Pagpag

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Pagpag Filipino Pagpag.jpg
Pagpag

Pagpag is the Tagalog term for leftover food from restaurants (usually from fast food restaurants) scavenged from garbage sites and dumps. [1] [2] Preparing and eating pagpag is practiced in the slums of Metro Manila, particularly in Tondo. [3] [4] [5] It arose from the challenges of hunger that resulted from extreme poverty among the urban poor. [6] [7]

Contents

Pagpag food can also be expired frozen meat, fish, or vegetables discarded by supermarkets and scavenged in garbage trucks where this expired food is collected. [8] The word in the Tagalog language literally means "to shake off the dust or dirt". Pagpag can be eaten immediately after it is found, or can be cooked in a variety of ways.

Pagpag is also called batchoy, [9] a euphemistic term derived from the Filipino dish with the same name. Technically, batchoy is soup-based, though the term batchoy referring to leftover food from the trash may be a meal cooked differently, like fried pagpag batchoy. [10]

Preparation

After dirt and inedible substances are removed then pagpag can be eaten on site where it is found. It can also be processed further, most commonly by frying it in hot oil depending on the kind of food. [11] Filipino actor and former Manila Mayor Isko Moreno used to scavenge leftover food and calling it pagpag batsoy after frying it. [10] Small cottage industries have arisen around pagpag with impoverished people making a living scavenging, collecting, processing, and selling the processed pagpag to other financially challenged people. [7] A cook in a restaurant in Tondo, Manila prepares pagpag in traditional Filipino cooking, such as pagpag à la kaldereta or adobo, with the mixture of the leftover chicken from Jollibee and KFC as the main ingredient. [12]

Health concerns

Health risks include ingestion of poisons, toxins, and food-born illnesses. The National Anti-Poverty Commission warns [13] against eating pagpag because of the threat of malnutrition and diseases such as Hepatitis A, typhoid, diarrhea, and cholera. [11]

Discouragement of consumption

Hunger has been linked to the spread of pagpag food and the food crisis in 2008 was said to be the cause in the rise of poverty in the Philippines. [14] The National Statistical Coordination Board recommended the administration of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to reduce poverty. [14] Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman said that the government has been addressing the issue and helping the poor through feeding programs and conditional cash transfers. [14] In 2014, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations revealed that incidence of hunger in the Philippines was reduced but the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa attributed the decrease of hunger to the rapid spreading of pagpag. [15]

Zero waste management is seen as a viable solution in stopping the proliferation of pagpag food. [9]

Media coverage

Selling pagpag in a poor neighborhood in Manila Selling pagpag in a poor neighborhood in Manila.jpg
Selling pagpag in a poor neighborhood in Manila

Extreme hunger among the Metro Manila urban poor in the Philippines that features pagpag has been covered in various television documentaries. In 2003, the episode entitled "Basurero" (garbage collector) of the documentary show I-Witness of GMA Network tells a story of poor people collecting leftovers from the trash of fast food restaurants. [16] In the said episode, those people who scavenged for food in trash are called magbabatchoy, which was derived from the word batchoy, a popular Filipino dish. As shown in ABS-CBN in 2006, Probe , another documentary show, features pagpag and mentions health risks of eating pagpag. [11]

After CNN reported about pagpag in 2012, [1] the reality about problems of hunger in the Philippines was brought to the world's attention. [14] The San Diego Tribune also featured an article about residents of Payatas preparing pagpag in celebration of Pope Francis's visit to the Philippines. [2] In February 2018, BBC News published a 3-minute long mini-documentary showing how pagpag is made, whereby the team followed a bag of meat from the rubbish dump to the dinner table. [17]

Frequent sensationalist media coverage of pagpag, and Tondo poverty in general, has been criticized as an example of poverty porn. [3] [18] [19]

Other uses of the word

In common use, pagpag means the act of shaking off dust or dirt. Pagpag is also a Filipino term for a superstition saying one can never go directly to one's home after attending a funeral unless they have done the pagpag. [20] This practice is observed to avoid the following of the dead's soul to the home of the visitor of the wake. [21] [22]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "'Garbage chicken' a grim staple for Manila's poor". CNN. May 30, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Image of Asia: Eating pagpag in celebration of pope's visit". San Diego Tribune . Associated Press. January 13, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Cepeda, Cody; Cariga, Cirilo (March 31, 2016). "Smokey Mountain, Tondo: Poverty porn and slum tourism". The LaSallian. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  4. ↑ "The booming business of 'pagpag'". Philippine Daily Inquirer. October 3, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  5. ↑ Cruz, Gen (June 22, 2015). "Pagpag: A thriving business". CNN Philippines . Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  6. ↑ Chua, Charlene; Mercadillo, Chelsea Rae; Munoz, Dana Kriselli; Salud, Ray John (February 2018). "The Perceived Impacts Of Alternative Food Source* ("Pagpag") On Selected Families Of An Urban Poor Community In The Philippines" (PDF). Journal of Social Health. 1 (1): 103–115.
  7. 1 2 Rodriguez, Fritzie (March 15, 2014). "Meal of the day: 'Pagpag'". Rappler . Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Sarbey hinggil sa Sosyo-ekonomikong Kalagayan at Pamumuhay ng mga Kababaihan sa Ilang Piling Maralitang Komunidad sa Bansa" (PDF). Philippine Commission on Women (in Tagalog). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Archdiocese of Manila achieves Zero Waste Management; prevents 'PAGPAG' eating by waste pickers by Romulo S. Arsenio, Ph.D." Archdiocese of Manila . Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  10. 1 2 Tugado, Angelo (April 28, 2016). "Isko Moreno: Proud to be a 'Domagoso'". Journal Online . Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  11. 1 2 3 "Pagkaing Pagpag". Northern Illinois University Center for Southeast Asian Studies (in Tagalog). March 9, 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  12. ↑ Moya, George (April 11, 2015). "Happyland meal: Kaldereta a la pagpag". Rappler. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  13. ↑ Michaela Cabrera (April 30, 2008). "Filipino poor scavenge for recycled food to survive". Reuters. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Pedrasa, Ira (May 1, 2012). "Pagpag: All eyes on poverty in PH" . Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  15. ↑ Barcelo, Vito; Araneta, Sandy (May 13, 2015). "'Pagpag' caused surveyed hunger to drop?". The Manila Standard . Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  16. ↑ Francisco, Butch (December 11, 2003). "Jay Taruc: The son also rises". The Philippine Star. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Would you eat recycled landfill meat? - BBC News". YouTube. February 26, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Pagpag: The ultimate junk food scavenged from bins and dumps". PLN Media. May 16, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  19. ↑ San Diego, Bayani, Jr. (June 16, 2013). "Confronting 'poverty porn'". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved November 17, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ Manlangit, Shinji (October 30, 2015). "14 of the Dumbest Superstitions from the Philippines". Philippine Daily Inquirer . Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  21. ↑ Garcia, Joseph (December 26, 2013). "A horror treat". BusinessWorld . Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  22. ↑ Marasigan, Zig (December 28, 2013). "'Pagpag:' Stylish superstition". Rappler . Retrieved June 10, 2016.

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