Sunday, December 09, 2007 A gastronomic adventure with the Duman Festival
STA. RITA -- It was indeed a night to remember. Having imposed on ourselves an immediate fasting and having worked terrible long hours that day, we began telling ourselves that we were ready for the Arti.Sta Rita's Duman Festival.
And like the ways that we usually start our December, we flocked that night to the old Sta. Rita Parish church patio and began the litany of a long gastronomic adventure of old Capampangan cooking. Greeting us were rows of stalls and booths, pastries and delicacies to home cooked meals that were lined at the four corners of the church meeting place. The Church patio was swarming with a huge mass of warm bodies. Some were seated on the middle of the field were chairs and tables were provided for eating. At the left side near the church was the makeshift stage was NCCA were performances from Arti Sta. Rita were staged non-stop.
I particularly abhor large crowds, but this one is an exception. Who ever could resist the scent of Duman hovering over the crowd or the aroma of Chocolateng Batirul cruising over with the soft performances of Capampangan songs?
Duman Festival has always been a real crowd equalizer. The rich and upper class would freely mix with the ordinary people. There seems to be a silent rule among the spectators and food lovers that rowdy behavior is not accepted within the event. One food critique remarked that the event was like the "Tigtigan Terakan" of Angeles minus the rowdy crown the laud music. Here people freely mixed pleasure and food. Despite the number of people everyone was well mannered.
We had to wade across crowds who were watching the show and well packed seats of families and friends eating heartily amid the organized chaos. We picked up a place near the Sisig booth and began hauling food stuffs from every booth that we could possibly find. The Chocolateng Batirul was very exquisite and every sip managed to reawaken all those childhood memories when I was convalescing from some illness and was served with the hot drink. The Sisig combined with a hot serving of rice accented with Burung Talangka was like a taste of heaven on earth. Though you are constantly reminded of the high blood raising cost of the crab paste at every spoonful, it is actually worth the penny.
Seated near us were a bunch of "local tourists" from Manila who have been to the last five Duman Festivals. Particularly catching their attention was the performances from Arti that at some point we thought would not end. We thought the food would not end nor the blissful chats we had with complete strangers. It was a night that help relaxed our aching bodies and sooth our weary souls through the company of good food and music.
And just like the other Decembers of the past, we always made it a point to remember on embarking on another gastronomical trip of the Duman Festival in the year to come.
The author is accepting comments, suggestions, love notes, indignant rebuttals, hate-mail and what-have-you: e-mail:ianocampoflora@yahoo.com (0927-542-5466)
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