Boodle Fight!

There are weekends when my family gets together for a barbecue, inihaw na panga, liempo, manok, pancit and Pinoy food with matching sawsawang kamatis, bagoong, sibuyas, toyo, suka or patis (Pinoy sauce considered disgusting to foreigners).

Sunday noons are usually set for family lunches. These lunches are made more special whenever somebody is celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, or simply a special get together with family and friends wanting to touch base…or test a new dish.

My nephews, growing boys that they are, normally suggest that the lunch turn into a “boodle fight”. “Boodle fight!”, my nephews Jeff and Justin would yell. My wife upon hearing the term from my nephews, expressed mild shock. “Ha? Ano yon?” (Eh? What’s that?) Being new to my family’s eating habits and sensing her unfamiliarity with the term, I explained that a boodle fight is not a violent method of scuffling or grappling. It’s a term used by the military and pertains to eating in a seemingly uncivilized manner due to the unavailability of plates and utensils. Kind of like eating primitive style in the jungle or outdoors.

Banana leaves do the trick. We collect dahon ng saging (banana leaves) from the neighbors’ backyards…and..voila!… we have “plates” to put the food. I heard somewhere that the banana leaves actually stimulate appetite. No wonder, we all pounce on the food, dig in, and not talk till the chow is obliterated by hungry adolescents and famished adults. Nobody gives a fiddler’s fart if it’s impolite not to converse on the dinner table. It seems so much more delicious primitively competing with everybody. The satisfaction is so primordial.

The house helps (yayas) are happy. There are few plates and utensils to wash and more food to consume for the next meal. They, too, dig in with us. In boodle fights elders, youngens and house helps are co-equals. Therein lies the beauty of this “fight” that somewhat promotes equanimity.

We rub our bellies, pick on our teeth, and praise God for a hearty meal. I usually pass on the ice cream till later…I’ll eat it after my siesta…with Barako coffee. What a life!

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