KILAW

KILAW - (v to eat raw, n kinilaw) It's a feast every after good catch in fishing communities. It is said that as a vestige of the communal nature of sustenance fishery, which basically is still a hunt-gathering economic activity, coastal dweller share a portion of the day's catch for consumption and the rest for selling. Fish fresh out from the sea is sweet.

It is believed that the kinilaw has been with us since the pre-castillan period. The artifact? - shells of tabon-tabon, an indigenous and unique kinilaw ingredient in Mindanao were found near tuna bones in a midden in the Balanghai site. Perhaps a perfect pulutan to laksoy/ nipa wine (Jess Yuson's book: Inumang Pinoy). Tabon-tabon (Hydrophytune orbiculatum) is endemic in Mindanao. It looks like chico on the outside, but with hard shell, its meat is scraped, pressed to extract its milk and presto, it gives the kinilaw a tinge of bitter taste, it is believed to fight off bacteria in fresh fish meat.

In this photo, they are preparing kinilaw from the abundant tamban catch (Sardinella sp.) which is abundant in bays especially near estuaries. Remembered debating with a lot of people who refuse to believe that the fish inside the sardines can (i.e. Young's Town, 555) are actually the lowly tamban pressure-cooked and drowned in tomato sauce then sealed in that humble can.This photo was taken in Tubay, Agusan del Norte, Philippines.