Comments on: A Lato Gatherer…

By: Asia Girl

Asia Girl — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:12:40 +0000

Love these lato, we call them ar-arosep in Pangasinan. I’ve been living in California for 22 years now, and I’m dying to eat this again. I’d probably eat the entire basket. I can just imagine them popping in my mouth as I did when I was a little girl.

By: andi

andi — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:06:34 +0000

thank you for this post (though i’m three months late commenting on it, haha). i go crazy over lato as a manila girl who rarely gets to eat it. always good to know how food gets onto my plate. :)

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:20:11 +0000

This seaweed gatherer has, first of all, to find the lato, and then dive to gather it. It’s usually not very deep, and probably what’s left over after gathering grows again. I don’t know how fast, but I suspect it doesn’t take very long. He probably has ‘known areas’ where he can find it.
He could probably increase his harvest by simply throwing a few fragments of the stuff over the side of the boat. 99.99% will not take, but some will.
I don’t know if anyone farms it, and I’ve never heard of drying it, but if that works, all well and good. But has anyone here tried turning a raisin back into a grape?

By: shiloh

shiloh — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:15:45 +0000

We always have lato every Sunday, market day (Pasig Market). The househelp always buys it since she knows I love it.

By: scramoodles

scramoodles — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:51:53 +0000

I love how lato bursts into your mouth with refreshing, sea-sweet notes. You can also find them in dampa. Occasionally, I would find them in Ortigas/MC Home Depot. I think I bought them at around 60 – 70 a kilo. Knowing you would have to farm these fresh, it’s fair price for that travel. Sometimes, I would just find them in any wet market, even as far as Antipolo. You just have to get lucky.

P.S. I envy your Coron vacation. I’m scheduled for October so I hope the weather would cooperate and bring me the same tide of fortune as you have had. All these trips to the market make me look forward to it even more.

By: chamcham

chamcham — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:31:29 +0000

we call this AR AROSEP..^^ perfect with fried fish plus tomatoes and white onions.. and don’t forget the bagoong.. man! you made me crave..=)

By: Lava Bien

Lava Bien — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:48:06 +0000

I first had this kind of seaweed in Ilo-ilo when we visited Tatoy’s? I think. Man was it good or was it good!hehehehe. It was hella good!

By: Fabian

Fabian — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:13:57 +0000

Just to clarify, “it’s” in the last sentence of my previous post refers to the orange hair color

By: Fabian

Fabian — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:10:57 +0000

Great post. Actually anything Busuanga & Food / Markets related are great to read. :)

The Lato gatherer does seem to be Tagbanua. As for the color of his hair, I had heard that this might be a result of Vitamin deficiency — it’s common among Tagbanua of different ages.

By: Marketfan

Marketfan — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:39:08 +0000

those are very photogenic lato (last pic)