Bantayan Island: blessings of light ( Buhay Buwad ) - Life in Dried Fish

a woman separating fish tapa for packaging

What: Bantayan Island’s Famous Bulad / Buwad (Dried Fish)

Where: Madridejos, Bandtayan Island

What to expect: The Process of making dried fish and discounted rate by the kilo

Lexicon

Buwad / Bulad - dried fish in general

Nukus – squid

Tapa – slices or fillets of preserved meat usually associated with jerky

Kawahagi – a small fish used for making fish tapa

Sima' - The hook which catches the fish

squid locally known as nukus drying out in the sun

Bantayan Island isn’t only popular for the pristine beaches and bright islander smiles, the island also boasts of its famous Buwad / Bulad (dried fish). Come with me as I go into the life of Andy and Charito a couple whose business had been passed down from the last generation.

the hook or "sima" used to catch fish and squid

I was in Madridejos and was looking for the Buwad / Bulad (dried fish) drying pens. So far there was a lot around but they had no fish on the racks. I asked the pedicab driver why there wasn’t much fish on the racks. The driver told me that the strong winds recently made fishing hard to do; no fish hence no Buwad / Bulad (dried fish). He told us that there might be a possibility that he knows a place where there was fish being dried. I told him to take me there. We went through small passages, the smell was unmistakably Buwad / Bulad (dried fish). We got to a clearing and there it was, multitudes of dried fish and squid, soaking in the heat of the Bantayan sun. I went in closer and asked humbly if I can ask some questions for this blog post. They were very accommodating and polite to us. Andy and Charito explains to me the process of how Buwad / Bulad (dried fish) comes to be.

kawahagi bones on being dried

They told me that it all starts from going out to sea on a moonless night to their fishing grounds where they fish using a lamp to attract fish and squid to go closer to the boat. They showed me a hook that they use on catching fish and squid. It had multiple barbs and had a colored top. Andy explains to me that the colored top is a lure to fish and squid and it effectively catches them as soon as they drop it to the water.

After catching fish, they speed back home to where the fish is 1^st washed with salt water then washed a second time with brackish water. The catch is then separated to the different kinds of Buwad / Bulad (dried fish) and squid. For the fish they remove the scales and some of the fins and slice the fish accordingly. The squid however is kind of different; they clean the squid taking off the purple filament on top of the skin and the internal organs, eyes and beak. Once done, they rinse it again in brackish water and are laid out for drying.

Unfortunately there were only 2 kinds of fish being dried the time I went there. One was fish tapa and the second one was squid.

fish tapa sells for 350 PHP per kilogram in bulk here

Kawahagi fillets being dried

Charito explains to me that fish “tapa” was originally taught to them by the Japanese. Having this small fish they called “kawahagi”. It’s a small slender fish that they make into thinly cut fish fillet dried in the sun otherwise called fish tapa. Even the bones of the kawahagi are still used to make a different kind of Buwad / Bulad (dried fish) called bukog (bones). They usually add spices later to the fish “tapa” and bukog (bones) giving its unique sweet spice tang to the fish after it is fried. Squid on the other hand is dried directly after cleaning, no spices and salt they just lay under the sun.

Charito explains the process of drying

squid is sold at 500PHP per kilo but goes 800PHP and up in the city

Charito watching over the dried fish

The time needed to dry the Buwad / Bulad (dried fish) can vary from one to two days depending on the weather and the size of the fish. On bad weather they said they just store the Buwad / Bulad (dried fish) inside the house thus the price hike of dried items. On a sunny day the fish can dry for only one day but fish and squid exceeding 4 inches in length will need to be dried for 2 days.

once dry the dried fish is inspected and collected one by one

I asked how much does one kilo of these earn them, they said that a kilogram of fish tapa gets them 350 to 380 PHP and that nukus rake them 500 PHP per kilo. They said usually they sell it to retailers where it goes to markets around Mainland Cebu. They said that some people sell their squid for 800PHP per kilogram in Taboan Market. Andy and Charito have been drying fish for 15 years now and hope that the sea will still bless them with bountiful catches for the years to come. After taking pictures I said my thanks to my host for being kind enough to share with me their time and their knowledge on how this wonderful fried breakfast treat is made. Just fry these and couple with spicy vinegar and a fried egg or tomato slices and you’re going to be in for a delicious breakfast to keep you going throughout the day.

locals selling their dried catch

Dried fish being sold in Sta. Fe market

I hope this article have has been interesting and helpful read. Hope that you follow more of the remaining articles on my Bantayan island series. Thanks for reading!