Simply Amazing Tynes: Food Trip: Cebu’s "Pungko-Pungko"

Food trip, yeah right if your in a tight budget then try to eat in one of the popular "PUNGKO-PUNGKO" were you will experience elbows touching,diners huddle around a narrow rectangular table with a big plastic container on top containing all sorts of fried goodies: ginabot (deep-fried pork intestines, similar to chicharon bulaklak), ngohiong (a fried spring roll stuffed with meat and vegetables), bola-bola (fried meat balls), and chorizo (pork sausage),and puso (rice wrapped in banana leaves) To add a dash of flavor to these dishes, a cup of vinegar with garlic, onions and chili are served for you to dip your foods into. Instead of utensils, customers use their hands, which they encase in small plastic bags.

The most important thing here is to keep count of which foods you ate and the quantity of those foods. The attendants won’t ask you to pay upfront, but they will ask you, after you had your fill, how many of which dishes you had. Be honest. These pungko-pungko owners don’t make that much so conscience dictates that you be honest. Some pungko-pungko stalls also sell sodas and juices. Ask them if they do sell these.

The food might not be the healthiest and the locale the most sanitary to begin the day with, but Cebuano's who eat in"pungko-pungko" eateries are drawn by the affordability of the food. I have eaten in "PUNGKO PUNGKO" since I was a student. It's delicious and inexpensive.

Taken from the Cebuano word “pungko”, meaning: to sit. The pungko-pungko is not exactly the most sanitary of all Cebuano street foods, nor is it the most comfortable. You can spot PUNGKO PUNGKO near churches, along busy streets, outside school campuses, and an enterprising person has come up with a mobile pungko-pungko using a multicab.

But it is not just the price that brings people to the pungko-pungko. The effect is like when you drink Coke. You seem to want more.

But no matter how satisfied the pungko-pungko seller and buyer are, it's plain to see that the manner by which these eateries are run leave much to be desired in terms of cleanliness.

Despite these concerns, people keep coming to the pungko-pungko. It might be the price, the taste, or because one can come in with a free-spirited disposition and enjoy the food in the company of friends and strangers. But what is undeniable is that the pungko-pungko brings Cebuano's from all walks of life together.

"Once tasted, always wanted."

Food Trip: Cebu’s "Pungko-Pungko"

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