Due to skyrocketing inflation since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, "pagpag" is becoming increasingly common among residents of Happyland and the surrounding Tondo district, on the coast of Manila, whose population is estimated to be around 630,000. . people, according to the official government census.
Vegetable markets impacted by economic turmoil, with onions costing 700 pesos per kilo ($12.70) at last Christmas markets, three times more than in countries such as Switzerland and Denmark, "pagpag" sellers had to arrange rations ranging from 25 and 30 Philippine pesos (0.40 euro cents). With food prices rising relentlessly, Manila's poorest are increasingly turning to eating and consuming “pagpag,” a stew made with scraps of meat and bones picked from the trash that are cooked or deep-fried and seasoned with a generous amount of sauce.
In the shantytown where he lives, hidden between the wharves of Manila's commercial port and not visible from the roads that run along the city's polluted coastline, some 120,000 people live and sleep in cramped, fragile huts built on piles of refuse. Under the relentless sunlight and stifling humidity, the pungent stench of the trash was overwhelming.
Others, like Roweno Cabuluc, are “pagpag collectors”. Their day starts early in the morning visiting restaurants and fast food chains that provide them with their daily trash in large plastic bags. At dawn, onto the streets of Happyland, where he scavenges for leftovers and chewed up bones from trash cans and separates whole chicken pieces that have been thrown away by several anonymous diners. These are the most coveted and hard to find pieces. After the first round of sorting the leftovers, Cabuluc delivered the recycled food to Evelyn Blasorca. She cleans and boils them to make two types of “pagpag”: one meat fried in flour, and the other marinated and seasoned with onions, vegetables and spices, which are then served with a sauce.
Almost everyone in Happyland eats 'pagpag', some places prepare it better and others worse, but in general everyone loves it. affordable. However, some “pagpag” collectors were uncomfortable when asked about the meat selection process: the logos of two of the country's largest fast food chains that “donate” meat waste can be seen on the bags used to collect discarded waste.
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