“It’s giving notebook cover.”
Such comments appeared on opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros‘ post about making a viral Filipino snack for the holiday season.
The lawmaker on Thursday, December 5 amused her followers when she uploaded a colorful graphic featuring a collage of her pictures and some images of Christmas lanterns and binangkal.
Binangkal is a native doughnut from Visayas and Mindanao which is also commonly found in homegrown neighborhood bakeries.
The snack has a golden hard-crisp crust and is coated with sesame seeds. It has a chewy texture with a nutty flavor.
“20 days nalang, PASKO NA! Ihanda na ang kainan! Heto, binangkal recipe sa mga wala pang handa,” Hontiveros said with emojis.
In the comments section, Hontivero shared a link of her making the snack with her friends, former senators Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan and human rights lawyer Chel Diokno.
Meanwhile, Hontiveros’ graphic about the binangkal recipe has reached 1,000 love and laughing reactions, 10,000 shares, and 1,600 comments, with some Filipinos thinking it appeared to resemble locally-made notebook covers in the past.
“Who is this notebook diva?” pop culture-oriented meme page “FFTM” (Follow The Trend Movement) commented. It has earned 1,500 laughing reactions.
“Same vibe [nito] XD pang notebook cover,” another user wrote, sharing an actual old locally-produced notebook cover featuring Judy Ann Santos.
“Love it. Lakas maka Notebook Cover, SenRi,” another user wrote.
“Bakit parang pwedeng cover sa spiral notebook, hahaha,” a different Pinoy commented.
The ‘binangkal’ meme
Meanwhile, the binangkal recipe refers to a long-running meme in which Filipinos share the snack’s recipe randomly in the comment sections of posts, even though it has nothing to do with the post’s content.
Last September, a Filipino wondered about the phenomenon.
“What’s with the binangkal recipe comments sa mga memes na nakikita ko,” a Facebook user had asked before.
“Binangkal recipe, hehehe ‘yan kadalasan nakikita ko sa mga comments section sa iba’t ibang big content creators,” another user noticed last November.
Typing the word “binangkal” in Google immediately launches the “binangkal recipe meme” among the suggested phrases, indicating the virality of the comment as a meme.
Typing “binangkal” in Facebook Search also launches the “binangkal recipe comments section” among the suggested phrases.
The origin of the meme, or how the recipe became a meme content among Pinoys in the comments section, remains unclear, although it has since become a constant presence in the local online community.
The recipe is usually commented by Filipinos who appear to have intentions to poke fun at a post or troll people.
