Alain Jason G.

Bundalian
12-Piaget

“Why Sinigang?” by Doreen Fernandez is one of a kind (maybe not) literature that
tackles your instinct rather than your intelligence. Doreen preys on your senses to deconstruct
a sinigang, from its origin up to its ingredients. Using every sensuous words known to man
Doreen presents one of the delicacies of the Philippines which triumphs every other ulam that
existed, the famed “Sinigang”.

The first part of the story ‘The Island Landscape’ sets the readers on the topography of
the Philippines. Doreen discusses our love for seafood while at the same time painting a
picture of a fisherman’s dock with just words and reliance in memories of known sea
delicacies such as the shrimp and the crab. The second topic talks about the most staple food
of every Filipino household, ‘Rice’. Doreen discusses the variety of food that Filipinos
produce from rice by associating each food to a specific feeling or festivity. Just below it is
‘The Coconut’ which Doreen dissects every part of the coconut, providing its usage and its
flexibility in different aspect in life. Up next is ‘The Greenery’ here Doreen, just like ‘The
Coconut’, anatomizes different parts of the plant and attributing habits in which vegetable is
used for putting flavor on the sinigang. The last part sees Doreen discussing the aspect of
man in creating simple food from gathering things from its surrounding. She explains that the
simplicity of man is the key to producing cuisine that is sensitive to taste. She also tells that a
native cuisine is born from landscape and lifestyle of man. Doreen wraps the story with
‘Foreign Influences’ which shows how important other cultures have influenced our sinigang
with brief history lesson mixed in the story.

Doreen, armed with just words, blasted us with how important sinigang is to our identity
as Filipinos. The mixture of landscape, sensitive taste, and foreign influences has been the
foundation of our culture. With the use of sensuous words Doreen managed to show the role
of a native cuisine in our ambiguity as Filipinos.