Food For Thought

CEBU, Philippines - Does everybody know what “Pagpag” is? I myself have just learned about it a few weeks ago. Some Filipinos report that they’ve known about it for a long time. But for others, I say the term and I am met with blank stares. When they ask me what it is, I answer, “It’s better to show you than to tell you.” I type in “pagpag” on Youtube.

“What—is it horror?” A couple of them ask me.

“It’s not horror, but it’s horrifying,” I say.

As they watch the video on Youtube, I see my friends’ expressions grow more and more disturbed. “You’re right, it IS horrifying,” they say.

“Pagpag” refers to food that is scavenged from garbage, re-cooked and sold at Pagpag eateries in the Philippines.

These are the steps to making pagpag: pagpag “agents” forage in the garbage, whether in the streets or in dumpsites, looking for leftover food that might be sold as pagpag. This is typically meat left from half-eaten foods. Pagpag agents collect this meat and sell them to pagpag eateries; they normally receive 50 pesos for a box of pagpag. The eateries then prepare the pagpag: they wash the meat in boiling water (in the futile hopes of getting rid of the bacteria). Then they cook it. The afritada-style pagpag is sold for 10 pesos; the fried pagpag is 15 pesos.   

In the video from GMA’s Sine Totoo, the narrator states the guidelines of preparing food for public consumption according to the Sanitation Department. For instance, the water that is in contact with the food must be clean, there must be proper kitchen counters and people preparing the food must wear aprons and hairnets. As the narrator is talking, the camera shows the pagpag vendors breaking every rule: they prepare the pagpag on cutting boards on the floor, not wearing gloves or hairnets. There is no proper water system in sight.

The customers are well aware that they’re eating pagpag. One man said he eats it because pagpag is cheaper and he can save money for his family. Another toothless woman claims she feels weak if she doesn’t eat pagpag (a group of onlookers behind her guffaws). Another woman feeds her toddler pagpag, and claims that the child has never been sick from it.

Nutritionists say people who frequently eat pagpag develop some resistance to the bacteria present in it (with such cute names as E.Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and salmonella). But typically, the body responds to the bacteria in the food by dehydration, diarrhea, vomiting, and in extreme cases, even death.

Wasting food is rampant everywhere, whether it’s in our homes or in restaurants. We buy large quantities of food at wholesale stores because it’s cheaper, but frequently end up throwing them out. A lot of food is wasted because people simply cannot eat all the food available to them.

So the next time you eat, think twice about leaving food on the table. Especially when your inner glutton kicks in at the buffet or at Christmas parties. No matter what you think, you cannot eat five plates of food.

You can find several informative videos on Youtube regarding pagpag. Be informed. And be socially conscious. (FREEMAN)