The Filipinos are also big fans of frying absolutely everything you can think of (fish, fish balls, every possible part of the chicken, pig, or cow, eggs, veggies, bananas, etc.) I love how the fried feet of the chicken are so aptly called Adidas after the shoe company. If you can eat it, it is fried and that is what I ate for the first two weeks with my host family. I felt as if I was preparing for the sequel Supersize Me Too. Finally communication got a little better and the fried food is less frequent, but I haven’t won the battle entirely.
Before I got here someone told me the Filipinos eat five times a day. I thought there was nooo possible way I’d adopt the Filipino eating style and a month later guess who is eating five times a day if not more? Yep, yours truly! Typically when it is hot I don’t have much of an appetite, but for some reason that rule does not apply in the Philippines. In fact, it is quite the opposite as I am always hungry. Luckily for me one of the best things about traveling is calories don’t count.
Their cooking style is quite simple and not all that flavorful. The only spices used here are packaged Knorr’s, garlic, coconut milk, curry, or soy sauce and vinegar with peppers, which is used to dip your chicken or fish in or when it is simmered in the ingredients it is called adobo. Granted, this could just be the skills of my host family, but it seems to be the case in restaurants as well.
That being said, the Filipinos excel at making sweets especially when it comes to coconuts (buko). There is buko delight, which is coconut, coconut milk, milk, and sugar frozen in a little bag creating something like a popsicle. Then there are the coconut treats at the end of my road. From what I can tell those are a combination of coconut, flour, and milk baked over coconut shells. Coconut paddies, which are some type of combination of coconut oil, rice, and sugar, and coconut balls, coconut, butter, and sugar made into a ball, top the list as well. Mmmmm, sarap!
I also love how there are food stands every which way you look and most of them serve food on sticks so it feels like I am always at the State Fair. The pineapple on a stick is my favorite. There is one called the banana-que that completely fooled me. It is shaped like a banana, called a banana, but tastes like a potato. A potato on a stick would be good if it hadn’t been caramelized in sugar.
They also serve food and drinks in plastic bags. Almost all of the soda and beer is served in glass bottles. Since they get refunds for the bottles the owners will poor your drink in a bag if you leave. And I remember being a little nervous to eat “pig in a bag”, but am grateful I did. The roasted pig is absolutely delicious (even without a lot of spices).
What’s funny is walking down the streets and looking at meat hanging from hooks in the open air (and we are talking ALL the parts of the animal - the liver, intestines, bellies, and testicles), meat on sticks with fans blowing to keep the flies off, or the heads of pigs, I kept thinking to myself that if this didn’t make someone a vegetarian nothing would. I then met Sara, another volunteer. She told me how she used to be a vegetarian, but coming to the Philippines last year made her start eating meat again. Really? … Really?
Here are some extra bites…
- Balut is a delicacy here, which is a half formed duck embryo that is eaten with the beak, feathers, and all. As adventurous as I can be I am not so sure I am adventurous enough to try this.
- My host family eats hot dogs (which are the brightest red), crab, and fried fish for breakfast and thinks it is funny I like fruit for breakfast.
- Most people eat with their hands (which I actually enjoy myself except that I can’t figure out why I am the only one who spills rice), but if silverware is used it is only a spoon and the fork is used for shoveling the food onto the spoon. My host family thinks it is funny I use my fork so much.
- Plates are always upside down until you start eating and the silverware is wrapped in a napkin if you are at a restaurant. My best guess is for keeping the flies off (and regurgitating what they last ate).
- It is not uncommon for people to share plates and cups.
- Hamburgers are served with mayo, cucumber, and tomatoes and ketchup is made from bananas
- The bread is sweeter than in the US. So if you put sugar in it is it considered a donut?
- French toast was not served with any syrup. Would it be more accurate to call it egg bread?
- For some reason there is a lot of neon colored food. I am not sure what it is other than bad for you.
- I have gotten to try so many fruits and vegetables that I don’t eat in the US such as star apple (looks like an orange, but has a green peel and a slimy milky center that tastes much better than it sounds), papaya, mango (my favorite), jackfruit (which tastes like bubble gum), calamansi (almost like lemon and lime hybrid), lanzones (size and color of a small potato but has a sweet translucent center), ampalaya (a bitter gourd), camote (similar to a sweet potato), and monggo beans.
- Almost everything I eat is fresh from the market or backyard
Nobody ever has everything on the menu so you always have to have a back up plan. Even then, there are many days I will try to order three things before I finally ask them what is available and they look at ME funny for asking.
Although it took some time to discover the right recipes, I am really starting to enjoy the Filipino food as you’ll see on my hips when I get back.
Love from all extra 10 lbs and counting…The Food Market
And I wonder why the entire city knows me!
The Famous Siapao and Mango Shake
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