THE LIVING TABLE · NO. 02
PHILIPPINES · SINIGANG NA BABOY
A sour note.
A familiar table.
Follow tamarind into a Filipino sour broth. A pot of pork, vegetables and the taste a household calls its own.
Explore the dish01 / AN ENCOUNTER
Begin with
the broth.
Take an imagined first spoonful. Before naming every vegetable, attend to the liquid that carries them. What makes the bowl feel bright? What makes it feel complete?
Merano’s version brings pork and vegetables into tamarind broth. It gives us a particular pot to follow, while leaving room for the many other sinigang preparations.
The version explored here
A reading of Vanjo Merano’s published pork sinigang, on Panlasang Pinoy. The full recipe belongs to its author; this exhibition follows selected ingredients and decisions.
02 / INSIDE THE DISH
Follow a part.
See the whole.
Choose an ingredient or an object. Explore its place in this preparation, then follow the thread into the atlas.
THE SOUR THREAD
Tamarind
Young tamarind is the souring fruit in the source version.
Imagine the broth before and after the sour fruit enters. What would you miss?
03 / THE TRANSFORMATION
A sequence
of decisions.
Follow four moments in this preparation. Each opens a different question about the work of making flavour.
FROM POD TO LIQUID
THE SELECTED COOKING SEQUENCE
The fruit enters the water.
The source method boils tamarind separately, then strains the liquid.
Picture what stays in the sieve and what moves into the pot.
THE PUBLISHED PREPARATION
A reading of Vanjo Merano’s published pork sinigang, on Panlasang Pinoy. The full recipe belongs to its author; this exhibition follows selected ingredients and decisions.
04 / A LIVING TRADITION
A version.
A family resemblance.
A dish name can hold many memories. This exhibition follows one published preparation, with its author visible. It leaves a place at the table for the versions visitors know themselves.
Ask someone who cooks sinigang what they choose first: the souring fruit, the vegetables, the protein, or the people who will eat it. Their answer would be a new chapter.
THE ATTRIBUTED KITCHENVanjo Merano · Panlasang Pinoy
Read the original recipe, its method and its author’s notes. Follow the full source for quantities and cooking instructions.
A MOMENT OF ATTENTION
What would
you notice?
Choose a lens. These original prompts invite observation rather than assign a universal flavour score.
Imagine tasting the broth on its own. Then taste it beside rice. Does “sour” describe the whole experience?
05 / KEEP FOLLOWING THE THREAD
A table opens
another landscape.
THE RESEARCH ROOM
Curiosity, with
its sources attached.
Explore the attribution and cultural record behind this exhibition.