My Family Health Blog

Committed Family Healer's Research

Jumping Shrimp Salad: A Traditional Ilocano Way of Eating Raw Shrimp

by

My previous post discussed about how we caught and cooked the live river shrimp from Kabigan falls in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. This morning we had breakfast in Kabigan falls. Found out from conversation with 2 women that their usual, traditional Ilocano way of eating those live river shrimp is raw! Yes, a traditional raw paleo diet meal.

How to make Ilocano Jumping Shrimp Salad technique:

1. Sprinkle salt on live shrimp to “kill” them.
2. Remove shells from shrimp.
3. Dip in freshly squeezed calamansi juice.

Eat.

And by the way, even if my 2 younger kids gorged on the cooked shrimp at lunch time, for the very first time, absolutely no allergies came out of their skin.

Which proves that shrimp store toxins if they come from polluted waters. Say a polluted lake, polluted ocean, polluted fish pond. These Kabigan Falls shrimps are so very very very clean.

River Shrimp Paleo Diet: Live from Pristine Waters of Kabigan Falls in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte

by

Kabigan Falls

Kabigan Falls

We are staying in a resort in the beaches of Pagudpud. Yesterday late afternoon the family went to Kabigan falls. Kabigan falls is a pristine impressive waterfall. Our tour guide for the afternoon was Rey.

Kabigan falls is a nice nature trip. The people live at the opening part where the highway is. Then inside the people have planted rice fields and vegetables and grow their own roaming native chicken. You will notice a stream flowing down the middle of everything, a clear clean stream.

Follow that stream and you get to the beginning… Kabigan Falls. Very nice, very cool. The people have tapped the top most source for their drinking water for all their households. Rey says there are some 2000 people who live in these parts.

cooked river shrimp

cooked river shrimp

I asked Rey about what common food they have in these parts, if they had shrimp or fish in their mini-river. He said they usually caught river shrimp for their meals. Aha! Good idea. I made a deal with Rey for him and his buddy to catch me some 2 kilos of live river shrimp for our family breakfast the next day. Rey agreed for a price both of us were happy.

The following day I was prompt at 6:30am and I did get what I ordered. 2 kilos of live river shrimp. They kept the shrimp alive by putting them in a porous basket and dunked in the stream. So when I got to their village, the shrimp were jumping alive. They called this kind of shrimp UDANG.

I came back to the beach and went to my chosen cooking hut and showed the lady my catch and that I wanted them to cook it GISADO. She was wide eyed impressed by my catch, she knew what it was but was puzzled where I could get such a prize.

I fetched my kids and they played around with the river shrimp for a few minutes before we proceeded to cook them. I was there to watch every step they took so we could have a clean breakfast. They had sea salt, onions, coconut oil, onions… and the extra special 7-Up softdrink that when it evaporates in the pot gives good flavor… it’s an old chef’s trick with shrimp.

They suggested margarine 2 times but I turned them down both times. Let’s keep this paleo diet guys.

Finally, the 2 kilos of river shrimp were done and served to excited children. Normally, my 2nd son and my daughter are allergic to shrimp, but I figured these were absolutely clean shrimp from the most pristine natural waters, so let’s take the risk. They initially had only 2 shrimp each at breakfast, but lunch time they just chowed down on the shrimp.

This nutritious paleo diet was brought to you by parent ingenuity. This dish is not available in any menu of any resort or cooking outfit in the Pagudpud beaches. With deliberate paleo diet “hunting”, we get food that’s best.

I had to drive some 15 minutes from Pagudpud beach to Kabigan falls and back and had them cooked just the way I liked and watching over the shrimp so they did it right. Parental labor of love.

If you are in Pagudpud and would like to catch some live river shrimp, call on Rey at 0930-5591605

Raw Wild Honey in Such High Demand and Expensive In Ifugao

by

On this road trip, our first leg took us to Ifugao province. We took the Nueva Ecija to Bayombong and up route. In every w et market I stopped and asked for honey, pulot in the local language. Always no honey. In Lagawe I asked for honey, no honey either. The young lady said to me I should go there on Sunday market day and even then I’d have to go real early because people just snap up raw honey.

The Ifugao locals all know the value of raw honey as medicine. They keep raw honey for their children. The formula is to mix a tablespoon of raw honey with a tablespoon of raw calamansi juice. Just like the candy combination of honey-lemon. Or is that the westerner’s staple honey-lemon remedy. Seems it is the same for the Ifugao.

Finally in Lagawe, the big town capital of Ifugao I found raw honey. A big square bottle of gin. 600 pesos per bottle. And no discounts. And that is the local price, not tourist prices. Only 2 bottles left. Of course it tasted like the real thing. Unique. Unlike any other honey I’ve tasted.

This honey is so expensive and fabled to be medicinal when I go back to Manila I’m keeping these 2 bottles as medicine for my children. I’m not bringing this out as food. It will be in my personal stash of medicines.

I think I’ll try the honey lemon combo now. It is said to be used for kids’ coughs. Well, I haven’t had any coughs since I turned raw paleo diet. But whatever, let’s try it before we give it to the kids.

Banaue Rice Terraces So Very Much Recommended Tourist Guide

by

Our first day in Banaue Rice Terraces took us to Travellers Inn in the remote, under construction dangerous roads by the cliff. Breath taking place, but there is the very real risk of being stranded in case of landslides. We conversed with a jeep driver who turned out to be a top notch tourist guide by himself, the name is Lambert, call 0935-2185607.

The following day we called up Lambert to fetch us and guide us through the very dangerous 1 lane cliff hanging muddy road as it was raining. We succeeded in coming back to Banaue town proper and we then proceeded to tour Banaue through the different terraces view points. We also got to the museum. We then checked in at Banaue Hotel. The only “real” hotel in Banaue.

Lambert took us to his favorite restaurant, Las Vegas, we had dinner there. Lunch we wanted chicken pinikpikan, but it was unavailable so we went to a turo-turo which had it.

Banaue is such a small town of few people, everyone knew everyone. Lambert even helped us ship stuff we bought via Bus. Lambert is also an expert packer. We packed in a big box one sack of their sacred mountain red rice and some
furniture souvenirs. He knew the bus conductor and my driver in Manila successfully picked up our package.

Having Lambert along was such a joy, he also chews and spits Nga nga, Moma. He is an authentic Ifugao, Born from a father that was an expert wood carver. Their yellow family residence is on a cliff just like everyone else. His wife is Ifugao and his children are Ifugao.

Lambert used to study as a mechanic in Manila so he knows the difference between Manila life and Banaue life. Hey, you have to pay for chlorinated water in Manila! But water in Banaue rice terraces is totally free! All you can drink and bathe in.

Lambert is a professional tour driver and has toured the mountains in kalinga, baguio, sagada and has gone around central and northern luzon.

What I like about Lambert is he is a genuine person all his own. Not some factory trained tour guide.

So if you are thinking about going to Banaue Rice Terraces soon, call up Lambert at 0935-2185607.

Banaue to Sagada Road Impassable Due to Landslide, Driving towards Pagudpud via Isabela

by

We cut short our stay at the Travellers Inn in Hapao. The road is wet, muddy, unfinished, narrow. We decided to go back to Banaue and just stay there overnight. Found out later on that our planned trip to Sagada will now have to be cancelled due to a landslide that makes our route impassable. We were thinking of passing through sagada, on to the Cervantes road and into Ilocos Sur then up to Pagudpud.

Change of plans. This morning, we went down from the Banaue Hotel to the Tam-An village where we mingled with the Ifugao and shopped. Then at 10 am we set off for Tuguegarao. Nice 2 way “highway”, must overtake the pesky slow motorbikes, tricylcles, jeeps and carabaos.

Gosh, Isabela hills are all shamelessly nude. Seems logging to everything, every single tree. It’s so boring in this route.

Saw a lot of mono culture fields of crops, some cows, some carabaos, some goats.

We finally arrived in Tuguegarao. Billeted ourselves in a nice hotel with closed garage. Heard carnapping was pretty rampant in this city.

First thing in the morning tomorrow and we are off to Pagudpud.

Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Evacuation Zone Sacrifice Zone

by

Fukushima, Japan – The Japanese government has issued the evacuation order on March 12 for the residents living within the 20 kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Since then, residents have left their homes, and the “no man land” has been out of touch with the rest of the world.

A Japanese journalist, Tetsuo Jimbo, ventured through the evacuation zone last Sunday, and filed the following video report.

He says that, inside the evacuation zone, homes,building, roads and bridges, which were torn down by Tsunami, are left completely untouched, and the herd of cattle and pet dogs, left behind by the owners, wonders around the town while the radiation level remains far beyond legal limits.

And a great work of investigative journalism by Al Jazeera’s Dahr Jamail: Fukushima: A ‘nuclear sacrifice zone’ Some experts believe Japan’s nuclear disaster could become worse than Chernobyl.

Nuclear safety agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama on April 3 offered the first sense of how long it might take to bring an end to the nuclear crisis.

“It would take a few months until we finally get things under control and have a better idea about the future,” said Nishiyama, “We’ll face a crucial turning point within the next few months, but that is not the end.”

Ramana explained to Al Jazeera that he sees the current situation as being the “best case scenario,” because “the wind has been largely over the ocean, there haven’t been any more major explosions, and none of the spent fuel areas have had a major fire.”

Worst case scenario

“There could be a core that gets molten, and we could have an explosion,” Ramana said of what he believes would be a worst-case scenario, “This isn’t likely, but it is possible.”

Continue reading at http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/04/20114812554680215.html

Nga Nga is Chewed by The Ifugao for Warmth, Socials and Strong Teeth

by

I’m on a road trip to Banaue Rice Terraces, home of the Ifugao people. On the way up in the various wet markets I came across nga nga in plastic packs. Nga nga is very very popular in Ifugao. It stains their teeth, and they keep spitting. Why is that? What is the reason for nga nga?

I was in Solano town and I went to the wet market and came across a specialty shop that sold nga nga and big tobacco leaves. I asked the nice lady how to use and chew nga nga. She was kind enough to instruct me in this popular practice in the nearby province of Ifugao.

Nga nga is a set of items:
– The nga nga / betelnut leaf
– The nga nga / betelnut seed
– apog / lime powder

You put the leaf on your palm, put in a cracked, cut, bitten betelnut seed, half will do, and sprinkle some apog on it. Then fold this set and chew. It will cause you to salivate, and you spit the orange spit concoction. You aren’t really going to swallow the stuff, you spit and do this for some 5 minutes. Then you are done.

I talked to a tour driver and he said he chews nga nga some 10 times a day. It is a habit that makes him and the others who do it feel warm. It’s also a social culture thing. Each nga nga aficionado will have his own combination of nga nga preferences. Some add tobacco to the combination and it adds a zing to their taste and makes them feel a bit dizzy sometimes.

Now I always somehow want to link this together with why and how about health. Why is nga nga healthy for these Ifugao people? I think it has something to do with the place they live in. Vast clean air, mountain terrain, high up, working in rice terraces and other jobs in the cool air. Not much meat available. Pork is expensive, catch your own chickens that you grow in your yards. Ifugao is inland, no much fish really. No goats and no beef. So meat / fish is in short supply for the Ifugao… and they need to keep warm… so I figure, this nga nga keeps them warm and supplies them with something, that keeps them warm.

I also experienced that with the amount of saliva you spit each time is that it works something like oil pulling. Detoxing through spit every time they chew on nga nga.

I remember my healer friend Vander say nga nga was very good at expelling worms. You do have to swallow the nga nga seed and it is more powerful when the seed is immature.

Try nga nga. I tried it. Just for the heck of it. Spit a lot of orange spit.