Lamb for lunch
and the future

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

The centerpiece of course was lamb, but it was a locavore feast alright, with everything – well, almost -- coming from within the province. The lamb was technically from the batch that was imported from Australia, but it was given the local twist and treatment it was for all intents and purposes thoroughly local, Negrense in fact.

And I guess,  with the efforts and emphasis now being given by Guv Freddie to making  the province the country’s lamb capital, this lunch, held three days ago at the ongoing Pana-ad Festival, can be considered the meat’s debut on the Negrense dining table; indeed, something of a coming-out party, that was meant to prove to one and all that lamb can, in fact, be  a worthy number in our culinary cuisine.

While there is an eating tradition for lamb in Murcia, and I recall, in some haciendas in the past, it is not a popular meat hereabouts. In fact, I must confess, I never got to understand Good Friends M and C’s love for it. I mean, they can go gaga over lamb, I can die without eating it again. Or so I thought.

I had been lured to the lamb lunch by the idea of a locavore feast, something that I think, deserves to be embraced by everybody. I  had been intrigued at how such a foreign favorite as lamb, could turn locavore. It should be included in our locavore menu, if Negros Occidental is serious in becoming the lamb capital. Because while the end-goal really is to be a supplier of lamb to Manila and the world, we should be first to eat, enjoy and serve it.

Locavore, of course, is one of the latest trends in the food front, which simply means consuming only the resources within one’s community. With lamb becoming a major product, it must first start on our dining tables.

Wednesday’s lamb lunch buffet was a showcase of what Negrense lamb dishes could look like and taste like.  There were seven lamb dishes  on the table, all given the Negrense twist: steak, chops, barbeque, stew, roasted, sisig, liversteak, cholitas and oh, that Negrense appetizer that can also go as main course, the paklay.

 So what was it like, especially for someone like me who does not exactly drool over lamb? The experience ran the full gamut, teasing and turning one’s taste buds. The roast lamb was a tad too sweet, but the rest were delicious. Standing out from the line up were the barbeque, soft, tender,  with just the right slivers of fat. The cholitas, which were really lamb meat balls that had chopped veggies were a surprise and reminded me of the bola-bola of yore, when it was nice to bite and its flavors  full and defined.  The backribs was nicely-done, the flavors coming out subtly.

But oh, yes, to the small-town boy in me, the  paklay was divine, tart that was both fruity and slightly acidic, by turns sweet and briny, tough and tender, it evoked mental notes of the bucolic life in the countrysides where this dish is a delicacy.

There was a full selection of rice: paella negra, blackened by squid ink white rice, ginger rice, yellow rice and red rice. But one stunning item there was the corn paella; I guess this was steamed ground corn, which was then fried with meat and veggies. It was done so nicely, it came off like it was couscous, the grain or cereal that is almost always served with lamb and other meats and veggies in Middle Eastern and French dishes.

So there, I thought, the lamb has earned not just a home in Negros, but a rightful place as well on our dining table, and as a bonus, it looks like it is going to bring along with it there our corn.*

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