The Vanishing Breed of Pandesal Vendors

The Vanishing Breed of Pandesal Vendors

They used to wake me up  so early in the morning, that all too familiar sound ! They used to go around the streets, our house ,either by bike or just by walking carrying their box , carboard box we call them. .containing the  still hot pandesal they are selling! I marble how they kept them hot and fresh while going around the town?

Early morning without fail, they wake me up, pandeeeeeeeeeeesssssssalllll! Those were the days of the box carrying pandesal vendors back in the province … And then some when I married and settled in Cavite. We call them out to  buy  10 peso worth of pandesal off the street, wrapped in brown home made paper called… hmm I cannot remember  supot?…. But  now, this breed is slowly vanishing, seldom do I get ‘wakened  by that not so familiar sound  anymore, not anymore. Once in a while if I get lucky, I hear them , I hear the sound. See a face of a young , very young man selling pandesal very early in the morning, eking out a living in such a young age…but also carving a character that will serve him well when he grows up.

I wonder if I contributed to this breed’s  vanishing ….modernization , albeit advertising  has turned us into phobic creatures.  The box maybe be dirty and contaminated  , the vendor maybe sick. So I started buying  our pandesal  from “branded” shops , where there is quality control and the whole bunch of what have you! Well, yes, we, I have  become paranoid, obsessive even, especially about what my kids will be eating…. Well , maybe this is the price we pay for the overrated modernization….sophistication…Or maybe information! 

During the height of the days of the pandesal vendors, I did not think that the pandesal I eat every morning is dirty nor the vendors sick….. or maybe I was just naïve and un informed….ha ha ha and lucky I did not get sick!

But I miss those days, when I could not care less about dirty pandesal , sick vendors……I think this comes with age, ha ha ha and may be  because these days I am more aware, more conscious of my suroundings because I have the time….I am on a leave of absence under the Magna Carta for Women!! So this is a paid leave, ha ha ha…..

And I wonder some more…where are the then  young pandesal vendors now?

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