Pagpag is the Tagalog term for leftover food from restaurants (usually from fast food restaurants) scavenged from garbage sites and dumps.[1][2] Pagpag food can also be expired frozen meat, fish, or vegetables discarded by supermarkets and scavenged in garbage trucks where this expired food is collected.[3] The word in the Tagalog language literally means "to shake off the dust or dirt". Pagpag can be eaten immediately after it is found, or can be cooked in a variety of ways.
The act of eating pagpag arose from the challenges of hunger that resulted from extreme poverty.[4] Selling pagpag was a profitable business in impoverished areas of Metro Manila.[5] Pagpag is also called batchoy,[6] which is derived from the Filipino dish with the same name. Technically, batchoy is soup-based, though the term batchoy referring to leftover food from the trash may be a meal cooked differently, like fried pagpag batchoy.[7]
- ^ "'Garbage chicken' a grim staple for Manila's poor". CNN. May 30, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
- ^ "Image of Asia: Eating pagpag in celebration of pope's visit". San Diego Tribune. Associated Press. January 13, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
- ^ "Sarbey hinggil sa Sosyo-ekonomikong Kalagayan at Pamumuhay ng mga Kababaihan sa Ilang Piling Maralitang Komunidad sa Bansa" (PDF). Philippine Commission on Women (in Tagalog). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
rodriguez_blogwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cruz, Gen (June 22, 2015). "Pagpag: A thriving business". CNN Philippines. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
- ^ "Archdiocese of Manila achieves Zero Waste Management; prevents 'PAGPAG' eating by waste pickers by Romulo S. Arsenio, Ph.D." Archdiocese of Manila. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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