I am reading about Filipino food written by an American for a magazine about travelling. Although the author was warned that Manila is best to just be a 'stop over' when touring Southeast Asia--meaning, that you don't want to stay long enough in the country. But whatever his goal was in stopping by means that the philippines holds an interest in the itinerary of the author which is mainly food.
Considering that our palate is a mixture of everything Asian and that most well known dishes have been taken by our counterparts, what is left of the filipino food's description would be 'gray, sweet and greasy.'
The author's first taste of our food dish is the Kare-kare which to him was dull and lumpen. Made of ox tripe in peanut sauce, he conjured it to be 'so sweet it stripped the enamel off my teeth'. No wonder we pinoys love to pair it with salty savory bago-ong to contrast the sweet taste. And in his three day visit, he had tasted another version, this time using real peanuts and not the kind with the peanut butter which was used in the former one.
Another dish he tasted was Sisig, which many claim as 'booze food'. This kind he says is better eaten than it sounds. Yet , in one area the sisig had a much crunchier feel than others.
And the very infamous, that we are so very well known for is the balut, which is cooked fertilized egg of the duck . The author describes the juice as having a hint of sun-baked garbage, but no more than ferment ted tofu. We often say that the saltiness of the juice in the egg is what gives it the tasty slurp. And a joke was even circulated that how else would it taste if one was to pee inside its own shell. This added to the grossness to which only the brave and the fearless would dare eat. And oh, by the way, my grandkids love balut and even here in America, they eat it. They are fearlessly and such cute little munchkins. Just check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h4KcxysR0Q&list=HL1319760218&feature=mh_lolz
During the author's second day visit which brought him to some town in the northern part of manila, his filipino host explained why it is better to try the specialties that were popularized by the locals. Moreover, it is not only the food but the tropical ambience it creates when eating such 'authentic' meals. Thus he concluded that "...upscale filipino restaurants have never worked because Filipinos will say they're not authentic, and that they are geared for foreigners. Filipino dishes taste much better when cooked at home, so why bother going to those restaurants.
Another interesting find was the sinigang, which started off as a dish for pregnant women and evolved by the 1960s into the dish we know today.
And of course, no tourist should leave without having the taste of 'lechon' which celebrity food traveler Anthony Bourdain judged as the 'best pig' ever. Not to forget that it is the CEBU lechon we're talking about.
There is much to see in the PHilippines, and more so much to taste with many islands having their own signature dishes which need to be discovered and tapped. Authenticity is in the perspective of the story teller just as lutong bahay is in the perspective of the one eating. I cannot say that our meals at home were much better than my other Filipino counterparts. Taste is relative as always, and our palates differ in many ways.
But whatever ones preferences are, food is food is food. Observations are the best gauge of how one can improve the general perceptions and misconceptions of a foreigner. And recently, our food isn't in any way considered anywhere near in the list of Healthy South Beach Diet. It probably could pass for the top ten ways to die young. And if so, isn't it about time we start doing something about this....now that is another topic to write about...hmmmm...
so true..so true...
