CHAMORRO KATUPAT
The katupat is a rice pouch made from the blades of coconut tree fronds. The rice is boiled inside the katupat. Thus, we have a ready-made container, in an amount sufficient for one person's meal, without the need or hassle of finding a means of taking rice with you to the fields or farm.
BUT, WAS I SURPRISED...
...when I was walking down the street in a town in Indonesia, and saw men selling katupat in their little lunch wagons on the sidewalk. I pointed to the katupat and asked them what it was, and guess what the Indonesian said? Katupat! Sometimes it is spelled ketupat. Pareho ha'.
As I've pointed out numerous times on this blog, our roots seem to go back to Indonesia or Malaysia. So many of our words are nearly identical to their languages.
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INDONESIAN KATUPAT/KETUPAT
And just to point out the linguistic connections we have across the seas, in Ilocano it is called patupat, as well as in Pampanga, it seems. Because there are many Ilocano speakers in Pangasinan, it is found there as well. In the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, banana and other leaves can be used to wrap the rice, not just coconut fronds.
HOW TO WEAVE A KATUPAT
Pale Eric,
ReplyDeleteMy family lived in Singapore 3 years and we discovered many Malay words very similar to Chamorro. Jalan and chalan, ikan and guihan, talinga and talanga, mata and mata (eye), langit and langit, but your're right about the ketupat being a real surprise. The difference is that when I ate katupat as a child, mostly at fiestas, we would unravel the coconut blades to get to the rice. In Malaysia and Singapore, they just split the katupat in half with a knife and eat the rice with satay.
Jim McDonald
Interesting! I didn't stick around the vendor to see how they ate the ketupat, as I can't eat rice (health). Thanks!
DeleteBeautiful! Local chefs should incorporate this into their presentation of Chamorro foods at the hotels. Authenticity is what travelers apprciate .
ReplyDeleteWith Love from California