Pigafetta's Philippine Picnic

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Pigafetta's Philippine Picnic
Retold by Felice Prudente Sta. Maria
Publised by National Historical Commission of the Philippines, 2021

This tiny book is filled with exciting collated researches establishing the food milieu at the time when Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian scholar if we put it in the modern sense, sailed with Ferdinand Magellan, a Portugese with many nemesis who sailed for Spain, to find a new Spice route going to the Maluco or the Spice Islands.

Just in that paragraph above as my introduction, I learned many things. That Pigafetta was Italian and not Spanish, Magellan a portuguese and again, not Spanish, and that they did not enter the Philippines for our peppercorns but only beached on our area to restock fresh food for the journey. The last is the impression I could not attribute to my elementary, high school or college professors or books but it stuck to my memory like glue stick.  Surprisingly, ginger is the spice that Pigafetta mentioned many times. Since peppercorn stuck on my head, I even blogged about finding Cinnamon in the Philippines. 

Wonderful also to know that Lapu-Lapu is elderly and must be his tribe's source of wisdom as chieftain, that he did not kill Magellan in a hand-to-hand combat as I always imagine with him holding a fine bolo in most of his images/statues made in his memory. The whole village gathered and fought Magellan and his sailors because Lapu-lapu as chieftain refused to offer them fresh food. 

Also, fine porcelain dishes were mentioned. No mention of eating on the leaves or by hand. And I can't imagine how they serve gingers on the table since no mention of how it was eaten. Also, the barter for the food/live animals usually consisted of fine cloths and mirrors aside from knives, amazing to know.

I also love the endnotes as they lead me somewhere. The NHCP also offers softcopies of Pigafetta's four extant books via email which I am yet to request via email.

Above all, this book is an invitation to join the walkthrough of the food and times through the eyes of Pigafetta from 1519-1522 when the first circumnavigation of the world happened.  

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