Food for the Trails: Puto Bungbong

One bonus during the so-called Christmas season is the ease in which one could walk the city streets. Barring the possibility of getting mugged, you get to have other people too wandering the streets under the cold December night, sifting through the labyrinth of food stores and food stalls around.


One delicacy which sprouted on the perimeters of churches either at night or in the early morning is the puto bungbong. A food which falls under the category of rice delicacies, puto bungbong is more prominent during the December nights before Christmas Day as it has become part of the traditional Filipino food (alongside bibingka, among others) being sold and eaten during Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo.

One night when my sister and I decided to do food tripping, I treated myself with puto bungbong. Freshly baked from that little cooking machine, it was wrapped in banana leaves and topped with margarine. A hot food for a cold night. Puto bungbong will surely be missed but I think puto bungbong vendors are just around, all year round.