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- Title:
- Hungry for Home
- Description:
- Pigafetta had been eating tropical Asian food since March 1521 when he entered Visayan waters. In the Philippines he learned to eat insular Southeast Asian style: seated on a mat instead of on a chair at a table. While some places had wooden or golden spoons, he knew eating with fingers (of only the right hand in Muslim areas) was common. Rulers had porcelain and gold plates and serving dishes. One ate coconut meat chunks or rice cooked as solid as bread. Rice was the desired cereal, a food eaten in Spain and Italy because Moors from the Near East had cultivated it when they ruled Spain. Everywhere there was swine, goat, poultry, fish. One had to carry them live and slaughter as needed. The crew did not have salt to preserve the cuts while they sailed, he wrote. All around the region were coconut, banana, possibly also sugarcane. Praus bartered firewood needed for cooking on board. Water could be bought in long bamboo tubes that needed to be stored upright. One needed attractive fabrics, hats, clothing, glass beads, and metal to exchange for food. Otherwise one used kidnapping for ransom, storming small villages, and capturing laden boats to secure food. The easterly winds they had been waiting for were blowing but they were unsure how to get home. Portuguese knew the route but they were the enemy and needed to be avoided at all costs. On December 21, 1521 Pigafetta headed off from Asia for Africa and Europe. They had been gone since August 10, 1519.
- Subjects:
- Antonio Pigafetta
- Exhibition:
- Magellan Menu
- Source:
- “India Que Orientalists decitur et el Insular Adiacentes” by William Blaeu, 1635.
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/png
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Hungry for Home", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll035.html