¡SupereXtraordinarisimo!: The Philippine alcoholic Drink TUBA, In Mexico?!

Would you believe this, Tuba in Mexico?!, I know the stories behind Empanadas, Tamales and Chicharones but TUBA?, How did it ever get there?

For two and a half centuries, between 1565 and 1815, many Filipinos and Mexicans sailed to and from Mexico and the Philippines as sailors, crews, slaves, prisoners, adventurers and soldiers in the Manila-Acapulco Galleon assisting Spain in its trade between the Asia and Mexico or otherwise known as the Barter Trade. Some of these sailors never returned to the Philippines and Vice versa. And also many Filipinos came to Mexico as refugees from Spain during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship these were Filipinos from Spain who were descendants of Filipinos and Filipino mestizo settlers who entered Spain after Spanish-American war. Most Filipinos who migrated to Mexico during that time were already settled and integrated in the Mexican society.

Today, Mexicans with Filipino ancestry form around 0.2% of the population, there are currently around 200,000 mexicans with Filipino ancestry in Mexico, and their community can be found in Colima and Guerrero and some few other places in Mexico.

These Filipinos carries with them their skills and one of these skills is Tuba making, an alcoholic drink from the sap of coconut trees. Tuba is being used here also to make Lambanog, a distilled alcoholic drink in the Philippines, like Gin (Ginebra). Until now, Filipinos have preserved this tradition, and still continue to make Tuba and Lambanog, especially in regions and provinces where coconuts are abundant, like Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, in Bicolandia and in the Visayas region like Cebu and Leyte.

In Mexico, people there are now getting creative with their Tuba, sometimes they are mixing Tuba with beet juice to make it reddish in color, adding bits of fruits and putting crushed peanuts on top. Tuba Fresca is sold by street vendors in Acapulco.