RAW
Along with his two younger brothers and their mother, this boy, like several others around the Philippines collect live sea urchins and other small crustaceans from the ocean floor during the low tide.
This cloudy afternoon while walking along the century-old coral formations in Siquijor island we spotted a few people crouching and searching for something from the rocks. We walked up closer carefully trying to avoid stepping on the hundreds of red star fish coming out of every small hole to see what these people were looking for. We soon realized they were hunting for sea urchins and other small crustaceans which they did regularly during low tide.
With the help of a handmade, rusty metallic hook the boys scraped the urchins out of their refuges and once out, they grabbed them carefully with their small hands while the animals continued to move their spikes in a hypnotizing pattern. Suddenly, out of the blue, the younger brother cracked one of the animals’ shells in two and sent the the slimey insides straight into his mouth faster than we could understand what was going on. Once he had swallowed, he looked up at us and gave us a gesture of satisfaction before he and his brother did the same thing several times more.
While I watched shell after shell being cracked and body after body being swollen by the two boys and their mother I was deeply confused by the ease they did this with. I felt an overwhelming weight over my shoulders and for the next few minutes I stood there helpless imagining what it would feel like if someone tore my body apart while being unable to make even a slight sound of protest.
Once I managed to set this idea at the back of my head (I still can’t get rid of it entirely) I watched the boys enjoy the salty taste of the raw, jelly-like creatures. However, a few minutes after walking away, the feeling of helplessness seemed to make less and less sense, like it somehow didn’t fit what I truly felt anymore. I began to wonder why I was conflicted about the idea of these animals being ripped apart and eaten alive. After a while of letting my fears and social constructions aside, I realised this was no different from a predator hunting for a prey. This was nature at its purest, food at its truest: no packaging, no chemicals, no preservatives, no sugarcoating, this was true and simple survival and it was beautiful.
