Fish Skeleton: "Sapsap na Daing"

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Where in the Philippines - or in the world
     can you have a treat of skeletons?

One for the Book of Guinness, I am told,

     eating not the flesh but the bones.

And how does it taste, I was asked again.

     Fancy thing, how would you deny?

I imagined feasting with deities in a legend,

     while a cat purred as it passed by.  

What is left of fillet is tasty skeleton, arranged like mat to dry under the sun. Locally called sapsap, this delicacy is popular in the Visayas, but unique in other places, which makes it an exotic food. Like dried dilis, it is quickly fried and served while hot and crunchy.  It's a favorite of drinkers as pulutan.