Budbud lava

Wherever you find yourself in the Philippines, there is bound to be a sticky rice delicacy unique to that place. These are called magsaysay, from Hilongos, Leyte. The first thing one notices is that they are huge, but the most remarkable is that they are filled with a rich, gooey chocolate center whipped from native cocoa.

Obviously, assembling this variation of budbud/suman entails skill worthy of a master chef. Whoever came up with it was clearly ahead of his (or her) time. This, in modern marketing parlance, is a “two-in-one” — quite messy to dig into, but nevertheless impressive in its construction (if godawfully calorific*).

As for the name, I can only guess it has to do with the late president, who died in a plane crash 60 years ago on March 17. Remember him? He was the one who said that the strength of democracy is “its ability to realize and satisfy the needs of people without taking from them their freedom and dignity as human beings” — indeed, that “those who have less in life should have more in law.” Given the surfeit of empty calories in the news these days, these are words worth chewing on.

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* Unlike other types of rice, glutinous rice mostly contains amylopectin, the rapidly digestible component of starch that causes a spike in insulin and blood glucose levels. «