Nobody is immune to the baking bug, but Fr. Juvi Coronel adds his own, spiritual twist

Since the start of the quarantine last March, Fr. Juvi Coronel has been staying indoors, alone, at the Convent of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish. Pre-Covid, he was used to a full schedule in the ministry. Now, his days are filled with common chores: laundry, cleaning, and, of course, cooking.

Initially just cooking staples to feed himself, the Taguig priest decided to use his newfound free time to try something new. With some research and YouTube tutorials, Fr. Juvi began posting a series of “What Would Jesus Eat?” (“WWJE?”) posts on Facebook, much to the delight of his parishioners.

In the beginning…

But how did these kitchen experiments begin? Fr. Juvi shares with Manila Bulletin Lifestyle how the idea came about purely by accident during a moment of reflection.

“One day, during my Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, amid all the sad and discouraging updates on television and social media, a question suddenly entered my mind: ‘What would Jesus do?’” says Fr. Juvi. “I thought it was worthwhile if people,  during the quarantine, would know how to survive when faced with a difficult moral decision or situation.”

Before he was done with his meditation, the smell of burnt pasta sauce he left on the oven reached his private chapel. “During the first weeks of the quarantine, all I ate was pasta for lunch and dinner because that was what my cupboard had,” he adds. “After turning off the stove and settling back in my chapel to finish the Holy Hour, the question ‘What would Jesus eat?’ came to me.”

This question piqued his interest. He began researching the food staples of the people who lived during the time of Jesus.

Our daily bread

Fr. Juvi counts himself blessed as his neighbors in Brgy. Tanyag ask about his daily needs and have shared “survival food” with him.

“It was indeed extraordinary that in these times of difficulty, many ordinary people still remain instruments of God’s blessings for one another,” says Fr. Juvi.

At one point, a family gave him a stand mixer, while another gave him flour. To “celebrate” his new kitchen appliance, he decided to try one of the more basic, but profoundly meaningful, foods of Jesus’ time: unleavened bread.

Unleavened bread does not contain any yeast or other rising agents. It is typically dense and flat. The host and communion wafers are an example of unleavened bread.

In his first “WWJE?” Facebook post, Fr. Juvi ponders, “Maybe this is the same bread that the Virgin Mary prepared for Jesus and St. Joseph. Maybe this is the same bread they multiplied. Maybe this is the bread.”

Our good shepherd

Several days passed for the now Father Baker, as he jokingly calls himself in his posts, before his next WWJE attempt.

“Then, one morning, as I was meditating on the story of the Good Shepherd, I asked myself, how would they have consumed the excess milk from the sheep they were herding during those times,” says Fr. Juvi. “And I researched again. Alas, people during the time of Jesus would, on special occasions, consume yogurt with nuts and honey. Through YouTube, I was able to make my own yogurt.”

It is with his latest kitchen concoction that Fr. Juvi has set himself from other home bakers. On Facebook, he shares that making yogurt requires eight hours of incubation, plus another six hours of straining the whey. The result is a lovely, sugar-free yogurt treat that has received praise from his parishioners on Facebook. He posted photos along with some short videos documenting the process (condensed into a few seconds, of course).

“The parishioners were so happy when I posted these two WWJE cooking videos online,” adds the pader “yogurter” (or is it “yogurtist,” he wonders on his Facebook post). “Many asked if they could order.”

From thy bounty

“Cooking is very therapeutic. Surprisingly, it brought me back to the age of Jesus, like a time machine,” says Fr. Juvi. “But cooking is time-consuming. I still have to celebrate Mass daily, pray daily, perform my ministry daily, and do the chores daily.”

Both kitchen experiments were quite spontaneous, and he plans to keep it that way. They are based on musings while he prayed, or what supplies are graciously shared by his neighbors. In the small act of cooking, he finds a way to celebrate the goodwill that still fosters during these trying times.

“Another neighbor sent me a big tray of fresh eggs this morning,” says Fr. Juvi, pondering what the third installment in the WWJE series could come out of the kind gift.“Meringue? Leche flan? Souffle? No. I don’t think Jesus ate those.”