Cultural Exchange: Food, Scary Stories and More!

Rene Karlos C. Bernardo
Nov 3, 2023
4 min read

While waiting for the next class for me to observe, Deda randomly asks me about a Filipino dish called, "pagpag" and ask if it is true or not. I was shocked that I will be hearing this cursed dish in Indonesia, but oh, well. I ask her that pagpag is this cheap dish that is made with left over food. Certain individual, especially from poor families, go to the place where fast food employee throw away the left over food to gather it and sell in the public. They first clean it by boiling it in water before covering it with a batter and frying it. "I haven't actually tried one" I told, "Because it is not clean and safe." Pagpag is one of the dangerous food that you should not try when going to the Philippines.

This followed up by a light hearted question, "What is my favorite dish?" I answered them, "Beef Kaldereta." I search an image of it from the internet and showed to them. I told them that this dish tasted a little bit sour and salty as we used tomato sauce and soy sauce as the sauce for Kalderta. Then I proceed told them about this trick to confuse a Filipino, "What is the difference between menudo, afritada, kaldereta and mechado?" After sharing this I know where the topic will be heading.

We talk about the foods, especially deserts, and how similar our food culture are such as Bibingka and Bingka, Lumpia and Lumpia, Bihon ang Mihon, Lugaw and Bubur Ayam. It felt like Indonesia is our lost cousin during those talk. I was fascinate on how similar our culture might be in some aspect. Don't get me started on our language; lima, pinto, gunting, kangkong, langit and libo are some vocabulary that is similar to Indonesian! That is why I sometimes understand their conversation due to them using the similar words to us!

During the lunch break, Regina asked me if I wanted to eat Nasi Padang. Dinda told me that Regina mostly eat Nasi Padang during lunch because it is cheap and delicious. She got sometimes get called as the ambassador of Nasi Padang. Of course, wanting to try all Indonesian food, I agree having it as my lunch. When we got our orders, I received a place with the rice covered in paper while the condiments and the sauce are placed in the plastic. I asked about the spoon and fork and they told me that in Indonesia it is their culture to eat food without using any of those. After hearing those, we went to the restroom to wash our hands and started eating the Nasi Padang. It is absolutely delicious! It has this creamy taste because of the coconut milk as well contains various vegetable. I remember giving it an 8.5/10 when they asked me to rate it. Hence, everyday, we always ordered our lunch using grab food.

In the afternoon, Regina once again asked if I wanted to try an Indonesian street food called, "Es Doger" and egg roll just outside the school. When I ordered one, the street vendor put pink shaved ice on the cup which reminds me of "scramble" in the Philippines. In fact, Es Doger really looks like scramble when you think about it. However, the similarity end there as the taste is completely different. It has a sweet taste, due to the condensed milk that they put. The dish have different ingredients placed in it such as sticky rice and a bread! On the other hand, I was fascinated on how they cook the egg roll. First, in a pot full of hot oil, the vendor pour in scrambled eggs before rolling it to a stick with chicken balls inserted in it. Tadah! It is called an egg roll. I actually like that street food as it tastes and looks so good!

It's another afternoon when someone asked me about my take on horror. I told them that I'm not that good in watching or hearing horror stories as I got scared easily. They followed it by asking the different ghosts that we have in the Philippines and if I encountered one in my life. I told to them that I encountered 3 ghosts during my childhood up to high school. First, until to this day, we have this huge mango tree in our house and sometimes it shakes during the night. My father once saw a strange creature sitting in the tree with a smoke coming out of his mouth, "It is a kapre!" I told them. A kapre is this giant creature in the Philippines that always have a cigarette in his mouth. He attract both women and children from the smell of the smoke. My 2nd ghost experience that I share is when I was a kid. During the night, I went outside and do some kid stuff until I heard a baby cry from one of abandoned lot near our house. In the Philippines, when you hear a baby cry from nowhere then it must be a "Tiyanak." Of course knowing about it, I run back inside our house. Lastly, I share my experience with a Duwende near our backyard. After hearing my stories, they also started sharing theirs, but in Indonesia, so I wasn't able to understand what they were saying most of the time.