MEXICO, Pampanga – After an original musical about Pope Francis, the excitement of Kapampangans over Pope Francis’ visit to the country this January has evolved into a famous biscuit originally named after San Nicolas.
Well-known chef Lilian Borromeo, 74, who has remained active in her kitchen inBarangay Parian here, now makes the San Nicolas biscuit she is famous for, but this time with Pope Francis replacing San Nicolas in its mold.
“I never really had planned to make the Pope Francis biscuits, but some people simply were so insistent so I had a mold made for one,” Borromeo said in a telephone interview. The San Nicolas biscuit, however, dates back to the Spanish era in honor of San Nicolas de Tolentino.
In the Philippines, flour from arrow root crop is used as main ingredient for the biscuit which Borromeo is famous for. Prof. Robby Tantingco, head of the Center for Kapampangan Studies of the Holy Angel University (HAU) in Angeles City, noted that “Kapampangans sure know all the creative ways of welcoming the Pope two weeks from now.”
“The other welcome was the original stage musical on the Pope by the Teatru Kapampangan to be re-staged at the Holy Angel University and the Cultural Center of the Philippines,” he noted.
The musical features local talents, and is titled “We Love Pope Francis, the Musical.”Borromeo, who first achieved fame when she won a national cooking competition in 1977, said that news about her Pope Francis biscuit has spread to other parts of the country.
There have been people from Cebu and Iloilo who insist on buying the biscuits, saying they came to my house precisely to buy them,” she recalled. “I have not increased the price.
I sell San Nicolas biscuits for P200 for a box containing 24 pieces and the Pope biscuits cost the same,” she said, admitting not knowing how much she profits from her sales.
Borromeo said the wooden mold for the Pope biscuits was done by a certain Arnel, a furniture sculptor from Sta. Ursula in Betis in Guagua town which is world-famous for its carved wooden furniture. Borromeo is known to Kapampangans as a deeply religious woman who has been helping poor folk seeking her help.
“I am 74 years old, and this is God-given grace that I must spend helping other people through my God-given (cooking) talent,” she said. Apart from authoring a book titled “Atching Lilian’s Heirloom Recipes,” Borromeo also hosts a regular cooking show in a local television station.
The San Nicolas biscuit is said to have been introduced to Filipinos by the Spaniards centuries ago. The biscuit used to be blessed and distributed to the sick during the feast of San Nicolas Tolentino every Sept. 10. San Nicolas, who died in 1306 and is now considered as the baker’s patron, is also known to be the patron saint of at least 46 towns in the Philippines.
The saint became famous for the legend of Guadalupe’s San Nicholasi or the “miraculous” appearance of the shrikes or locally known as the “tarat” during his feast day; and the sacramental read (or more of a biscuit) known as the Pan de San Nicholas.
Borromeo said that buyers of her San Nicolas biscuits have them blessed so that they could be given to the sick in the hope they would be cured. “In the case of the Pope Francis biscuit, I hope people who can’t be near him during his visit to the Philippines would be able to find solace in having him in the biscuit,” she said.
