pastillas with special wrapper.

4
extra time for time-consuming, labor-intensive practices, and a preference for mass
produced manufactured goods rather than hand-made crafts. As I will show in this
paper, the tradition is not dying, simply changing.

Food art and intangible heritage

This study focuses on tangible and intangible culture: decoratively wrapped
pastillas and bordado and the practices that arise from their production, consumption
and exchange. It comes very appropriately at a time when cultural institutions are
beginning to show greater interest in intangible cultural heritage.
The growing preoccupation with intangible culture has prompted UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to promulgate a Convention
that sets out to protect what communities recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This
protection covers practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as
the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated (UNESCO
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2003). Conservation
efforts around the globe now include the identification of literary works considered as
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity and recognition of
individuals who are deemed Living Human Treasures, as well as the promotion of local
crafts and products outside of their places of origin. But for the most part, heritage
conservation has focused mainly on preserving what are commonly referred to as the
pure arts or fine arts (i.e., music, visual arts) and a very limited number of crafts
(mainly textile arts, like weaving and dyeing, and jewelry design). UNESCO initiatives
are notably silent on culinary traditions. It does, however, categorize cooking
technologies as intangible culture because although the techniques for producing