Click to view full screen
- Title:
- Baka & Quiso (Part A)
- Description:
- Mitsado and bulalo were not documented as being in the vocabulary of native cooks during the first century of Spanish colonisation. There is no evidence they cooked those dishes yet. But the words baka (from Spanish “vaca”) for cow and quiso (from “queso”) for cheese appeared in Tagalog for the first time already. Before the 40th year of the Conquista, 24 cows and 2 bulls arrived by galleon from Mexico to begin the Philippine breeding farm. The King had underwritten their cost and transport. Cows were unknown in Mexico and the rest of the Americas until 1493 when Columbus left on his second trip to the Carribean and introduced them first there. They created American Creole cattle, the term for a cow of pure Iberian parents but born in the colony. American Creole cows became so hardy and populous. Whereas western European countries used cows for dairy and traction, according to the research of Marleen Felius, et. al. (2014), Spain since the Reconquista of 900 to 1492 began developing thriving cattle ranching in Castilia and Andalusia. Herds had 1,000 to 15,000 heads and were used as work and beef cattle. Although a total of less than 1,000 Iberian cattle reached the Americas, according to research cited by Amparo Martinez, et. al., great herds thrived. One wonders if any traces of American Creole cattle remain in the Philippines. During the first century of colonisation cows were also imported from China. Their milk was preferred to that of New World cows. Over centuries, especially during the 20th century, different types of cows such as the Indian Zebu with a hump and varieties from Australia were introduced to the Philippines. Or were they the Chinese cows brought in during the Spanish call to begin cattle raising and dairy production?
- Subjects:
- Cows Baka Cheese Quiso Cattle
- Exhibition:
- 100 Philippine Food
- Source:
- American Creole cows. shutterstock.com
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Baka & Quiso (Part A)", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll141.html