THE JOwLLIJEEP & THE JOwllibag

Because I Said So
By Boots Ma. Garcia-Sison

LONG LIVE THE JOwLLIJEEP AND THE JOwLLIBAG

Even as more restaurants, cafes and canteens rise in Makati, a great majority of the working population is unmindful and unaffected by their birth.

And no wonder, for the ordinary office worker’s engine still has to run on the same amount of gas--- meaning his pocketbook is still lined with the same budget as last year’s and the year before that--- so you can’t expect him to even glance at new menus with prices that are twice what he’s accustomed to paying.

Obviously, the ones who can afford the tonier places where a person’s bill can cost anywhere from P200.00 upwards will not feel alluded to.( how did I decide that P200 is already expensive ? Well, I simply asked the working girls in the office ---they answered in unison that forking P200 for their midday meal is already too much). I also don’t include the Baon Gang (like myself) who bring packed lunches from home, whether to save their lunch money or simply because they can’t stand not eating their own home cooked meal.

I refer in general to them who are full fledged sometime, one time, or full time patrons of the aluminum colored carinderia on wheels, fondly referred to as the Jowllijeep, and their offerings for take out, nicknamed Jowllibags.

You and I know what the etymology of these names are. The reason they sound familiar, is yes, it’s because we all know who and what they were named after. Filipinos are famed for their puns after all.( The addition of the letter “w” is entirely my own whimsy, in tribute to an officemate’s fondness for pronouncing every word with an “o” with a long “o” (e.g., sowsyal, towgeh, lowmpyah)). All these little monickers are just an expression of the populace’s love affair with these wonderful lifesavers.

Their loyal patrons know these Jowllijeeps and their Jowllibags like the back of their hands.

In fact, to my surprise, after talking to my some-time patron friend Awie, I learned that not all Jowllijeeps are created equal. Awie insists that some Jowllibags are tastier than others. How do you know, I asked him, when you have baon everyday?

You only need to eat it once to know better, he wisely points out.

That opened my eyes to the many other finer points of dining, Jowllijeep style.

Jowlijeeps offer comfort food. A typical outlet offers a very familiar menu. On any given day , chances are they will have rice and adobo, fried chicken, pancit canton, pancit bihon, tocino, liempo, longganisa, fried daing na bangus---all served hot, dripping in vegetable fat and more often than not, real greasy good. You can also expect lumpiang shanghai, lumpiang toge, lumpiang prito, pinakbet, menudo, sinigang, tinola and nilaga and sometimes even kaldereta and pochero.

But no, Virginia, they do not serve sushi and cheesecake in Jowllijeeps. And don’t ask for pasta, you dork, ask for spaghetti and you’ll get it, just don’t be alarmed at how orangey its tomato sauce color is.

Here’s another tip : when you order a Jowllijeep pochero, don’t expect the pochero your mom used to cook for you. The whole business philosophy behind an average Jowllijeep and Jowllibag’s offering is for each dish to look, smell and taste JUST enough like the one we’re familiar with . Everything should JUST be within an inch of the real thing. Let’s use pochero again as an example. The pochero of a regular Jowlijeep has just enough, but never too much, of the required distinguishing ingredients. So you can expect just a token or two of diced carrots and potatoes perhaps, and just enough tomato sauce in there and beef morsels, just so this Jowllijeep version can get away with calling itself pochero.

If a Jowllijeep pochero does not fulfill this very rigid taste test, then that Jowllijeep in question can kiss their patrons goodbye, for working people want value for their hard earned money. They will not hesitate to bring their patronage somewhere else, and in the case of the Jowllijeep patron, to the next Jowllijeep just a few paces down the street.

But again, some Jowllijeeps are better than others. Meaning, their food tastes great, and you won’t care that they cut corners somewhere in the ingredients list or that their food color is on the lurid side.. Once a Jowllijeep has earned a patron’s loyalty, such patrons will defend its cuisine to the death. Do not try to cast aspersions on their dishes, for their loyalists will not stop until they have the last word with you. They will extol the deliciousness of their favorite dish and honor the others they particularly delight with. But in the end, if you refuse to be convinced, in your face will they hurl a statement of such undeniable , incontestible truth, the ultimate argument that will shut you up.

Ano bang nirereklamo mo eh forty pesos lang to? Helllow????

Hello indeed.

A Jowllijeep is very accommodating. You can choose to eat sitting down, standing up or take out (when you choose take out, that ‘s when the Jowllibags come into play). In fact, whether your Jowllijeep is standing next to the street gutter, or to the creek that crosses various Makati streets, you can expect a horde of customers patiently waiting in line to get their orders. Or probably already starting on their next course, standing up.

Para diretso sa tyan, as another Jowlijeep patron-friend told me.

A Jowllijeep can sustain you , from breakfast till dinner, and even your snacks in between. For alongside the huge vats of ulam and kanin are baskets hanging by the counter window, containing snack and junk food of almost every kind. You can also have coffee, soda, an energy drink and juices and iced tea in can, tetra or doypack. And as for dessert , they have jars of candy and chocnut, gum and freshly cut pineapple, and some other fruits in season. If you know how to pick ‘em, you can definitely come away with the sweetest and choicest cuts.

And Jowllijeeps are the most dependable food outlets around. You can depend on them to cook banana cue or camote cue every afternoon in time for merienda,and to have pancit palabok , that orangey colored spaghetti and guinatan . And whatever the weather or time of day, and whether there is a rally for the administration (or against it ), whatever is happening in Makati or even in Malacanang, it will not rock the Jowllijeep establishment. You can expect the Jowllijeep dining experience to go on, the same way you can expect to find a stalwart of every Jowllijeep hanging from its little corner….a little icon that no self-respecting Jowllijeep can be found without : that cigarette lighter tied to a string right where a smoker-patron can spot it, without arousing the desire in that same patron to pocket that cigarette lighter. Reassuringly, there has been no rash and rush of thefts anyway involving cigarette lighters in our Jowllijeeps, even if a piece of string is the only deterrent to the commission of such a crime.

The mother in me had to wonder aloud to my officemate though. How clean is the food offered by these establishments?

My resource person and friend Awie scratched the back of his head. After all, he’s only bought pineapple from these Jowlijeeps, and you can count on one hand the number of times he’s bought ulam from them.(he’s more a member of the Baon Gang like me). But then, he does know everybody in the office who is a Jowllijeep patron, and he points them out, real people I know who have many times indulged in partaking of Jowllibags from Jowllijeeps.

Eh, buhay pa naman kami lahat hanggang ngayon.

What can you say to that?

Now, for the best kept secret on Jowlijeeps in Makati. The one that offers the best liempo, in huge , generous portions for the same reasonable price of forty pesos…. is the Jowllijeep standing on T- - - - - - - - Street. Awie held out both his hands to show me how big that liempo is supposed to be , and I must admit that I gasped in amazement. He also swears they’re really lip smacking good.

My baon bag will take the day off then tomorrow. Race you to that particular Jowllijeep.
I intend to take my liempo out with a Jowllibag. Be sure to leave that cigarette lighter hanging where you found it. Or else you’d be banned by the Society of Jowllijeep Patrons forever and ever, amen.


BOOTS MA. GARCIA SISON IS A WIFE, MOTHER, SOCCER GROUPIE AND ADVERTISING DIRECTOR AND WRITER, MORE ON SOME DAYS THAN OTHERS. IT WAS HER ELEVEN YEAR OLD SON WHO THOUGHT OF HER COLUMN’S NAME. FOR COMMENTS, TEXT 09205355053/09178411062.