LAOAG CITY—The scent of Ilocano Christmas is packed in a sticky rice cake wrapped in banana leaves and freshly roasted on a charcoal-fired oven.
If most Filipinos associate Christmas with puto bumbong (purple rice cake), Ilocanos mark the season with the aroma of fresh tupig lining the sidewalks as Catholics begin their traditional Misa de Gallo.
Tupig is the Ilocanos’ famous rice cake with glutinous rice as its base. The delicacy is seasoned with butter or margarine, molasses and garnished with grated coconut and sesame seeds.
While tupig has become a street food through the years, the sticky rice snack used to be prepared only during Christmas and served at noche buena (Christmas Eve meal).
“Instead of money, tupig is given away to young carolers as their reward,” said tupig maker Dollie Ancheta.
The Ilocano rice cake has also become the focus in the monthlong Christmas festivity called “Paskua Mi Ditoy” (This is how we mark Christmas), that the provincial government organized.
Gov. Imee Marcos gathered the best tupig producers in the provinces of Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija for a cooking festival on Dec. 9 and determined the best-tasting tupig from among the participants.
“What reminds us of Christmas? It is the smell of roasted tupig,” said Marcos.
After the cook fest, the best-tasting tupig award went to producers from La Union, whose rice cake was seasoned with langka (jackfruit) bits.
Editha Subido, a tupig maker from La Union, said this rice cake variety is a modest creation that has made Ilocanos distinct from other regions.
“We continue to teach the young how to make the delicacy so the tradition of producing tupig may continue,” she said. Cristina Arzadon, Inquirer Northern Luzon