Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Maxey: Pantatilaw anyone? By Ram Maxey Bar None
LAST Saturday I was in Los Amigos, Tugbok, in Davao City's third district, as one of the guests at a unique dinner which our hosts called a pantatilaw. The term is a combination of two words meaning "tasting pantat". Pantat is a variety of fish belonging to the carp family. Also called catfish, it is a freshwater or marine fish with catlike-whiskers or barbels, a fleshy filament growing from the mouth or snout. The pantat has considerable commercial importance and is farmed or fished for food.
It was a unique dinner in the sense that the only food served was rice and pantat, the latter cooked in various ways just like any other variety of fish. Our hosts, members of the Los Amigos Aqua Culture Producers Organization (LAACPO), wanted to make sure that their guests--including Rep. Isidro Ungab--would not soon forget how tasty pantat is and hopefully spread the good word when they returned home.
The Pantatilaw dinner served as a launching pad for LAACPO's ambitious project, the mass production of pantat as a major form of livelihood for residents of Los Amigos who are preparing to hold a four-day (Aug. 27-30) festival highlighting their partiality towards the culture of pantat. The festivities include competition in pantat-catching, prizes for the heaviest fish, longest fish, and choosing the Mutya ng LAACPO. The dozen candidates for mutya, not necessarily Los Amigos residents, come from some of the best schools in the city, like the Ateneo de Davao University, University of Mindanao, University of Immaculate Conception, Holy Cross of Davao College to name a few. The last day of the festival will be the finale as organizers try to make it to the Guinness Book of Records with a five-kilometer-long line of tables heaped with cooked pantat for mass-eating by residents and visitors.
In his short talk after the dinner, Rep. Ungab reiterated his all-out support for LAACPO's grandiose project to make Los Amigos the center of pantat production in the region. He praised the effort put into the project by members of LAACPO has 82 members led by its president, Angelico T. Santander. The other officers are VP Richard C. Alejaga, Sec. Mary Ann A. Abella, Asst. Sec. Ruth E. Titong, Treas. Rebecca A. Limbaga, Asst. Treas. Leona Q. Concon, Auditor Ernesto S. Tan, Asst. Aud. Violeta S. Areno, Bus. Managers Nolito C. Alejaga, Myla B. Mandula, PIOs Diosdado Pupa, Leo Angeles, Richard Concon, Eugene Suribas, Liaison Officers Virginia A. Cabaylo and Rackie Paraguya.
Tonight, we will have pantat for dinner at home. I have become a convert to not just pantatilaw but to pantat eating forever in any manner of preparation, be it ihaw-ihaw, guinataan, sinampalokan, paksiw or just plain fried. Try any or all of these and be convinced. You'll be a convert, too.
