Turon: The Christmas Theory
Who has not eaten turon? It’s a staple street food that I am sure the average Pinoy has taken a bite of at least once in his or her whole lifetime. To describe it, turon is a merienda made of sliced Saba bananas and pieces of jackfruit all wrapped in a lumpia wrapper and then deep fried (it looks pretty much like a spring roll). The typical scene of turon would be that of in a small food station equipped with a frying pan where the turon is being prepared. They are usually prepared and sold next to banana-ques and kamote-ques where they are all laid in banana leaves.
The turon is a pinoy classic that we think we have all figured out. We know what it is and we love its sweet fruit flavor; but not many of us know how it came to be. By context of southeast Asian cuisine, it is easily assumed that turon is a type of spring roll. And what I am about to tell is a theory of how Turon consequently relates to the spanish “TurrÃ?³n”. And I would also like to argue that the English translation of turon is not banana fritter.
Prior internet research made by few individuals concluded that Turon was brought to the Philippine Islands by Spanish colonizers. Seemingly, the spanish turrÃ?³n created confusion among few to assume that “Turon” and “TurrÃ?³n” are similar. They are not. TurrÃ?³n is a confection made of nougat, honey, milk, and almond nuts. They are bar-shaped and are sold in stores during the Christmas Season. They are totally different; but here is where the Christmas Theory interpolates.
As stated beforehand, turrÃ?³n is abundant during the Christmas Season in Spain. This Christmas staple comes hand in hand with candles, flowers, marzipan and other types of sweets for children. Christmas eve commences with the bells ringing for the “La Misa de Galo”, or the Mass of the rooster. This is followed by the Christmas dinner as the clock strikes 12 midnight. Does it seem familiar? Well, the Spanish incorporated these traditions into our Paskong Pinoy Culture.
At some point, the native indio tried come up with his own version of turr�³n for a Filipino version of Christmas. But the scarcity of western ingredients needed for producing the said delicacy is too expensive and he just did not have the right tools to make it. As a native of a tropical region, the idea of sweets is solely based on fruits and other kakanin. Bananas, jackfruit, beans, pineapple, coconut or macapuno and many among others were the options. Lumpia wrapper was used to hold them together. This incorporates a type of Asian cuisine known for the idea of fruit rolls. And to make it sweeter, caramelized brown sugar was added. Eventually, through the years, more ingredients were added out because some of them were seasonally unavailable.
Today, we can enjoy Turon for as much as we can all year because Juan Dela Cruz realized that Turon is too good to be just served during the Christmas Season. Moreover, the Chinese and other Asian merchants influenced the natives of the Philippine Islands to make profit out of small things. Thus, a Christmas delicacy that was so easy to prepare and to sell in the streets lead Turon to become known as a convenient everyday merienda.
