By Jessica Layumas
When you are served budbud kabog for the first time, you eat it, and you love it. And then you wonder, how is this delicacy made? So different from the usual suman or the budbud pilit. What is this made of?
And so on Sept. 14, the Dumaguete Festival & Arts Society (DUFAS), in partnership with Adorno Galeria & Café, through proprietor Jansen Tan, showcased the making of budbud kabog through a demonstration by budbud maker, Lilian de la Cruz.
The demonstration started by showing the uncooked ingredients, the actual cooking, then wrapping the mixture in banana leaves, and finally, the steaming.
It is surprising to learn that budbud kabog has a short list of ingredients: the millet grains, coconut milk, and sugar.
History
Folklore says that the millet grains, the main ingredient of budbud kabog, was discovered growing in a bat cave by a farmer hunting for food. Hence, the name kabog or bats.
History also recounts that during World War II, guerilla forces in the mountains of Valencia, Negros Oriental, cooked the millet grains to augment their diet of vegetables, rice and corn.
Millets are small, white pearl-like grains resembling birdseed, or dawa, as what the locals call it. It is grown in Negros Oriental and other parts of the country, but not as widely cultivated as staple food like rice and corn.
Millet grains are considerably expensive. In the market, when it is available, a kilo of millet grains costs from P400-P600. It is not surprising, therefore, that budbud kabog can also cost more than the usual budbud made of glutinous rice.
Through the years, local women experimented on other ways to cook millet grains into something that was delicious and different than the usual way — which was bland and flavorless.
Until the bubud kabog was developed. Because of its unique texture and its soft, sweet, and rich taste, budbud kabog rapidly gained recognition and popularity among the locals and tourists as a delectable treat for breakfast, merienda, and as pasalubong.
Not many of us know that the recipe for budbud kabog has been passed on from generation to generation, and has served as the main source of livelihood for many local budbud kabog makers.
US-based communications specialist Adlai Amor, when he saw the event poster, told me about Esperanza Caballero Diones, their family’s neighbor before in Taclobo.
Mrs. Diones had a small painitan stall in the market. She would wake up early in the morning to prepare budbud to sell in her stall. Her recipe was passed on to her from her mother. Her small business enabled her to send her children to Silliman.
Ernita Pastro, another budbud maker in Camanjac, used to deliver budbud kabog at City Hall. She would accept orders from the employees for special occasions, All Souls Day, Christmas, and for pasalubong to be brought abroad, frozen to last the long flight. Ernita, a small soft spoken woman, had other loyal customers all over the City, but she never failed to deliver every day. She died a few years ago. But not without first passing on the secrets of her budbud kabog recipe to her daughter.
And so we now come full circle with Ernita’s daughter, Lilian Pastro-de la Cruz, guest budbud maker during the cooking demonstration held recently.
Like her mother before her, Lilian is training her daughter, Julieka, the ways of making budbud kabog. Lilian, perhaps inheriting her mother’s customers, delivers all over the City and neighboring towns, making budbud kabog and budbud pilit her family’s main source of income.
For sure, there are many other budbud kabog makers in the City and in the Province, supplying painitan stalls, coffee shops, private homes, offices, and pasalubong customers, assuring us that budbud kabog will always be here for us to enjoy.
And hopefully, the recipe and the skill of making this kind of delicacy will be passed on to the next generation.
“Tourism is not only [about] museums and landmarks. It has evolved into ecotourism, farm tourism, medical tourism, and sports tourism. But most importantly, food tourism showcasing native delicacies of a community, like budbud kabog,”said DUFAS President Girlie Sindiong-Bernardez.
The Budbud Kabog Fair & Cooking Demonstration was held in celebration of World Tourism Month.
And so when you’re craving for something sweet for your merienda, or when you’re having an indulgent breakfast, budbud kabog is the perfect single serving treat for you to enjoy. Try it, you’ll love it!
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Photo Caption: PROMOTING BUDBUD KABOG. The Dumaguete Festival & Arts Society, headed by Girlie Bernardez (standing 2nd from left), planning on their advocacies for the City. The author is on the rightmost. (Contributed photo)
