Growing up, I would hear my dad and the help speak in Waray. Hailing from Samar, my dad spoke fluent Waray and I would pick up some words, especially the bad ones. Although I could understand it, I couldn’t really speak it. What I got exposed to, though, was a lot of food from Samar—tamalos, kayug, sisi and quisio, the salty Waray kesong puti. All these became part of my comfort food. On a recent visit to Calbayog, Samar, all these familiar food items came to life again. We visited Ping Ping’s tinapa factory where the fish looks like galunggong, but is not. It is alumahan fish blanched in paksiw sauce until cooked, then smoked using a particular wood to give it that reddish color. It is then vacuum-packed and sold as a Calbayog specialty.

Daza, S. (2018, October 18). ‘Tamalos,’ ‘sinakugan,’ ‘quisio’ and other Samar flavors. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. C2.