Do you know? Sisig Its existence was first recorded in a Kapampangan dictionary back in 1732 by Diego Bergaño, a Spanish missionary who served as the parish priest for Mexico, Pampanga at the time.

But the credit for the modern sisig was Lucia Cunanan.

Though the history of sisig is often contested, many attribute its conception to Lucia Cunanan. However, few realize that she wasn’t the first to chop up pig parts, or put it on a sizzling plate. Sisig is actually derived from the old Tagalog word sisigan, which means “to make sour”.

Its existence was first recorded by an Augustinian friar in 1732. In his Spanish-Kapampangan dictionary, he catalogued it as a “salad, including green papaya, or green guava eaten with a dressing of salt, pepper, garlic and vinegar”. Centuries later, sisig remained a citrusy side to heftier meats, although variations of it with meat, oyster or native deer popped up around the region here and there.