a spaghetti story

A Spaghetti Story

one pasta

in a thousand and one version...

and more is yet to come,

only, if you wanna fill the numbers...

i cant exactly remember as to when did i came face to face with this popular adopted " Filipino dish". every Filipino house hold has this dish on their table in every occasion. come birth or death, the enduring spaghetti is here to stay.

fact: spaghetti is more popular than kinilaw, it is more easily purchased than sisig. spaghetti comes in different forms of bastardization and alterations, every family has it owns style of preparing them. the kuya's version is of course different from that of the ate's.

as a child growing up in Negros i fondly called it "pansit nga pula" mom would correct me "spaghetti"! she would emphasize. ah okay, so every time i failed to tag along to a party i would remind a family member to pack for me the "spagiti", as a bring home item. my tia dolley's version was one of those common style. pinkish, meaty, peppery, not too sweet not too sour. it was really good. my tita liling's version, is... i cant remember the taste, sorry . but for as long as i can remember hers is somewhat reddish, it is maybe the tomato catsup's participation in the dish. all i can remember was her teasing while preparing the dish. she was telling my mom that she has to prepare a basin full of spaghetti since i can finish a whole plastic pouch of the pasta. i was only 10 at that time. i knew it was an exaggeration but i took it as an insult, that i have to eat spaghetti out of her view.

as i grew up. the spaghetti has evolved. like a woman that comes in different faces the dish becomes even more exciting and sometimes disgusting. in my town, there was this small restaurant that serves spaghetti, my! it has more chopped onions than ground meat. sans the grated cheese it was ground pepper that serves as garnishing. the food is ready by early morning, it is kept inside an estante ( a glass case). and it stays there the whole day. with the sun rays hitting directly on it. by mid noon the spaghetti has become so dry. it reminds me of dead earthworms that has left to die under a scorching sun. and the taste? a good! (probably my taste at that time was not yet upgraded).

all the while, i thought that all spaghettis are the same until i bump into this Bacolod restaurant called Rolly's it was located at the downtown right at the corner which faces the public plaza. my friend ordered for it, what she got was a plain silky glossy pasta topped with meat sauce topped with grated cheese. it has a different smell, not that of the catsup's. and the color is somewhat neutral. not pink or red. but more on the lighter reddish orange side. the taste? yeah i had a bite, it was different. fresh tomatoes and spices enveloped my taste buds. the pasta was firm not mushy. that was spaghetti!

thru the years in engaging myself with this popular dish i have taken noticed of the triumphant ones, of course i also did listings of flopped renditions. those spaghetti mishaps were fun though. ill start with the flopster:

Cynthia's spaghetti

way back in college we have this outdoor party. some kind of welcome party for the whole freshmen of the arts and sciences dept. for our group we had a contribution for the food and softdrink. after that long boring announcements and lousy dance numbers on stage. finally, the emcee announced the culmination. and the gathering ended with a snack. cynthia the mestiza from the snack committee came with big boxes containing our snacks. it was spaghetti in plastic bags and fruit cocktail sandwich wrapped in tissue paper. the spaghetti was cold. its so soft almost rotting piece of sh_ _t. there were no forks so everyone has to settle eating it "hab hab style". the stylish and the sosyal girls were frowning. Cynthia wears the apologetic look on her face but didn't say a word. you bore a hole in the plastic bag and squeeze it. the spaghetti would come out oozing like a paste. the kind of gluey stuff you use in making a kite. that's it... some plastic bags still containing spaghetti resigned to the garbage can.

spaghetti manila style

the manila version is rudely sweet with cheap hotdog slices on it. "spaghetting pang mahirap" as may friend calls it, is ever present in every turo turo, bus terminals and food stalls of every squatter colony. the orig spaghetti de manila calls for these ingredients:

cheap pasta, bought by the kilo from the palengke. banana catsup, the cheapest you can get that comes from those orange containers. onion and garlic, chopped. corned beef, one can is enough. paminta, coarsly ground. salt and sugar to taste. hard boiled egg, sliced (optional).

here's how to enjoy it! after you're done with the preparation scoop some of the spaghetti into a small plastic bag or " supot " and walk towards the nearest squatter area. if you can find a tricycle parked by the vicinity, hop in and enjoy your spaghetti, jologs style. if you're lazy to do so, you may go to jollibee, their spaghetti is as almost as the same. except, theirs has bits of ground meat and processed cheese. and is served in styro boxes. minus the egg of course.

one for the garbage can

that was 1994. from boracay i planned a trip to negros. so i crossed-island. first stop malay then kalibo. i stayed over night at the latter. i checked in a lodge i remember was chaparal. i explored the city and after an hour of strolling i opted for a snack. i went into this fastfood joint. that somewhat resembles a cross between jollibee and mcdo's. acrylic chair, uniformed staff and all. i ordered spaghetti. it was... horror! the pasta is cold and over done. the sauce, pale orange in color, almost transparent. the meat hardly visible. it taste of cheap catsup diluted in water mixed with gawgaw (laundry starch). did i ate it? shoot! to the garbage bin it belongs.

outsider spaghetti

one boarder of my mom, a lady from bais city, negros oriental proudly claims she prepares here spaghetti with condensed milk. "what!" my sister exclaimed. " yes. really, i even put royal tru -orange (softdrink) in my macaroni salad ", she adds. " hala sinebuana na guid na ya! " ( that is really off ) my sister reacted with disbeleif.

the jolly albert segovia of bicol, a co-worker of mine also proudly claims he puts gata (coconut milk) on his spaghetti sauce. " totoo ba yan padi? " a voice from a fellow artist rang across the room.

my tita ely only does her spaghetti with raisins and roasted almonds, it tasted very fancy though. the nuts is for the texture i suppose and not a bad idea after all. and the cheese for garnishing should only be quezo de bola. thus, her version only appears on the table during christmas time.

from left to right: spaghetti with condensada from bais city, spaghetti with gata from bicol and manila's spaghetti ng masa, sweet and hot dogged and all. i dont mind trying the one in the middle, " but, wheres the sili padi? "