Yummies

What's the food like in the Philippines? I had no idea before getting here, since there aren't that many Philippino restaurants out there - none that I have found anyway. Well, as I told a friend recently, it seems like an unusual blend between Chinese, Vietnamese and... Mexican! For example, the other day for breakfast I had a steamed bun, stuffed with what looked and tasted just like pork carnitas, the kind you fill a burrito with. The Spanish colonists have left a great impression on the cuisine, but it still remains truly anchored in Asia. Rice dominates, it is present at every meal, and has many variations.

The main meat is chichen - "manok" in the local Visayan language - and "lechon manok", a chicken roasted on the spit with a soy/lime/lemon grass/whatever else glaze is just delectable. My very favorite though is fish "kinilaw", which, similar to the Latin American "ceviche", marinates raw fish in the juice of limes, vinegar and other flavorings. Just the acid from the marinade is enough to cook the outside of the fish, and the flavor is fresh and very aromatic. Add some pork rind for some crunch, and enjoy!

The only thing I have a bit of trouble with in the Philippines is with meat other than chicken. Here when they say pork or beef, it might be any meat from that animal. It could be fillet mignon or ham, but it could also just as well be tripe, liver, heart, cartilage, fat, etc. And from my experience, it is almost always all of the "other" meats, not "meat" as I understand it. So, when I end up ordering pork or beef and I receive a mystery meat surprise, I usually just eat the vegetable around the carcass bits. The sauces are great, the vegetable are delectable, but often the animal parts stay on the plate. As my friend Fred Bruemmer would probably say (he used to live with the Inuit in Northern Canada for up to 6 months of the year for about 30 years): "Well, you probably were not hungry enough then." True... I can't complain about being hungry here. I am extremely well fed, and I enjoy discovering new Philippino dishes at every meal. Huh... I think I have even gained weight...

Rice steamed in a coconut leaf pocket.

Fish Kinilaw, with hot peppers. The Philippino also have many clear broth soups (as seen in this picture) with large pieces of fish or meat, and vegetable.

A rice desert... The rice is boiled with sugar and some spices, wrapped in a banana leaf to cool and preserve, then served with a chocolate sauce and brown sugar... oops, I bit off the end before taking a picture.

We eat a lot of our meals in restaurants like this, with no walls, and a lot of pots boiling on top of a clay stand, under which burns a wood fire. It's always very convivial, interactive, and you can choose what you want by looking into the pots.

Gaston