In the Philippines chopsticks are not used often. The spoon and the fork are used to eat meals. The spoon is large and flattened, which allows it to be used as a knife. I've eaten rice every day and at almost every single meal. Once I'm finished and I wish to express how divine the food was, I say "masarap," which means "very delicious."
The local equivalent of a McDonald's is the Jollibee's, which serves burgers as well as fast-food versions of some local dishes. My relatives insisted that I try some Jollibee's food, so I had longanisa (a breakfast meat I've had many times before) for breakfast:
The local equivalent of a McDonald's is the Jollibee's, which serves burgers as well as fast-food versions of some local dishes. My relatives insisted that I try some Jollibee's food, so I had longanisa (a breakfast meat I've had many times before) for breakfast:
Some of the weirdest food I have encountered are the fruits. I got to try lanzones:
A few mornings later I found a bowl of spiky reddish-pinkish fruit on the living room table:
This fruit is called rambutan. To open it you squeeze the fruit until it breaks open, and then you peel it apart. Like the lazones, the fruit is clear, but the sap is not as sticky. Unlike the lanzones, this fruit is similar to stone fruits, as there is one big seed in the middle.
Many of the native fruits include mangos (mango trees are everywhere), coconuts, different varieties of bananas, and langkas (also called "jack fruit"). I've seen lancas before in Filipino/Asian supermarkets back in the States, but I had no idea what they looked like on the tree. Indeed, when I saw them in the States I didn't give them much thought, other than, "wow, that's a huge fruit." Then, when I started seeing them everywhere here, I realized that shoot, they are fruits and grow on trees. But what kind of a tree would support this monster? A walk around the neighborhood revealed the secrets of the langka tree:
The flesh of the langka fruit is quite delicious, as I had some while eating Halo-Halo, a Filipino desert.
While there are so many delicious things to enjoy, eventually you will eat something that you either didn't eat right or you just don't like. The stranger things are food like paa ng manok at isaw ng baboy (chicken feet and pig intestines, cooked on the BBQ and enjoyed on a stick). The majority of food is good, but sometimes you make a mistake when trying new foods. When we went to Quezon Province, where I tried bagoong (the brownish stuff next to the rice in the top picture), which was quite the disaster.
Asian salads are nothing like the salads Americans know. There are a lot of veggies, and bagoong is tiny shrimp fermented in salt that is supposed to be eaten in small quantities on top of some veggies, and I put an entire spoonful into my mouth. Not one of my smartest ideas, but I didn't know it wasn't a side dish, and that shoving a whole spoonful in your mouth is like eating a spoonful of ranch dressing or wasabi.
Most of the time life lessons come this way: you don't know the rules until you do something wrong. Same goes with food: you gotta break the rules to learn the rules.
A few mornings later I found a bowl of spiky reddish-pinkish fruit on the living room table:
 |
| They look like one of those cheap plastic toys that kids throw at each other. |
Many of the native fruits include mangos (mango trees are everywhere), coconuts, different varieties of bananas, and langkas (also called "jack fruit"). I've seen lancas before in Filipino/Asian supermarkets back in the States, but I had no idea what they looked like on the tree. Indeed, when I saw them in the States I didn't give them much thought, other than, "wow, that's a huge fruit." Then, when I started seeing them everywhere here, I realized that shoot, they are fruits and grow on trees. But what kind of a tree would support this monster? A walk around the neighborhood revealed the secrets of the langka tree:
 |
| If this fruit falls onto your head you will die. |
The flesh of the langka fruit is quite delicious, as I had some while eating Halo-Halo, a Filipino desert.
While there are so many delicious things to enjoy, eventually you will eat something that you either didn't eat right or you just don't like. The stranger things are food like paa ng manok at isaw ng baboy (chicken feet and pig intestines, cooked on the BBQ and enjoyed on a stick). The majority of food is good, but sometimes you make a mistake when trying new foods. When we went to Quezon Province, where I tried bagoong (the brownish stuff next to the rice in the top picture), which was quite the disaster.
Asian salads are nothing like the salads Americans know. There are a lot of veggies, and bagoong is tiny shrimp fermented in salt that is supposed to be eaten in small quantities on top of some veggies, and I put an entire spoonful into my mouth. Not one of my smartest ideas, but I didn't know it wasn't a side dish, and that shoving a whole spoonful in your mouth is like eating a spoonful of ranch dressing or wasabi.
Most of the time life lessons come this way: you don't know the rules until you do something wrong. Same goes with food: you gotta break the rules to learn the rules.
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