No dishes with complicated French names, no fusion fare, not even gourmet Filipino.
In keeping with his avowed intention to keep his inauguration as simple as possible, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is serving homegrown and no-frills fare to guests in Malacañang following his oath of office on June 30.
The menu announced so far: mongo soup with smoked fish, alugbati; pan de sal with kesong puti and chicken adobo; fried lumpiang ubod; pritong saging, bibingka and puto bumbong.
And, in a nod to his hometown and bailiwick of Davao, the dessert includes durian tart. The pungent fruit is said to be Duterte’s favorite, and, incidentally, one he’s also been compared with—Duterte, “like the famous durian fruit of Mindanao, is an acquired taste,” so wrote columnist Carol Araullo—so perhaps it’s also another cheeky touch on the part of the famously nose-thumbing guy.
Over at the vice presidential inauguration, which will be held separate from Duterte’s swearing-in, Vice President-elect Leni Robredo’s guests at Quezon City Reception House will reportedly be served a menu just as simple: maja blanca, pichi pichi, different flavors of pan de sal, sotanghon soup and Choc Nut-flavored buchi (Chinese sticky rice balls), Robredo’s favorite chocolate.
Robredo’s team might want to also serve pili tart—just to complete the elevation by the country’s new top two officials of delicacies native to the home regions that started them on the road to this historic day, for themselves and the country.