Zombies, Sisig Worth Living (and Dying) For, and Community. (Featuring, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Corpses by Yvette Tan)

In Fresh Fruit for Rotting Corpses, two childhood best friends, one is a chef at a fancy hotel and the other is a butcher at a wet market; out there hunting for food in a zombie-infested Angeles, Pampanga.

Just by setting the tone, this already got my attention. A chef and a butcher, both making a living that has something to do with putting food on someone's table, now rummaging for scraps. Just like the reality of many of our farmers, kung sino ang nagpapakain, sila ang walang makain, especially during Tiempo Muerto. Also, Pampanga is known as the culinary capital of our country (featuring Aling Lucing's ) and is primarily dependent on agricultural production. Yvette Tan, is also vocal on agriculture and food production (She got me out of my reading slump, writing slump, and drawing slump, now she made me read newspapers again, her impact I guess). I am loving the connect-the-dots so far.

Being third world meant that we were used to a certain level of discomfort; lack of things wealthier countries might call necessities.

I am not a fan of zombies as a sub-genre to be honest, it felt too Western for me, it's like, a white person's dystopia-apocalypse is a reality somewhere on the other side of the globe. An example of this was in the game The Last of Us II, creative lead Neil Druckmann took inspiration from the Israeli occupation of Palestine where the infected ones, to him, are in parallel to Palestinians and find joy when they get shot. Kind of made sense as to why I haven't dug into it, neither the TV series nor the game, I don't give a shit even if they put hundreds of lesbians and non-binary folks there. We also have a zombie flick with gays with Zombadings 1, Patayin sa Shokot Si Remington (although, this is for another conversation).

That's why I am always curious how the Philippines as its setting would treat a zombie apocalypse narrative.

Going back.

The two set the scene by beheading a corpse described as a woman with expensive clothing and jewelry, who seems to have taken care of herself well, and wealthy enough to go to a hair salon regularly. The narrator prefaces that the corpse will be prepared for cooking. That's some eat the rich shit right there.

We became scavengers, a skill that only a few people had to learn because most Filipinos, lived below the poverty line, and were used to looking through garbage for sustenance.

In the Netflix film Outside, while it is set in the Philippines, the switch has been flipped. Scarcity doesn't concern the main character because he has a hand-me-down sugarcane plantation and sort of poultry going on, his main concern is to maintain his control over his wife and kids. Not even seeking some sense of community, believing that the plantation and delusion alone can sustain him.

In a world where there's nothing to live for, you have to create your own gods, or go mad. This was ours.

The entire story follows the best friends preparing and cooking their favorite food, their reason for living, Sisig. Made from the corpse, fresh lemon, and other ingredients which took them months to complete. It took them a while to prepare because of the fear that the smell might attract other undead. But they're willing to risk it all because they attempted to find control in chaos, and basically to taste good food again. Tan described the food preparation as so good, it's like those Ghibli food clips but skinned in Junji Ito style. It is also worth noting that at the time I read this story, I had just recently watched Sinners, and its soundtrack accompanied me while reading. It added to the experience.

I also love good callbacks. The narrator starts with he will never be the head chef of Oracle Hotel because of this apocalypse. Then concluded that they could open a restaurant to feed other survivors, and he could be the head chef there. And that's what I'm looking for, community.

Overall, I loved this to the extent that I wrote something about it and this is my favorite from the collection so far. I am excited to finish the second half.