Frog At First Bite

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

IT MUST be the bracingly cold mountain air. It must be the stimulating company. It must be the chance that I might not have again and that is to take my first bite of Kermit’s kith and kin at Don Salvador Benedicto.

From the fields of the Summer Capital of Negros to the platter, frogs took centerstage on the plate and our palate at the municipality’s Kali-kalihan Festival.

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My friends and I were guests of Don Salvador Benedicto’s first lady, porcelain beauty Lovelyn de la Cruz. Warm reception at the “Stone House” was also extended to us by the mayor himself Hon. Marxlen de la Cruz, Vice Mayor Cynthia de la Cruz, Board Member Nene de la Cruz and Councilor Nehemias de la Cruz. The cozy Stone House was abuzz with activity as guests enjoyed each other’s company and the sumptuous lunch that bore Mrs. Cynthia dela Cruz’s personal touch. I especially enjoyed her pako-pako (tender fern leaf tips) salad with fresh pineapple chunks, thinly-sliced cucumber and vinaigrette dressing. Yet the festive food booths were beckoning from below so off we went and tried DSB cuisine as the mountain folks prepared it.

The few food booths beside the white square town hall were decorated with agricultural products such as flowers, fruits, and seeds. Food was displayed in casseroles and was mostly lutong bahay (home-cooking) so there was none of the culinary flourishes nor did I expect any. Dishes ordered were served to fill a hungry stomach and not to please the eye.

I enjoyed the eel dishes for lunch. Sili was cooked two ways – as paksiw with gata (coconut milk) and lots of ginger, and as sinabawan with slices of garlic and onions, and soured with batwan. There were two distinctive flavors in one dish. Salty and very sour. Quite good. To my dismay, my lunch mate stripped off the skin and fed it to the dog because he thought it too slimy and yucky for his taste. I admonished him and said that that’s the best part. I was imagining a freshly-caught eel from the rivers of DSB sizzling in a deep pan of oil. Oh, the crunchiness of the skin, the succulence of the flesh, and the tasty fat dripping out from between! With only plain hot rice and not even sinamak to taint the taste of eel, that would have made a heavenly meal.

The next culinary adventure may not be my idea of a good lunch yet it didn’t take much prodding from Board Member Nene to make me reach for a deep-fried frog. The meat was a bit dry but it tasted surprisingly like chicken. I literally had a frog in my throat! Needless to say, I stopped at one. It would not be long when somebody placed a small plate of adobong frog on the table. I gingerly picked a leg to nibble on. The frog dish this time was salty and spicy and cooked until just a little sauce is left enough to coat the pieces.

Frog meat isn’t a well-known part of Ilonggo cuisine although former Tourism Officer Tina Lapres recalled that frog legs were sold at the Silay market a long time ago. Maybe the watery fields of Silay that these amphibians inhabit are not as wide as before but DSB still has wetlands suitable for these critters.

It’s not only the French who enjoy les cuisses des grenouilles. (“Frog” happens to be a slang term for a Frenchman, mon dieu!) People in Indonesia, China and even other parts of Europe (Spain, Portugal and Greece) include frog in their diets. In the Caribbean, frog is nicknamed “mountain chicken” and must be so popular there that the specie is critically endangered. Although the Jews are forbidden from eating frog since it is considered non-kosher food, the meat is rich in protein, potassium, vitamin A, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Frogs are essential to the ecosystem. Just like bats and spiders, frogs regulate the insect population. Also, the contribution of frogs to science is valuable. Basic knowledge in connection with the development, structure, and function of the human body was based on the study of frogs. May the frogs of Don Salvador Benedicto flourish to provide not only food but also balance the ecosystem in this cool, green mountain municipality.