There are ants in my Pancit Canton!
Is what a YouTube clickbait title would look like. But on a faithful morning, there are literally ants in my Pancit Canton. I opened a pack and there were not only five, six, or seven, but what appeared to be a whole colony! A colony of ants on MY Pancit Canton!
I told my dad, “May langgam sa Pancit Canton.”
“Hayaan mo lang, mawawala lang sila,” he said as he returned to his TikTok consumption.
But there are ants! In my Pancit Canton!
Crawling around like tiny imperialists on an instant noodle package they recently conquered meant for me, a hungry human. Pancit Canton, nonetheless. Ants! In my Pancit Canton! Who would believe me!? It sounded like an obscure version of “Honey, I Shrunk The Kids,” in my head. I tried to blow the ants away from my Pancit Canton as best as I could.
But there were STILL ants! In my Pancit Canton!
I cooked my meal Lucky Me: Pancit Canton Calamansi Flavor (with ants) as per packet instructions: three minutes over hot water. I watch the noodles hydrate with ants squirming in a Pancit Canton and ant-broth. Some off to the side, slowly dying, but some still clinging on to my Pancit Canton. I grab the strainer, forking over ants that were still left on my Pancit Canton. I do the same as I mix in the sauce over the noodles of my Pancit Canton.
I took one forkful bite of my breakfast which, I quickly found out, was ants and Pancit Canton! Ants on my breakfast, imagine that! The crunch of ants hit my teeth first, then my tongue. Some people eat crickets as a delicacy, but ants? I haven’t heard of it. They tasted like a doorknob, like rust.
But there were ants in my midnight Pancit Canton snack! While writing my thesis!
Around 4:00-ish AM, I took an hour break from writing my thesis. The 7PM dinner I had went to my keyboard and onto my manuscript. I looked to the top of the refrigerator and found a care-package combination for college students: Skyflakes and Pancit Canton; with no ants yet, unbeknownst to me. The coffee options were well-travelled, spanning Vietnam, Malaysia, Dubai, and NCCC Ma-a Sentro. The ref was also full of eggs, newly bought.
Not wanting to wake up anyone, I quietly grabbed a pan and an egg. As I opened the pack of Pancit Canton, I came to find that there were ants. Not as many as my breakfast excursion, but ants, nonetheless! In my Pancit Canton! As opposed to the previous ant-filled experience, they all died down after one boil. Instead of chewing on ant carcasses like a bottom feeder, I was once again a mighty human eating a snack. I put on a YouTube video to pair with my now ant-free Pancit Canton.
I still couldn’t believe that there were ants! In my Pancit Canton! Along with Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil (Palm Oil, Green Tea Extract), Salt, Stabilizer (Guar Gum), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Carbonate, Potassium Carbonate), Emulsifier (Polyphosphate), Seasoning: Coconut Oil, Soy Sauce (Water, Soybean), Salt, Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Maltodextrin, Flavor Enhancer (Monosodium Glutamate, Disodium 5 Inosinate, Disodium 5 Guanylate), Salt, Cane Sugar, Artificial Chicken Flavor, Dehydrated Vegetables (Carrots, Chives), Acid (Citric Acid), Spices (Onion, Garlic), Color (Caramel Color), Citrus Flavor.
Ants, of all things! In my Pancit Canton!
Rean Marco Regno is a Development Studies graduate of Ateneo de Davao University. He was a fellow of the 2018 SOX Summer Writing Camp and is currently affiliated with the Philippine Sociological Society (PSS).