How Cebuanos eat

There was a time in rural Cebu when people knew it was time to eat—not by looking at the clock but by looking at the sun. I learned this from my dear friend Louella Eslao-Alix, whose stories about Cebuano food never fail to teach me something new.

Eslao-Alix has spent years documenting the food and traditions of her beloved Cebu. Our conversation began with something she wrote in “Hikay: The Culinary Heritage of Cebu”—about the Cebuano names for meals and what they tell us about everyday life.

Pamahaw is breakfast, from bahaw, meaning leftover or cold rice, which is traditionally eaten in the morning. Paniudto is lunch, from udto, meaning noon, when the sun is high overhead. Panihapon is supper, from hapon—the late afternoon approaching evening.

Five square meals a day

Eslao-Alix explained that Cebuanos traditionally eat five times a day. Apart from the three main meals, there are two occasions for paniinit, which comes from the word init, meaning hot or warm.

The first comes as early as five or six in the morning: coffee, sikwate, or even coffee made from roasted corn, perhaps with puto maya, that comforting preparation of glutinous rice.

And that’s before breakfast proper!

Breakfast might be rice or corn grits, dried danggit, chorizo, or inun-unan nga isda—fish simmered in vinegar and spices. Lunch, or paniudto, follows around midday, with rice, fish or meat, vegetables, and soup.

Then comes the afternoon paniinit, the Cebuano merienda (usually around 3 p.m.) where their fondness for sweets comes into play. There might be binignit, a sweet coconut milk stew; maruya, or fried banana fritters; bibingka; budbod, glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk; or linusak, boiled bananas pounded with muscovado sugar and coconut.

Eslao-Alix said demand for these treats grew so much that housewives began preparing them for sale, turning home cooking into small businesses that supported their families. An afternoon snack had become a source of livelihood. What a lovely story.

Then by evening came panihapon, the day’s last main meal.

Distinctly Cebuano

I loved how these Cebuano words offered glimpses of everyday life—from the first warm drink in the morning to the family’s evening meal. Which made me curious: What really makes Cebuano cooking Cebuano?

“Cebuano cooking is essentially the food of farmers and fisherfolk,” Eslao-Alix explains.

Its roots go back to pre-colonial times, when people cooked what they harvested from the land and caught from the sea. Preparations such as sinugba, tinuwa, and kinilaw offer a glimpse of these early cooking traditions.

Cebuanos also valued freshness and natural flavors, using ginger to temper the strong aromas of fish and meat. We then talked about their preference for goat over beef. Eslao-Alix explains that goat has long been familiar in local cooking, while cattle came later with the Spaniards.

Our conversation then wandered into Chinese and Spanish influences. The Chinese came as traders and settled—their food becoming part of everyday Cebuano cooking. Spanish-influenced dishes, often requiring expensive ingredients such as olives and olive oil, were more commonly reserved for celebrations.

Dishes close to the heart

Chef Coke Semblante, executive chef of Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown, joined Eslao-Alix for Hikay, the two-day Cebuano food festival presented by the Philippine Heritage Kitchen at New World Makati Hotel.

Eslao-Alix considers Semblante one of Cebu’s most promising heritage chefs, admiring his passion for traditional recipes and his ability to bring them into the present without losing their original flavors.

Here, Semblante chose dishes close to his heart. Balbacua and humba reminded him of Sunday meals prepared by his late grandfather, while pungko-pungko and tuslob buwa took him back to his days as a working student when these affordable, filling meals helped him stretch every peso.

That brought me back to Eslao-Alix’s explanation of pungko-pungko. Pungko means to squat or sit low, as customers traditionally did around vendors selling affordable street food. Eslao-Alix told me the vendors followed construction sites, bringing baskets of mostly fried food, which was easier to transport than dishes with broth. When the workers moved, the vendors moved, too.

From snout to tail

While there is more to Cebu than just lechon, lechon is everyday fare in Cebu. For the Cebu food festival, master lechonero Jonathan Tigley joined us and presented four variations: Carcar, Talisay, Lechon de Cebu (the old traditional style), and the winning lechon from the 2026 Mactan Lechon Festival.

Another highlight was the celebration of the other parts of the pig: tumbong, freshly popped Cebu chicharon, and, of course, ginabot—the beloved fried pork intestines.

Nothing wasted, and so much to enjoy!

A taste of Cebu

Hikay was a reminder of the richness and diversity of Philippine cuisine. The festival also marked the Manila launch of Eslao-Alix’s books, Hikay and Tam-is, from which we share two recipes: humba and binignit, respectively.

Humba

From “Hikay: The Culinary Heritage of Cebu”

Ingredients

1 kilo pork belly

8 cloves garlic

1/3 cup vinegar

5 Tbsp black beans

1/3 cup sugar

8 peppercorns

Chinese five-spice powder (quantity not specified)

2 cups water

Procedure

1. Cut pork into 4-inch squares.

2. Peel and smash the garlic with a heavy knife or mallet.

3. Place pork in a wok with 1/2 cup water and cook until the fat is rendered. When the meat is browned, transfer to another wok lined with banana leaves. Add all the remaining ingredients.

4. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer until the pork is tender.

Binignit

From “Hikay: The Culinary Heritage of Cebu”

Ingredients

1 white gabi, cut into 2-inch cubes

2 yellow camote, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 piece ube, cut into 2-inch cubes

5 ripe Cardaba or saba bananas, cut into 1-inch rounds

1 cup landang

1/2 cup sliced ripe nangka

1 cup sugar

3 grated mature coconuts

6 cups water

Procedure

1. Soak the landang.

2. Place the grated coconut in a large container and pour in 3 cups of water.

3. Massage the grated coconut with the water for 3 minutes.

4. Place in a large sieve and squeeze out the coconut milk. Set aside. This is the first pressing.

5. Place the grated coconut in a bowl again and pour in the remaining 3 cups of water. Squeeze out the coconut milk and pour it into a large pot.

6. Add the ube and gabi.

7. Bring to a boil, then add the sliced bananas.

8. Next, add the camote. Bring to a boil, then add the drained landang.

9. Lastly, add the nangka and sugar. Taste and adjust the sweetness.

10. Pour in the first pressing of coconut milk. Cook for 2 minutes more, but do not allow it to boil.