Bread or ‘tinapay’ is a staple food served and consumed in every household, market, and bakery almost everyday in the Philippines.
It is considered one of the oldest foods served since pre-historic era, an essential source of carbohydrates, and a partner to our favorite morning or afternoon coffee.
While we couldn’t ignore the aroma of freshly-baked bread and pastries along the streets, coffee shops, and malls, can you name some weird bread names we’ve found? Let’s cite some!
@popbitsph 10 Weird Names of Bread Loved by Pinoys!
♬ original sound popbitsph
- Putok
Putok might be associated with new year’s paputok or human body odor (whew!) but this one is an edible dough called ‘Star bread’ or ‘Exploding crown’. It’s a sweet dense bread with crown-like on top sprinkled with sugar. An explosive bread that melts in your mouth!
- Pan de regla
Known before as ‘Kalihim’, Pan de regla is a soft bread with red filling or pudding peeking out of its end, that tastes like vanilla. In Tondo, they call it pan de regla because of its sanitary folded-pad look; in Marikina, it’s called bellas while in Quezon City, it’s associated with floorwax or pan de red. In Pangasinan, it’s known as kabukiran while in Bicol, it’s ligaya or maligaya. Too many names to remember but when you saw that bread with red filling, you know it’s pan de regla!
Other variations include pan de ube and pineapple.
- Pagong or Pinagong
Pagong or pinagong is literally a sweet turtle-shaped bread that originated from Sariaya Quezon. A must-have pasalubong with different versions in Metro Manila and nearby towns. The shape and size depends on the versions of many bakers, not forgetting the look of a turtle shell and its tail. A must try!
- Sputnik o PacMan
Sputnik is a golf-ball-like bread that looks like a baby monay with splits on the sideways. The name came from the series of robotic spacecraft missions launched by the Russians in the late ’50s–The Sputnik Program.
That split line also looks like Pacman, the iconic video game in the 1980s, with its mouth ready to eat or crush its opponents.
5.Lechon bread
High cholesterol and deadly bread? Nope.
This bread does not contain cholesterol or any real lechon content, only lechon-like bread from Antipolo and Cebu. But it’s the same shiny, sweet taste best served when hot. A good alternative to the actual lechon.
6. Pan de siosa
Its cheesy, buttery, sugar-y flavor on top can be associated with the ensaymada clan. The only difference is the baked-cluster-pull-apart style of pan de siosa. Cheesy!
7. Everlasting
From the name itself, it’s a flower-like bread topped with sugar and best partnered with coffee. It has six cuts or a petal-like look on the surface making it an everlasting quality of bread.
8. Pianono
Pianono is a soft, pillowy sponge-y type of cake with margarine filling, a Filipino dessert or merienda loved by many. Other pianono variations include ube, mocha, and mango. What a sweet filling!
9. Binangkal
To those who haven’t tried it yet, binangkal is fried dough balls coated with sesame seeds that originated in Visayas and Mindanao. Best to eat when hot!
10. Bonete
Bonete or Pan de bonete is claimed to be a common bread in Yucatan Mexico, and Costa Rica, where a story of “bonnet” or hats used by priests during the Spanish era came from. The bonete bread in the Philippines may not look like hats, instead it’s more of a chef’s toque.
It’s probably cool to look for these unique bread names in bakeries to see and taste it for yourself, right.
As we celebrate World Bread Day every October 16th, may we continue to be invited by the freshly-baked aroma of bread everywhere we go and appreciate one of the most important staple foods in the world, everyday. Get your daily dose of bread now! #
