I mentioned last time that I'd like to expand on some of the nuances of life here in the Philippines. So what better way to begin than by examining one of staples of Filipino culture: food.
Always around. Always plentiful. Sometimes expensive (fruits and vegetables depending on the season). Sometimes extremely cheap (breads and local snacks). 5 meals a day. That's right...5. Breakfast, morning merienda (snack), lunch, afternoon merienda, and dinner. And always on time...when home cooked. "Filipino time" usually causes activities and events to be pushed back. If a meeting is set to start at 8 AM, it likely won't begin til 9 or 10 when participants show up. This is NOT the case with eating. If it's noon it's lunchtime. 7 PM usually marks dinnertime at my house. I have tried toying with these (i.e. working til 1 PM before heading home for lunch), but that usually results in colder food since it probably has been sitting on the table waiting for me.
Bicol is known for its spicy food. Most dishes have "sili" chili peppers with them. Mmmmm masarap ("delicious" in tagalog; trademark phrase from PCV Russ). I've found, at least with home cooking, that there are really only 6-8 traditional dishes, all with interchangeable parts. Change in vegetables. Fish vs. pork vs. chicken. Different sauces. Fried vs. boiled vs. sauteed. This varies throughout the Philippines though and I'm sure some volunteers would disagree with me.
Another culinary term that I'll elaborate more on in a future post is palutan. These are snacks served while consuming alcohol. It could be anything from a bag of chips to sisig (see below) to a whole fried fish. Many restaurants or bars will even serve complimentary palutan when a bucket of beer is purchased.
Rice, or kanin, is served with every meal. And often meals cannot be eaten without rice being present. I've cut down on my rice intake (hence why my waistline has shrunk), but still find it necessary to have a small amount with every meal. Weird but I can't really eat ulam (the main dish besides the rice) without it.
Now for some specifics...
Other staple foods: fish, pork, chicken, beef (rarity), squash, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, mung beans, okra, carrots, mangos, bananas, pineapples, apples, papayas, and coconuts.
Native Philippine items: kamote (similar to a sweet potato), petchay (chinese cabbage), kangkong (water spinach), sili (hot chili peppers), ampalaya (bitter gourd), rambutan (sweet, "spiky" fruit), langka (jackfruit), durian (extremely smelly!), balimbing (star fruit), guyabano (soursops), kalamansi (philippine lime; MUCH better than regular limes and can be put with virtually anything; also goes very well with tequila), dalandan (green orange), bayabas (guava), lansones, and yellow watermelon.
And finally, some local delicacies that I have had the "privilege" of trying (I have made it a goal to try everything at least once here):
- balut = fertilized duck embryo eating in the egg shell (I recommend eating this with the lights off)
- dinuguan = pig intestines, lungs, kidneys, etc. in a sauce of pig blood, chili, and vinegar (very grainy texture; consume after slightly inebriated)
- sisig = parts of pig face mixed with chili, kalamansi, and sometimes egg (often a palutan; one of my favorites!)
- calabao = water buffalo (extremely fatty)
- bicol express = very spicy stew made with some type of meat (usually pork), lots of sili, and coconut milk
- lechon = roasted suckling pig
Still haven't had dog and don't plan to unless I'm tricked into it or it's placed in front on me...
I'm planning on experimenting more with these ingredients when I move to my new apartment next month. If you're interested, see if you can find any of these items in your local supermarket's (Wegmans) international section.
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