I found a snack in the mountains of Cebu with a name I had never heard before.
“Chip charon.”
“Chip charon?”
My first thought was that it was a typo.
But it wasn’t.
Melvin wasn’t trying to copy another product. He was trying to describe something that didn’t quite fit into any existing category.
It looked like chips.
But the process was different.
And it wasn’t exactly chicharon either.
So he created his own term.
The more I talked to him, the more I realized this wasn’t just a story about a snack.
Deep in Catmon, cassava had become more than just a crop.
Melvin told me:
"If I haven't been doing a cassava business, I will be back to city to find work."
Instead, he stayed.
And his reason was bigger than himself.
“I will do more for the farmers. Not for myself.”
That sentence changed how I looked at the small package in my hand.
What looked like a simple snack was actually a story about a farmer creating new value from what his community already grows.
Sometimes new things don’t begin with a big idea.
They begin when someone sees potential in something familiar.
Almost 3 years in the Philippines, and I’m still discovering stories hidden in everyday places.
Still Learning.
Still Exploring.
One local story at a time.
Daghang salamat, Melvin and Catmon🙏
Melvin — "It's in between chips and chicharon."
I almost wrote this off as a snack story. A new product, a funny name, a photo for the gallery. Chip Charon — not chips, not chicharon, something in between that didn't have a word yet.
But the name was never really the point. Melvin didn't create Chip Charon only to make something unique. He created it because it was the best way he found to use what his community already had.
What stayed with me wasn't just the snack itself. It was one sentence, said almost in passing: "If I wasn't doing a cassava business, I would probably be back in the city looking for work." He said it like a simple fact. No self-pity. Just the reality of a choice he had made.
Then he added something that stayed with me: "I want to do more for the farmers. Not just for myself."
That was the moment I understood. Chip Charon wasn't only a new snack. It was a way to create something from what was already growing around him — and keep more value within the community.
The snack wasn't really the story — it was proof that a farmer had found a way to create new value from what his community already grows, and chose to stay and share it rather than leave for the city.
| Date | July 19, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Location | Corazon, Catmon, Cebu |
| Event Type | Culinary Innovation / Farmer Enterprise Follow-Up Visit |
| Access Method | Invited by a local contact (Melvin) |
| Food Featured | Chip Charon — a homemade cassava chip-chicharon hybrid snack |
| Cost to Attend | Free (by arrangement) |
| Rarity | 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ — A locally created product with no established category |
| Bayanihan Index | 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜ — Built on shared community cassava supply |
Whether Chip Charon stays a one-man invention or grows into something Catmon's whole cassava community can build on is still an open question.