Maria Orosa: Meet the Filipino war hero who invented banana ketchup
Maria Orosa is a Batangas-born scientist most famously known for her invention of the Philippines’ beloved banana ketchup. However, unknown to many is that she was also a war hero.
Orosa studied Chemistry, Food Chemistry and Pharmacy in the U.S.
In 1922, she returned to the Philippines to help address the problem of malnutrition in the country.
She is credited with inventing the palayok oven, a clay oven used by people in remote villages who didn’t have access to electricity. The invention used a clay pot and two sheets of metal to give people an effective way of cooking over an open fire.
Orosa also launched Health, Heart, Head and Hands Clubs. An organization that taught women in rural areas how to raise poultry, preserve food and plan nutritious meals. According to the Week, the organization had over 22,000 members by 1924.
According to Esquire Magazine, tomatoes were in short supply during World War II in the Philippines. When imports of tomatoes were halted, Filipinos needed another way to get their ketchup fix that was introduced to them by Americans.
Orosa’s recipe for banana ketchup mixed saba bananas with traditional tomato ketchup ingredients like vinegar, sugar and spices. Red food colouring was added because the brown sauce wasn’t appealing.
Orosa also developed Soyalac, a nutritious soybean product that’s rich in protein and Darak, rice cookies packed with vitamin B1.
During World War II Orosa was a captain in the Marking’s Guerillas, one of the many forces formed against the Japanese.
Instead of fighting in the frontlines, Orosa used her background as a scientist to help save lives. She smuggled food into prison camps to feed Filipino and American prisoners of war. Orosa’s Soyalac and Darak were life-saving inventions that helped many soldiers who would have died of starvation.
Despite pleas from Orosa’s family to go back home to Batangas, she decided to stay in Manila as fighting intensified.
She died during the Battle of Manila on February 13, 1945 after she was hit by shrapnel. She was taken to the hospital, but while she was being treated, another shelling hit the building causing another shrapnel to kill her. More than 70 people died that day in the hospital.
References
- ABS-CBN News. Who Is Maria Ylagan Orosa? Banana Ketchup Inventor Featured as Google Doodle. ABS-CBN News, 29 Nov. 2019, news.abs-cbn.com/life/11/29/19/who-is-maria-ylagan-orosa-banana-ketchup-inventor-featured-as-google-doodle.
- Guzman, Nicai de. The Long and Tumultuous History of the Humble Banana Ketchup. Esquire Philippines, 22 June 2018, www.esquiremag.ph/culture/lifestyle/the-history-behind-the-invention-of-banana-ketchup-a1729-20180622-lfrm.
- Limos, Mario Alvaro. Maria Orosa: The War Hero Who Invented Banana Ketchup. Esquire Philippines, 9 Nov. 2019, www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/maria-orosa-the-war-hero-who-invented-banana-ketchup-a00293-20191109.
- María Ylagan Orosa’s 126th Birthday. Google, 29 Nov. 2019, www.google.com/doodles/maria-ylagan-orosas-126th-birthday.
- Rampe, Amelia. Meet the War Hero Who Uplifted the Philippines through Food Innovation. The Week, 29 Nov. 2019, theweek.com/articles/877132/meet-war-hero-who-uplifted-philippines-through-food-innovation.
- Tomacruz, Sofia. 7 Women Who Made Philippine History. Rappler, 24 Mar. 2020, www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/list-women-made-philippine-history.
