FILIPINOS' OBSESSION TO PANCIT

One cold Saturday morning, as the sun rises up together with the sounds of the noisy roosters, I was confused in the market searching for ingredients of what to cook for our incoming lunch. It should be very scrumptious because my rich aunt has just returned home from Japan. She was really meticulous when talking about food so I should do my very best in order to impress her. This is why I struggle this morning just to find the perfect ingredients for my dish that would absolutely satisfy her. As I walked along the market, I saw fish, pork, beef, shrimp, squid, vegetable and other appetizing ingredients to buy. But I can’t really choose among all of them. As I was continuously searching the stalls, one thing caught my eyes. A long, thin, yellow coloured noodles which looks really appealing to me. I tried to look more closely in order to identify what really it is and then I realized that it was one of my favourite cuisines that I haven’t eaten for several months ago. Pancit.

Pancit or pansit is the term for Chinese noodles in Filipino cuisine. They are mostly light yellow in colour and have a rather slightly stiff or springy texture.  Most of the time, hard wheat flour is its main raw material and is used together with water and “kansui” (a mixture of alkaline salts). There are other Chinese noodles such as dan mien, chow mein and lo mein which uses eggs together with the flour to have an added flavour, colour and body to the product.  Many versions of pancit incorporate multiple kinds of meat; pork, shrimp, and beef are among the common places. Some common variations of these Chinese noodles in the Philippines are Pancit Palabok, Pancit Miki, Pancit Bihon Guisado, Pancit Sotanghon, Pancit Canton and Pancit Lomi. Its sauces can be spiced with chilies, rich with ground peanuts, or savory as a result of the addition of soy sauce. Some adds lemon or calamansi to it in order to have a slightly sour taste.

 The origins of pancit probably lie in China. Food historians suspect that the Chinese introduced the concept of noodles to the Philippines at some point, along with a few dishes which could be made with them. The influences of Chinese noodle dishes can be clearly seen, especially in dishes like pancit canton, which is named for a city in China. The word pancit is believed to be derived from pian i sit, which means “something cooked conveniently and quickly,” and this sums up pancit to a tee. The first pancit that landed in the Philippines is likely to have been made from wheat noodles brought as baon by a Chinese trader. Some says that sometime later, another Chinese merchant probably tried his hand on making his own noodles when his baon ran out. With usisero (inquisitive) natives by his side, he may have experimented with batch after batch until he produced something that looked like what he may have had in his homeland. But since rice, not wheat, was on hand, he made rice noodles.

Filipino cuisine is influenced principally by China, Spain, and the United States, integrated into the pre-colonial indigenous Filipino cooking practices. When restaurants were established in the 19th century, Chinese food became a staple of the pansiterias, with the food given Spanish names. The "comida China" (Chinese food) includes arroz caldo (rice and chicken gruel), and morisqueta tostada (fried rice). 

Almost all Filipinos go crazy when they hear the word pancit.  It is because pancit has a very appetizing taste that would satisfy you so much in every chomp. Another thing that makes Filipinos even love pancit more is that it is easy and cheap to prepare. It can be bought for approximately forty pesos per kilo which means that you can prepare at least five servings of it even if you only have a fifty peso bill in your pocket. But more importantly, it is a veritable Pinoy comfort food which easier to cook than rice, and more versatile and food combination-friendly. The Filipino tradition of eating noodles, or pancit, to celebrate a birthday is one that was adopted when noodles were introduced to the Philippines by the Chinese, and is meant to symbolize good health. We Filipinos also have our superstitious belief that eating pancit always could lead to a longer and a happier life. Our elderlies say that the shape and the length of pancit indicate that it can indeed lengthen your life span. However, scientifically speaking, the length of pancit has actually no relationship with the life span of us. On the other hand, there is a term called “placebo effect” which means that if you believe that something will happen, it will definitely happen. If we believe that pancit can prolong our lives, then it definitely will. Believing is not always enough to have a long life. The most important and most advisable thing to do in order to maximize your lifespan is to have a healthy and wonderful lifestyle.

There are also some people who doesn’t like or hate pancit. Some says that it is not a nutritious food because majority of its nutritional values are carbohydrates and fats which are not good if taken too much. These can cause us to gain more unwanted fats that make us even heavier which means that eating pancit is not advisable to people who are in a diet or the ones who want to lose weight in order to look more attractive in the eyes of others.

Pancit is usually prepared during special occasions like birthdays, fiestas, weddings and anniversaries.  It’s traditional to serve pancit on someone’s birthday because noodles represent a wish for the celebrant’s long life.  It then follows that if you do cook noodles on a birthday, you don’t cut the noodles because the longer the strands, the longer the celebrant’s lifespan. It adds to the enjoyment and happiness of the people celebrating in these occasions. This is also served sometimes in our daily meals and I really get very excited whenever my beautiful mother serves it during our mealtime especially lunch because at these times, I could say that my appetite reaches its peak. It seems like I don’t want to stop eating until my stomach can’t hold it anymore. In eateries and restaurants, it is always served almost all the time because it is easy and fast to prepare and it only needs few ingredients to have a delightful and satisfactory taste. This is also one of the main reasons why some people keep going back to restaurants.

Pancit usually should have a lot of ingredients and spices to make it even more appealing. Its ingredients include carrots, beans, cabbages and meat (could be pork, beef, chicken, fish and shrimp). These ingredients do not only add to the delicious taste of the pancit but also make it look pleasing and delightful. However, some people prepare pancit with only few ingredients and spices in order to save time, money and effort. For them, it is not necessary to have a very delicious meal as long as it can satisfy their hunger. They think that there are more important things to prioritize than food like water, electricity, tuition and school fees and house rentals. These reasons could also be used as scapegoat by lazy people not to cook their food properly even if their real reason is that they are only sluggish.  In eateries, their pancit also has few spices so that they can have more profit. Besides, there are some people who prefer cheap but not so delicious than delicious but very expensive because they are also saving some money. On the other hand, some actually prefer delicious dishes even if they are very costly. Majority of these people are rich ones because they can afford to buy as much ingredients and spices as they want to add to the taste of their pancit. Most of them believe in the saying “quality over quantity” which means that it is better to have delicious but expensive food than cheap yet blunt in flavour.

We Filipinos have different perspective on how they think about pancit. They have different comments and suggestions on better and more efficient ways of cooking it. Some also have completely different views about pancit that they even quarrel just to show that they are the one who is right. Some love it that they can’t even live a single day without it and some hate it that they think that they won’t last a minute by just looking at it. For me, it is one of the best things that ever happen to my life and I’m looking forward to learn some new styles and techniques on how to cook them better. As of now, I just want to go home right away, prepare and cook my special and extraordinary pancit and serve it to my favourite aunt who is excitedly waiting in our house.