Unlike Floyd Mayweather, who trains and runs at odd hours, Manny Pacquiao is a believer in the old-school boxing ritual of morning roadwork. He?s up and ready to run at dawn.
But among the members of Pacquiao?s extensive entourage, the earliest to rise every morning isn?t the fighter, but his camp?s cook, Nonoy Neri.
?I wake up around four,? Neri tells True, just enough time to start cooking ?bulalo,? a peasant soup that?s a delicacy of Balangas, a southern region of the Philippines, and one of Pacquiao?s favorite dishes.
Neri is one of the oldest members of the Pacquiao tribe. He helped train Pacquiao long before he was famous, and has been preparing him bulalo and others Filipino-inspired dishes for more than a decade.
Bulalo is not only a soup that is reminiscent of Pacquiao?s origins, growing up in abject poverty, but the bones and bone marrow that flavor the soup come together into a kind of restorative, primal pick-me-up for Pacquaio after his morning runs. Neri?s preparation ? boil the meat, add cabbage and spices ? is as simple as the dish itself.
?No amount of money buys the nostalgic feeling of what you?re mother made you as a kid,? says Dale Talde
We asked Dale Talde, the former Top Chef star from Chicago, for a word on the country classic. ?This definitely represents the frugality of Filipino cuisine,? Talde says. ?You?re literally making a soup out of bones. There are no premium cuts of meat here.?
Talde is not surprised that Pacquiao, who is slated to earn over $100 million for the fight, trains on bone soup. ?No matter how much success who you have,? Talde says. ?You always want to eat what you grew up on. No amount of money buys the nostalgic feeling of what you?re mother made you as a kid.?
