Aphrodisiacs, poisons, and healing during precolonial Visayas

IN CELEBRATION of the 500 years of Christianity in Philippine soil this year, experts present during the 5th anniversary of Palm Grass Hotel’s Kapihan ni Lumaya looked back to the precolonial Visayas through food as an instrument of pleasure and resistance.

One of the anniversary activities was the Lami ug Palami forum on Feb. 28, 2021, which Palm Grass Hotel organized in cooperation with the Department of Education Region 7, Museo Sugbo, and National Nutrition Council.

The forum discussed aphrodisiacs, poisons, and healing during the precolonial Visayas and early Spanish arrival to the Philippines.

The online forum’s speakers were:

• Dr. Rolando Borrinaga, Visayas historian and UP professor
• Dr. Romeo Quijano, herbalist, pharmacologist, toxicologist, and former professor at the UP College of Medicine
• Inday Weng, a tambalan or a healer from Daanbantayan

Early Visayan diet

Gamuro, not balangay

Magellan ate bats?

Poisons and aphrodisiacs