Pigafetta’s Philippine Picnic by Felice Prudente Sta. Maria

I’ve always wanted to “read” Pigafetta’s original account of his trip to the Philippines from 1519 to 1522. I tried using Google Translate to read another account of 16th century Philippine life (Boxer Codex), but it seems Spanish from the 1500’s confuses Google at the moment. Pigafetta’s initial account was probably in Italian, but all we have that are closest to this are French translations, and Italian iterations made later. Two English translations can be found online, one by Henry Edward John Stanley published in 1874 and another by James Alexander Robertson published in 1906.

So with all these books and iterations of the initial account, I was happy to know that Felice Prudente Sta. Maria compacts it further for us in “Pigafetta’s Philippine Picnic.” Not only that, it’s focus is around the food he and the crew encountered at the time. Pigafetta writes of “Tinapay”, and that it is some kind of rice cake. So we also get to see how food and terms might have changed since then.

Disclaimer 

Obviously, as with all outsider accounts of the past, we take his words with grains of salt. Remember that Columbus mistook kakaw seeds for almonds, and colonial writings – even those from the US such as that of Blair and Robinson – had propagandist motives.

Colonial “Instagram”

Despite this, it is still an “Instagram” from the past. Pigafetta “posted” about betel nuts which were chewed by many of our ancestors, possibly as a soporific or to induce sleep. He wrote about the Tabon scrubfowl, which to this day will bury its eggs in the sand. Coincidentally I’d see some during a trip to Danjugan island, kicking up sand either looking for prime areas for their eggs, or to uncover food. Back then, those eggs were also enjoyed by our ancestors. Mam Felice adds that the eggs are practically half or even 70% yolk, making them delicious. Tabon means “to cover” in Bisaya. Pigafetta introduced his “words of those heathen people”, like “Zlucha”, which is actually “Suka” or vinegar. Felice shares this is the first published evidence of Philippine vinegar, as well as palm wine and rice wine from Palawan.

At the end of the book she gives the first English translation of culinary words from “Diccionario Bisaya-Espanol” by Juan Felix de la Encarnacion published in 1851. Words like “Daya” which meant wide plate, and it also meant wide outrigger boat. Earlier in the book she shares that Pigafetta notes “Dulan” meaning platter of wood. She adds that “Dulang” means tray in Indonesia, and in Tagalog it means low rectangular tables of fine woods like Kamagong (Diospyros discolor) and Narra (Pterocarpus indicus).

Much of these references are made in the 2nd half of the 158 page book. The first half is a lot about Pigafetta’s account of their journey from Spain, to South America where Magellan referred to people at the southern tip as “Pataoni”, or people with big feet. And then finally through the wide Pacific, which was unknown to Europeans, but well-traveled and understood by Pacific islanders at that time. She also shares how Magellan is killed, and how the initial fleet of 200+ crew whittled down to 18 people by the time Pigafetta returned to Spain.

All-in-all, it’s a fun ride, especially for food lovers and Filipino food lovers. Again, take it all with a grain of salt, or asin, and digest as you see fit.

More books I’ve read

• Tikim by Doreen Fernandez
• A Lolong Time Ago: A Prehistory of the Philippines
• Sangkap by Food Writers Association of the Philippines
• Taste of Control by R. Alexander D. Orquiza
• People in Panic by Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon
• Pigafetta’s Philippine Picnic by Felice Prudente Sta. Maria
• Every Sunday (Tuwing Linggo). A story on learning sign language
• Why do Filipinos have flat nose? By Ofelia Concepcion

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