AS families across the Philippines celebrate Father’s Day weekend, an 87-year-old Quezon City institution is offering a unique way to honor both family and cultural heritage—through the timeless flavors of machang and the rich traditions of the ancient Dragon Boat Festival.
For nearly nine decades, Kamuning Bakery Cafe, owned by a good friend and broadsheet columnist Wilson Lee Flores, has been known not only for its breads, pastries, and comfort food, but also for its passionate advocacy of literature, history, arts, and culture.
This year, the historic bakery is once again bringing together food and heritage by offering its popular machang—the savory glutinous rice dumpling known throughout Asia as zongzi—in celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival, one of the region’s oldest and most colorful cultural observances.
Prepared using traditional recipes and wrapped in fragrant bamboo or lotus leaves, the cafe’s machang is available in three hearty varieties, according to Flores whose regular ‘Pandesal Forum’ becomes the favorite venue for politicians and government officials, even those from other countries for their press conferences or promoting their projects and programs, among others.
Mr. Flores explained that the boat festival commemorates Qu Yuan (circa 340–278 BCE), the revered poet, scholar, and anti-corruption statesman whose legacy continues to inspire people throughout the world.
Celebrated as one of Asia’s greatest literary figures, Qu Yuan was also remembered for his unwavering integrity and courageous opposition to corruption.
After being exiled for advocating reforms and honest governance, he reportedly drowned himself in the Miluo River upon learning of the fall of his beloved kingdom.
According to tradition, local villagers raced out in boats to search for him and threw rice into the river to prevent fish from consuming his body.
These acts of devotion eventually evolved into the dragon boat races and the preparation of machang or zongzi that remain central to the festival today.
The celebration will continue beyond the festival itself. In keeping with its longstanding commitment to literature and the arts, Kamuning Bakery will host a special edition of its “Pan de Panitikan” literary gathering on June 27, 2026 at 2 p.m. open to poetry lovers and the public.
