Dragons and the Szechuan Cuisine
Taken from the Great Wall Manuscript

During Pipi's time in prison (he was arrested because he knew too much: Kite flying fraud), he met another Filipino. His name was not mentioned but he claimed to have been brought to china by a chef named Fei. Let’s just call him Manoy.

Manoy met Fei in a small mami house in central Luzon. The chef was traveling around the world in search of new delicacies. His adventures brought him to the Philippines where he heard news of a very powerful noodle soup capable of bringing wonders to anyone who eats it. This he had to see (eat) for himself! He arrived at mekeni's mami and he was shocked to see so many people lined up, people of different color. Since there were no more seats, he shared a table with a man, a local, it was Manoy. They both ordered the famous soup. When they were halfway eating, Fei saw that Manoy was heavily perspiring, that he seems hot, and about to breathe fire. Why is this so? He thought. He observed that Manoy was putting something in his soup. So he talked to him, by unknown wonders, they didn't even realize they understood each other but were speaking different languages (the mami at work). Manoy explained that he too, was a visitor here, and from where he came from, the food is spicy. So he brought his own spice to personalize the mami. Fei tasted it and was immediately excited (chili- a natural aphrodisiac like chocolate). He perspired heavily. He was not aware that some of the people around them were already talking about them. When he saw this, he asked them, WHY? They laughed and mocked him, "Manggagapang ka na rin nyan! Uragon yan eh!"

Manoy explained to Fei what they meant. After that Fei asked Manoy to come with him to his land and help him develop a new line of Chinese cuisine, one based on what they just ate, Mekeni's Mami with Siling Labuyo.

In china, their business flourished. Fei's cooking was now the center of Chinese cuisine that it had a town named after it, Szechuan. It was a localized form of Sexmoan, the place where the original idea came from. The famous Szechuan Noodle Soup is actually Mekeni's mami with Sili. Although they almost reproduced the wonderful taste of THE MAMI, with spice, their soup just wasn't good enough; it lacked the mystery, the power of the original soup. This became a problem with Fei, and he suspected Manoy. That is why he wanted to get rid of him and be the sole owner of their new success.

Knowing Manoy's weakness, Fei tempted him with women, night after night. Manoy then started on a crawling spree, entering one house after another, having his way. The women couldn't resist, they were overpowered by this being they now called "THE URAGON", powered by pure heat, almost breathing fire, the personification of worldly pleasure. Now the men were furious, they hunted Manoy and locked him up. In prison, he met Pipi.

Now without Manoy, Fei rejoiced, for he alone now holds the secret to Szechuan cooking. However, Manoy outsmarted him. It turned out that every night, Manoy would spill, in between every moan and groan, all the secrets their cooking has, to every woman he's with! So Szechuan cuisine became a town thing, everyone knew now how to cook so Fei went bankrupt, not only that, the people knew Fei only imitated a recipe from Sexmoan. Since then, everything imitated from the original thing was called Fei, and later it evolved into "Fake".

Now, we do not know what happened to Manoy, or at least that part of the manuscript has not been decoded yet. However, it seemed that he had his place in history, with his part in the introduction of chili, the people had unlimited supply of aphrodisiac in their food, soon, the population grew out of control that they had to declare a one-child policy.

The people also had to minimize the use of the wonder spice of Manoy The Uragon. So instead, the women just reminisced their nights with Manoy, telling the stories to their children in form of legend, of how a powerful being crawled out of the dark, powered by heat and breathed fire! Now while the women adored him, the men despised Manoy. Their stories tell of a beast, breathing fire taking their women away from them. From time to time the story evolved into myth, of a Being both loved and feared, with mystical powers. "THE URAGON" they call him, which later evolved into Dragon.

for more stories like this visit: Mainit-init pa!