18/05/2026
You find me at a very Visayan time of my life... gearing up for my pop-up this Wednesday, which brings the flavours of Cebu to west London.
As part of this, I've been reflecting on one of the more unique ingredients I've had the privilege to work with: Visayan laurel, commonly called dahon ng laurel, paminta, mana, kalingag or kaningag, - or more specifically, the dried leaf of one of the 25 (!) Cinnamomum species that grow in the Philippines. As observed by and , the dried leaves are often used in a similar way to bay leaves; they are all part of the Lauraceae family, after all!
Since the bay leaf as we often know it derives from the Mediterranean version, I do wonder whether its introduction displaced local ingredients like local Cinnamomum leaves, which are often harvested wild from now-endangered trees.
Now that I have some (from ), I've tried using it instead of bay leaves in some of the Visayan dishes in my repertoire: in Humba, the sweet, savoury and fragrant pork belly stew that originated in Filipino-Chinese kitchens in the Visayas (photo 2); as well as in Adobong Pina-uga, a Cebuano version of confit adobo that has a likely pre-colonial heritage (photo 3). And I must say, it adds a wonderful, slightly sweet and cinnamon-y spiced and floral element to the dishes, much more pronounced than anything you'd get from bay leaves.
It's fascinating being able to explore local ingredients and reflect on the history and culture that surrounds their usage; it makes me feel like I can ground my dishes more solidly in an indigenous Filipino context.
If you fancy trying my Humba, I'll be dishing it up this Wednesday at the Dodo; link in bio.
