Amidst news reports bombarding our consciousness of the gloom and doom of the pig flu, good food continues to prevail in the Philippines. Most Filipinos just can’t bear to stay away from a favorite dish called “Lechon” or slowly roasted pig.
“Lechon” is world renowned as American TV chef Anthony Bourdain called it “the holy grail of pork” and Time magazine the “Best Pig” in Asia.
The epicenter of the outbreak, in Mexico there have been 12 confirmed deaths from the illness and 300 others infected, while there have also been infections in Canada, the US and across the globe, but not yet in the Philippines.
The outbreak was formerly known as “swine flu” yet consequently gave a wrong impression that pigs actively carry the virus thus pork should not be eaten at all. To clear out any misconception, the World Health Organization (WHO) is now officially referring to it as Influenza A (H1N1).
The owner of a famous “Lechon” house shares that the business are not affected by it. Lydia De Roca, 62, owner of Lydia’s Lechon emphasizes that none of her 19 branches in the country had experienced a drop in sales. De Roca shares that customers remain to patronize their roast pig joint since they have retain high cleaning standards and pigs are bred to high quality.
Lydia’s Lechon is just one of many restaurants in the area where pigs are slow-roasted over charcoal in full view of diners. The dish is a regular during Filipino celebrations with its golden-brown skin and its juicy white meat adorning the dining table.
The government is also doing its bit to communicate that humans cannot get swine flu by eating pork and although the Philippines produces most of its pork needs, imports from Canada, US and Mexico have been banned just in case. The government had already highlighted the new strain of flu could not be caught from eating pig meat when Health Secretary Francisco Duque said: “You get flu when someone sneezes or coughs on you. Meat does not sneeze or cough on people.”
Nevertheless, pig farmers in many countries have been hit hard and dozens of countries have imposed bans on pork imports. But sellers of the Philippines’ signature dish go on much as before.
Zennaida Correa, owner of “Hiedy’s Lechon”, said she has not suffered a sales drop, saying that previous outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and bird flu fears have done more to scare customers.
“I know about swine flu and I’m very sure you don’t get it by eating roasted pigs,” Myra Valencia said as she accompanied her husband and child to a lechon stall.
“I just wanted to eat lechon,” said another diner, Frederico Bautista. “I have heard about swine flu from the newspapers and television but I don’t know if eating roasted pigs was the source of it.”
The head of the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Eliseo Yu, confirmed that pork prices have fallen recently in Manila public markets but is brought about a seasonal demand cycle and is not at all related to H-1 flu virus.
