Facebook Suggestion Post #1

As the title reads, this and some future posts will be taken from comments put in by some of you guys from a question on facebook on April 4. 

This first one was suggested by Brittany Ramirez, she asks: "What's the food like?"

Who wants sweet and sour fish with teeth? Anybody? Anybody?

So Filipino food is equal parts lami (delicious) and dili lami (not delicious), depending on who you talk to. For us, being from a part of 'Merica where fish really isn't eaten a lot, moving to a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific and encountering fish basically every where we go can be rather hard. When you go to the meat market there are tables and tables of fish sitting out in the heat and humidity and well, they have that fishy smell. Huge tuna bodies and tiny squids are all sitting there, waiting to be purchased and taken home to fry up and eat. So its probably because of our aversion to fish (its gotten better, I promise) that Hollie decided to take the bold step and learn how to cook lapu-lapu as her first filipino dish. I wasn't at home for that adventure, as Sophia and I were in Dinagat trying to eat other fish and raw squid which neither of us really wanted to try. 

So seafood is really important here. Especially on some of the smaller islands, like Dinagat, or on the coastal areas where it is really more bountiful and super fresh. There is regular meat dishes here too. There is various cuts and dishes involving karneng baboy (pork), manok (chicken) and karneng baka (beef). But in my mind, there is really three types of filipino food: 1.Street food, 2.American-style food 3.Traditional food. 

1. Street food.

Hot-dogs (on a stick), barbecue (on a stick), fried banana (on a stick), roasted peanuts, various types of bubble tea drinks, small quail eggs, corn on the cob, breads, most of it is fried somehow, but almost all of it is lami! You will be walking down the street and passing little restaurants with smoke pouring out of the building because some lady is standing in front of a small grill fanning  bbq on a stick for some customers and man is it good. There is a guy with a small peanut cart where he roasts peanuts in different flavors and that's good too. There is tons more though, alot that we haven't had the chance to try...yet.

2.American-style food.

This is probably one of the most interesting aspects of filipino eating habits. Things like spaghetti, pizza, hot-dogs (on a stick, with marshmallow on top) and candy and soda, sausage, stuff like that is here. BUT filipinos don't regard stuff like that as a meal, but merely a snack. Why? Why is it that you could order a whole 36 inch pizza (read the menu Brian!) but that be only considered a snack? It all has to do with rice. Filipinos eat rice with every meal. Breakfast? Rice. Lunch? Rice. Dinner? Rice. So, no rice, no meal*. Even though you are eating a 36 inch pizza shared amongst friends, of course, if there is no rice, that my friend, is not a meal, but a snack, I've heard Filipinos say that they wouldn't be full without rice, plain and simple.

3. Traditional food. 

Want to know a super simple basic way to make a Filipino meal? Have some pork adobo and kan-on and you have a meal. That is what you will probably get in the villages here in the Philippines, and it is a good, filling meal. Yes, it is rather salty and the cuts of meat are pretty fatty, but that is what makes everything taste so goooooood. From my limited experience in the villages, there is mostly some type of meat that is roasted, fried or marinated in soy sauce and cooked along with fish that is either dried or fried and of course, rice.

There are, of course, delicious variations of all this all over the country, and I'm sure that I've misrepresented and somehow undervalued the rich culinary history of this country but what we've experienced is a culture that loves to eat as well as they can with good tasting food that is local and they love to eat with friends and family. Rarely have I seen or heard of people eating by themselves here, because it is a time to relax, enjoy some steaming hot rice and some good conversation.

So thank you Brittany for that suggestion! 

Give us a comment on facebook if you have any questions we could turn into a post. 

*Incidentally, there is a mnemonic device we used to memorize the Cebuano word for rice (cooked rice, there is I think at least three or four other words for rice, but I digress). Just like the Bible is our kanon, our rule of faith and life, there is a rule among Filipinos, that you have to have kan-on, that is cooked rice, with every meal.