The History of Chicken Mami in the Philippines… A Mami Love Sonata: The Ma Mon Luk Story of Love, Survival, And Fame. By Diana A. Galang And Jeremy C. Malcampo [The Manila Bulletin Online] The popularization of Mami in modern Philippines, has, perhaps, reached a certain level of commercialized surrealism, with its fusion identity of being both Filipino and Chinese. No one really bothered, besides the few in history, to dig stories (real stories) under the noodle offer, and peppery hot broth, of the Chinoy dish as a daily favorite. But, to stress, it actually took, just one man to make it all happen. The Mami, in its modern form and partnered with pork Siomai and Siopao as how it shaped, moved, and inspired identities, cum statures of countless post-contemporary Filipino-Chinese restaurants within the country, is an out-tail of Ma Mon Luks struggles, hard work, and success. Almost Forgotten As a backgrounder, the Noodles, like Pansit and all its types came from the Chinese, traceably marked during the historic Sangley-connection; but, the actuality and boom of noodles in the Philippines, particularly the Mami (noodle soup,) up until its current fame, has always been the accomplishment of Ma Mon Luk as he courageously off himself from China and changed his fate in the Philippines. Historically, Ma Mon Luk was a grade-school teacher from Canton who migrated to the Philippines in 1918, to break and fulfill his lifetimes worth of being merely who he was. Being financially poor, and earning less than what he needed for survival, break meant breaking his financial difficulties. And, fulfill meant fulfilling his lifetimes dream of marrying the only girl he was destined to be with for the rest of his life. With his teaching profession, he didnt earn much. Reason enough why his rich girlfriends parents disapproved him to be their daughters husband. As a reality, his girlfriend, named Ng Shih, had no choice but to follow her parents despite how much both of them loved each other. So, in 1918, the determined man (Ma Mon Luk) finally decided to quit his job and traveled to the Philippines to earn money, and be able to prove to Ng Shihs family that he was worthy of her and allow them to get married. To add, however, even before he came to the Philippines, the Filipino people had already tasted noodles with broth, but failed to like it, maybe because former, strict mami-dishes were prepared with bihon noodles. More so, the Pinoy mind-set was under the impression that it wasnt fully cooked as how in early preparations noodles were just dipped in hot soup, or that he was worthy of her and allow them to get married. Upon reaching Philippine soil, he was a dirt-poor guy off his profession, no money, nothing at all. But the culture and knowledge stuffed in his brain was definitely intact; and being Chinese, hed known pretty well the technicalities on noodles, and Chinese cookery. A Time To Sell The Mami, perfected it was, he then started peddling his product in the squalid streets of the old Barrio De Paloma (overground Binondo) without hesitation and full spirit. He positioned under shadowstains of artdecoed groundhouses of Gandara (one of Manilas shoe-stores lane), located in Binondo, Ongpin and other suburbs like Santa Cruz; Quiapo, Sta. Ana, and Recoletos en la Intramuros. Also, he stationed himself at the foot of the bridge of Puente España currently known as the move was a strategic success-program where he coursed through for the rest of his struggling days. As a daily routine, more or less, manned by his determination to marry the girl he left back in China, he used to endlessly carry two large containers of his goods, with moving will. Slung on a wooden stick, both containers were hard on his shoulders, one with noodles and strips of boiled chicken, and the other containing the blistering broth that need be kept, hot under live coals. Around his waist were scissors that dangle par, each other. The scissors, he used, to cut noodles and chicken meat. Based from Gilda Cordero-Fernando s writing (the Mami King,) and Lamberto V. Avellanas memories: Mami was not the name of the dish then it was known as gupit. When Ma Mon Luk walked, the scissors, which he used instead of a knife, jangled at his waist. That was how people knew when the gupit vendor was passing by. And sooner or later, Ma Mon Luk became part of days, common faces. Life And Fame Gilda C. Fernando writes: the chicken was cut with scissors and so were the noodles. He held the noodles up high with his left hand and cut what one ordered into a bowl, 5 centavos if one was broke, 30 centavos for a gargantuan appetite. If he liked the customer, he cut the noodles a bit higher. The students of Ateneo came after their classes, sitting on the large pipe at the Binondo Bridge to eat hot mami. Eventually, the Letran Boys discovered Ma Mon Luk too. He sat with the boys and told them stories of the hard life in China. Eventually an admirer of gupit took pity on its inventor and let him rent a space on T. Ongpin cheaply for his kitchen. Ma Mon Luk, though, still had to peddle his ware on the street. An interim Chinatown 2nd floor walk-up with only 2 tables was later occupied by him. Everybody came to the 1st bonafide Ma Mon Luk restaurant on Salazar St. In Chinatown. It was of the greasy-spoon, thumb-in-the- soup type and it served nothing but mami, siopao and siomai. The secret ingredient was Ma Mon Luk himself. He worked to popularize his restaurant and became a walking one-man PR agency. He knocked on doors of strange houses to give bags of siopao for the surprised and delighted family to try. He gave siopao to flood victims and fire victims, congressmen and senators, policemen, reporters, editors, doctors, nurses, boxers, teachers, and prisoners in Muntinlupa. There he was, a man determined to leave his imprint in history. He gave siopao to Osmeña, President Quirino, President Laurel, Amang Rondriguez, to Andres Bonifacios sister, Flash Elorde and Carmen Rosales. For mami, however they had to go to Salazar. Former Education Secretary Alejandro R. Roces proposed to his wife Irene over a bowl of mami. For so, Ma Mon Luk eventually married Ng Shih, and brought her here in the Philippines where they established their family in prosperity. Former editors Jose Bautista and E Aguilar Cruz forded floods to eat in Salazar. In 1948, Ma Mon Luk was able to open a branch on Ascaraga, an establishment that moved in 1950 to Quezon Boulevard, near Life Theater. In Quezon Boulevard Ma Mon Luk was selling an average of 1,000 mami and 1,000 siopao a day. In prosperity Ma Mon Luk was dressed in a felt hat, de hilo amaricana cum vest and glittering gold watch chain across his chest. It hid the fact that his left shoulder was lower than his right, a result of supporting the pinga (carrying pole) in the hard beginning days of his youth. Tango shoes hid his feet calloused from a once-daily routine of walking over the bridge to the ice plant to save 5 centavos on caretela fare. Gone were the days where when he used to bed his feet over tire interiors on sun-blistering roads. By then, Ma Mon Luks dreams were solid as her love for Ng Shih, before when they werent married yet, which catapulted the invention (revision) of the Great Philippine Mami. Much so, it took one benevolent courage to cross seas, and changed countless lives of strangers in a strange land (the Philippines. ) During national calamities in the country, he donated rice, flour, cloth, milk, cash and of course siopao. Indeed, he is one of the most important men in food and Philippine history, an exponent of Filipino-Chinese cuisine. Ma Mon Luk died on September 1, 1961, at age 65, of throat cancer.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 05:28:16 +0000
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