Click to view full screen
- Title:
- Chile Chronicles
- Description:
- Chile arrived in Asia for the first time during the late 1400s through the Portuguese. They were ahead of the Spanish into the region. Chile was used in India almost as soon as it was introduced. The Indian composer Purandaradasa (1480-1564) called chile “saviour of the poor, enhancer of good food, fiery when bitten.” During the second voyage of Columbus to the Carribean, in 1494, the physician Diego Cheka who was with him, mentioned a hot pepper (Capsicum) seasoned bread, fish and birds at Santo Domingo. In the Carribean, the piquant spice was called AHI or AJI (also spelled AXI). Cheka and Columbus referred to axi as a pepper likely because of chile’s spiciness similar to the familiar black pepper. AHI would become a commodity of trade in Asia. Fr. San Jose writes in 1609 that while there was no Tagalog word for the Spanish “pimienta” (black pepper), “chile” was called LARA. Linalaraan was to suffer from too much lara. In Malay, “lada sili” means chile. In Magindanao, lada is the term for chile. With the trade and familial links between Borneo with Maynilad and Tundo, one speculates if chile might have been known in some Philippine neighbourhoods before Legaspi’s settling started in 1565. Was lara a take on lada? Chile is a Spanish term derived from Nahuatl’s “chili.” In 1613, PAMITPIT was recorded as “especias,” meaning spices. If a Spaniard instructed the cook, “Pamitpitan mo,” it meant to throw spices into the cooking. The common ones were black pepper, clove and ginger. They are a European triad. Notice chile of Mexican savour was not included.
- Subjects:
- Peppers
- Exhibition:
- 100 Philippine Food
- Source:
- Eugène Delacroix. The Return of Christopher Columbus and His Audience Before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. 1839. Toledo Museum of Art. commons.m.wikimedia.org.
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Chile Chronicles", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll137.html
Rights
- Rights:
- public domain