I can appreciate good food. I probably eat more than I should. I watch the Food Network often. I think that I can whip up a decent meal in the kitchen using just what's there, without following a set recipe. I can actually make a white sauce.
The Philippines has a food tradition that will never be considered gourmet. According to one book I read, vinegar (usually made from coconut) is a staple food. In fact, there are basically three categories of food: meat/seafood; rice and things made from rice; and fruit and things made from fruit. I can't think of anything that doesn't fall under those categories. (Well, the preferred local bread, known as pan de sal, and other bread products perhaps). The Philippines are basically a nation of comfort food. Meat and potatoes, except they eat rice instead of potatoes.
When I go to the Philippines, I tend to load up on the seafood and fresh fruits because they are less available and/or more expensive in the United States. For example, crab or shrimp will cost less than a dollar per kilo out in the provinces and perhaps twice that in Manila. Likewise, I could buy a kilo of mangos for less than a single, smaller, lower quality mango costs in the U.S.
People eat crabs differently in the Philippines. Americans prefer Alaskan crabs, and just the legs. I don't know what happens to the bodies of the crabs. I guess that goes in the crab sticks that aren't made of imitation crab. Filipinos eat blue crabs. They have tiny legs with barely any meat. Instead, Filipinos open the body and eat the meat that is there. I used to have a problem eating that way, but now I know how to crack open the shell, remove the lungs, spoon the fatty green gunk onto my rice, and eat the meat.
Similarly, Americans prefer shrimp that is beheaded, peeled, and deveined. Ask a Filipino and he will probably say the head is the best part of a shrimp. After learning how, I find it easy to pull of the head and suck out the insides before peeling the body and eating the rest of the shrimp.
Did I mention that Filipinos often eat with their hands? Even rice. I sometimes get in the act, although I usually use my utensils. One of the few Filipino food habits I don't practice is using the fork to push food onto the spoon, which is then used to deliver food to the mouth. I still eat my rice with a fork. I picked up that habit because I hate washing dishes, and if I don't use a spoon, I don't have to wash it. I'm a lazy bastard.
Still, there are some Filipino foods I don't eat. For one, I don't eat fish. Crab, yes. Shrimp, yes. Pretty much any shellfish, yes. But fish, no. The only fish I eat is eel in sushi form.
The Filipino food that bothers a lot of people is balut. It is a duck egg. What's wrong with a duck egg, you may ask? Well, there's a duck embryo in side, pretty much full formed. You can tell it's a bird. I've never eaten it, though. Not necessarily because the idea of eating an embryo makes me sick, but because I just don't eat eggs.
(2:10 PM)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home