Tinanok nga saging

I was cramming for my school exams this afternoon when I decided to have something to eat.

The ref had some unappetizing left-overs from past meals. There were some biscuits of my kids which I considered junk food.

I thought I needed to eat some healthy foods. But there was no maid to cook for me. And I thought that preparing a sandwich was too messy.

Then I saw a bunch of sab-a bananas in our kitchen. I decided to tanok some.



Tinanok nga saging, partnered with a cup of coffee, was just the right merienda for me. It was filling and cholesterol free. Bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium. In some countries, banana extracts are used as a home remedy for the treatment of jaundice and for kidney stones.

The sab-a was from our farm in Cabatuan. Every weekend, when I visit the farm, I make it a point to ask Ramy, the care taker, to tuba for me some bananas. I specifically instruct him to select a small bulig because, almost always, it is only me who eats the sab-a. One bulig with six or less sipi, can just be enough for me.



I usually take two breakfasts - first, a light one with the kids, and later, a heavy one upon my return to our house after dropping the kids in school and doing at least one hour of exercises at the Iloilo Sports Complex.

I usually have tinanok nga saging and coffee for my first breakfast. Typical Filipino. I find it a luxury as I could only have a saging breakfast in the Philippines. During the years I was living abroad, I never had a chance to eat sab-a. When we cook putsero, my wife used a banana variety from India which looked like a big latundan but somehow tasted like sab-a when cooked.




Filipinos have lately become health conscious. It is therefore common to see office employees eating tinanok nga saging or bananaque for their merienda. Vendors sell tinanok nga saging from PhP 2.00 to PhP 4.00 a piece. Last year when I applied to get my birth certificate at the National Statistics Office, vendors were selling tinanok nga saging and coffee to the early morning applicants, some already in the queue as early 3:00 am.

Banana or saging is the common name for the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce the edible fruit of the same name. Banana is native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia. It is believed to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, banana is being cultivated throughout the tropics.

In 2008, fresh bananas were the second top export commodity of the Philippines with an export value of $397.4 million. Philippines is the third largest exporter of banana in the world. Japan is the main importer of Philippine bananas.

Ti, may tinanok man nga saging sa abroad?



Word Meaning:

bananaque - banana deep fried with brown sugar and sold in a stick, like pork barbeque
bulig - a bunch; a bulig of saging is composed of more than 1 sipi
sab-a - a variety of banana which can be eaten raw but ideally is used for cooking; also used in making banana chips
tanok - to boil
tinanok - boiled; tinanok nga saging is boiled banana
tuba - to gather banana fruits by cutting the banana trunk; pronounced as 'toobah' with accent on the 'bah'
sipi - a hand or tier; a single banana fruit is called a finger; a sipi is composed of more than 1 finger growing together. @