The first time I heard the word apogan or kalima-lima was when I inquired about certain forest food which the Agta have discovered in the course of their exploration in the mountains of Isarog and Asog. It was totally alien to me, as was the term urabi and burot. I am of course familiar with the words ube, namo and amiris. The last three foods are dug from the grounds as was the other tree earlier mentioned. It reflects the wealth of the earth which the Agta have discovered as a source of food for their survival. What other things can the Agta teach us when it comes to food hunting? Atty. Jose Reyes provides the answer in his writings on the Agta in the book Bikol Maharlika.

        “The Agta had three sources of food supply, the bounty of the forests, rivers and lakes, kaingin patches, and the low land market where the food items are purchased out of their earnings as farm hand.

        “Under the first category are the many wild plants in the forest. One was the namo (yam) [Dioscorea Hispida Dunnst] which grew wild in the forested slopes of the volcano. The namo are tubers rounded in shape and which in the unprocessed state was not edible because of a poisonous alkaloid called dioscorene which caused poisoning. But the Agta have learned to process the namo and make it edible.

        “Once the tubers are gathered, they were peeled of its outer cover and the cassava like meat was sliced into chips then brought to the river to be washed thoroughly. The namo chips are placed in an abaca cloth sack called ginaras and submerged in the river for at least one day. By doing so, the flow of water washed off a yellowish sap which contained the alkaloid substance. Once dried and cooked, the namo could pass as a substitute for rice. Another species wild yam is the galiang (Crystosperma Merkusii [Hassk.] Schoot) with a yellowish meat which when cooked had a texture similar to the kamote or sweet potato. Unlike the namo, the galiang can be immediately boiled and eaten without any fear of toxic poisoning.

        “The Agta have also vegetable delicacies in the paco or wild ferns that grew luxuriantly in the forest, the ubod of hidiok, (Arrenga Pinnata), a wild palm tree, the ubod (bud) of which was similar to the coconuts and lubi-lubi fronds, a wild plant whose succulently leaves are not only tasty when cooked in coconut oil but also said to possess medicinal properties good for the kidneys and diabetes. In the rivers, the Agta gathered soso (black shells) which are rich in protein. With the sumbiling or the water gun, they are able to catch fish by harpooning them.

        “Under the second category are uncultivated and cultivated plants in the kaingin. One of this uncultivated plants was the kurakding, a species of wild mushrooms that cling on tree trunks which when cooked as gulay sa gata (vegetable cooked in coconut milk) was a highland delicacy. The cultivated yield of the kaingin consisted of root crops like the camote, gabi tubers called bonkokan and the camoteng kahoy (cassava). Vegetables are also grown like string beans, squash and gabi leaves (colocasia esculenta [Linn] schott and Endl.).”

        One other special treat which the forest rewards the Agta is the tubo or mushroom which grew on the decaying mass of abaca stalks that were stripped and dumped during the abaca stripping season. They can also grow in rotting stumps of banana and even trees.

        “Under the third category are the food supplies that have to be procured in the lowland market, like rice, dried fish, salt, chewing components like buyo, tobacco and apog (lime) all of which are purchased from their earnings as farm hands. Occasionally a canned sardine is included in the market purchases.

The Betel Chew

        “The Agta, just like the primitive hill people, could not let go the betel chew tradition. This masticatory habit consisted in dabbing the green betel pepper leaf (buyo) with slaked lime (apog) poured out in bits from a bamboo tube holder. The user pops the combination into the mouth. Additional ingredients are included, a bite from the Arica nut (bunga) and another bite of the sweetened flat rolled tobacco then the chew is complete. It is said that the mastication of the betel gave the needed “lift” after physical exertion. It also kept chewer warm on cold weather and allayed hunger. Betel usage freed the Agta from inhibition in maintaining social intercourse among themselves, with other humans and with their spirit world. The betel chew was always resorted to as first aid to cuts and wounds sustained from accidental mishandling of the sharp minasbad.”

How to Prepare Lime

        Lucas Echipare, my grandfather on the mother side of the family is a betel chewing barangay chieftain and partera or midwife in Burabod up to the day of his death. I watched my mother gave birth to most of my younger siblings with him in attendance. When he run out of apog or lime for his mamaon he would ask me to join him in the search and gathering of raw materials to replenish his supply.

        Apog can be bought, together with buyo, tobacco and bunga in some stores in the lowlands. My mother used to maintain a complete supply for this chewing past time not only for Lolo Lucas, but also for some other paramama (betel chewers) in our barangay, especially those working at stripping abaca. We also have Agta visitors to our small Comprada who are also our customer friends while I was growing up.

        Lolo Lucas, in a very typical and enterprising manner, would ask me to join him to gather the empty shells of tabagwang, suso (japanese snail), “ogama” (river crab), normally dumped in one shady corner of our compound, gather firewood, a large piece of thick bamboo, split one whole node in half, put the empty shells and cook the entire collection of shells under sustained fire, similar to a blacksmith softening a hardened metal.

        After several hours of this process, the hard empty shells are gradually reduced to white ash, safely ensconced in the bamboo tube which is likewise turned into ash by the fire. After carefully removing the impurities, the white substance is gathered, a little amount of water is added to make it sticky. It is then pressed hard and compressed inside a large leaf of the Malobago tree. From this treasure trove of lime, Lolo Lucas will transfer just enough supply for his needs carefully putting the lime inside an empty 30 caliber machine gun shell. The rest are safely tucked inside a bamboo tube.

        It was only during college, when doing research on my new found hobby of collecting seashells that I learned that all marine animals with hardened shells belonging to the mollusk family like clams, snails and even crabs are composed of lime. Limestone caves are actually made up of marine animals and organisms that died, get buried and rose from the sea when new lands were being formed. Mined, cooked and finely grounded, it is one of the basic ingredients in the manufacture of cement.

        For our historical footnote however, the use of simple fire with sustained heat reduces and convert these shells of marine and terrestrial animals as a necessary ingredient to the Agta’s favorite “food”, which is chewed but never swallowed.

        My collection of shells however were never turned to puti (Lime) but became a showcase of the truly astounding beauty of marine animal shells in the Philippines. I donated my entire collection to the Nayong Pilipino Foundation in 1986 in the interest of science, and can only hope that it has not become lost, just like some of the Agta knowledge, customs and traditions I have come to respect.

NEXT: Ancient Burial Customs




A rare root crop known as “Burot” carefully handled by two Agta kids like an earthen treasure that it is.


Ube plant


a huge Ube Tuber, a prised harvest


Bungkokan Plants.


Mushroom (Tubo)


“Kurakding”


Bonkokan, Amiris, Ube, Camote, the bounty of the earth