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In a special mini episode of Women Who Travel, Lale gets on the phone with South Carolina-based listener Cinelle to hear about her recent, long-awaited trip home to the Philippines—and the food she was in search for once she got there.
Lale Arikoglu: Hello. Welcome to a special mini episode of Women Who Travel. I'm Lale Arikoglu. This month, we're taking a break from our typical episode schedule. Instead, you'll be hearing some phone calls between our listeners and me about travels they've taken in search of something. And this week, we start with Sinel, who called us from South Carolina.
Sinel: The South is its own country. But at the same time, there are parts of it that felt like home, the weather, the fauna, flora, so much rain, so many bugs. That felt like the Philippines.
LA: You may remember her from our Mother's Day episode, where she shared a story about taking her daughter to the annual Sinulog Festival in the Philippines for the first time. Sinel spoke to me about a reunion from that same trip, specifically a reunion with foods that she hadn't tasted in 20 years.
How did you even decide what you were going to eat first?
Sinel: I would say that, to all travels out there, always sign up for the breakfast buffet. [laughs] That way you don't have to make a choice.
LA: Wait. I love this tip.
Sinel: [laughs]
LA: Is this specific to the Philippines, I'm assuming?
Sinel: Yes. Especially in the Philippines. You know, we tend to have a very big breakfast. We eat rice with every meal. And breakfast usually comes with garlic rice, and many vines, you know, from dried fish to cured meats, to soup and noodles and broth to fried noodles, to sticky rice. But at our very first breakfast buffet, the thing I was most excited about was, and because the Philippines really is all about, you know, just being extra when it comes to celebrating, anything, every day is a celebration, um, in the Philippines. But, even breakfast is one big celebration. You know, after my fourth round around the buffet table, I thought I was done, until, you know, back of house rolls out this cauldron, this vat on a dolly. And, of course, my daughter's like, "What is that, mom?"
Like, I'm like, "Oh, I don't know. It could be many, uh, number of things. But let's go check it out." And we walked over to where this cauldron was. And, of course, in it was this breakfast dish that I'd waited 20 years to eat. And it's called champorado. And it's, um, it roughly translates a chocolate rice porridge. But, um, it's kind of stickier, but also goopier than porridge. And, and it's not quite chocolate like you would get from a candy store. It's made of tablea, which are, you know, just blocks of chocolate nibs, basically. But we peered in-
LA: It sounds amazing.
Sinel: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it was, it's like dessert for breakfast, after you've already had like four courses for breakfast.
LA: And so, God, it must have felt quite emotional to suddenly have those flavors on your tongue. I mean, did it taste like you remembered it? Because sometimes I think that there's foods from like my childhood that I remember as being one thing, and then you revisit it, and you realize it's something different. Not as, even a good or a bad thing, it's just different.
Sinel: I would say it was exactly what I had waited 20 years for it to be. And it brought me back to mornings at school, which a little background [laughs] is that, you know, the reason for my teenage adoption was that my birth parents could no longer take care of me. Um, specifically, my mother, at some point, could no longer feed me. And there were stretches of time when we lived in her van. And, you know, it's needless to say that there were days that we didn't have food. She was able to enroll me and keep me enrolled in this exclusive, private school that was just really, really competitive and that we couldn't afford.
But, um, I was able to keep my lot there, secure my lot there through writing and representing the school through writing contests, and debates, and all sorts of things that just, like, let me earn my keep there. Part of my keep there was that they would feed me breakfast. So my mother, out of shame, you know, would drop me off at school, before anyone else was there, really early in the morning, before the sun even was up. And she would leave me, she would, you know, leave me for the day. And I would be in the care of whoever was working at the school at the time.
And early in the mornings, they were be the lunch ladies doing prep work for lunch. And they would have their breakfast in the kitchen, and they would invite me in. And they would serve me this very dish called champorado. And that was the memory I came back to at this four star resort after my fourth round of breakfast. It brought me back to a very kind and loving memory, which was a great entry point after 20 years of being away. And, and I think the way I savored that bowl of, um, chocolaty good- goodness it all made it evident to my daughter what it was I was bringing her home to.
LA: I think that is the perfect note to finish on. I also need to try that dish. It sounds-
Sinel: You do.
LA: ... so delicious and comforting. And, you know, we need to wrap up, but I do want to ask have you managed to find it in Charleston anywhere?
Sinel: I have not. Um, there are a couple of Filipino pop ups here now, one is even a vegan pop up. Um, there's a, uh, former Thai restaurant that's been purchased by a Filipino family. And they've incorporated Filipino dishes into the menu. But it is the one dish they do not make. And you can buy instant packets, you know, from any Asian market, but it's just not the same.
LA: You've got to go to the Philippines.
Sinel: You have to go to the Philippines. Or, I guess, you have to have family nearby who can make it, which I don't have the privilege of, um, so, it's, it's good incentive to get back on a plane. [laughs]
LA: That it is.
Sinel: Its [laughs]...
LA: Thank you so much. This was so great.
I'm Lale Arikoglu, and you can find me on Instagram @LaleHannah. Our engineer this week is Gabe Quiroga. The show is mixed by Amar Lal. Jude Kampfner from Corporation for Independent Media is our producer. And special thanks to Jordan Bell for producing this episode. If you have a memorable travel story, write to us at WomenWhoTravel@CNTraveler.com. We'll back next week with a phone call from Jamie. We share some stories of camping gone awry.
