As some of you may know, I just recently took a nice little vacay over to the Philippines to reward myself for working for an entire consecutive year in one company. Turns out I bought my plane ticket a little too early, I was offered the golden opportunity to end my contract three days early and jumped on the chance. Close enough though right?
So with three extra days of freedom on my hands I packed little more than a bikini and headed in the direction of white sands, electric blue waters, and super cheap rum. I didn't really have any expectations of the Philippines gourmand wise, which was a really, really good thing because once I got there, it became rapidly apparent as to why they are know for their beaches and hospitality - not their culinary arts.
Let's just get right to it. Most of the food you are going to eat in the Philippines is probably going to be sold from a street vendor and chances are, it'll be meat on a stick from the BBQ pit, or a mango/pinneapple/coconut in a bag. There was more than one occasion I felt a bit barbaric when I found myself munching on deliciously roasted small birds.
On the other hand, one can also feel so fresh and healthy drinking straight out of a coconut, or shoveling large portions of juicy mango in your tummy.
There weren't any restaurants touting fine Filipino cooking or gourmet Filipino experiences. Instead there
were rows of home cooked food in silver pots on counters, like being in someone's home for a large family dinner.
There hungry eyed ladies hauling hand woven baskets packed with individual bags of popped popcorn, peanuts, banana chips, and chicharones. All of which I ate quite more than I should have.
I'll also just be blunt about this: if you're a coffee fiend and you CANNOT survive anywhere without a good cup of joe, you should never, ever find yourself in Philippines ever. Other than the random bitter espresso shot I was able to acquire, I was sold a lot of instant coffee. As in, I'd order coffee, and they'd hand me a cup, with a packet of instant grains. You can find a variety of perforated instant coffee packets hanging next to perforated shampoo and conditioner packets hanging next to each other in the little trinket stalls that line the streets, along with all the roast chicken and mango stands.
Buying a drink in the Philippines was crazy expensive, which is why I would order one, but then sneak a pour from the bottle of Rum I just bought at the shampoo/instant coffee stand for 40 pesos (Not even one USD). And by crazy expensive, I mean the most expensive drink I bought was a deliciously cold and refreshing banana smoothie for 200 pesos ($4.5) ((I got a little intimidated by the high numbers admittedly))
There is also a huge abundance of corned meets. Mostly corned beef, but I spotted a few corned tunas in the grocery store as well. I tried fresh corned beef with my eggy breakfast one morning and it was oh so delicious. Then I bought and ate it straight out of can and I wanted to punch myself in the face out of shame afterwards. It's not worth it. Whatever that pink sludge in the can is, stick to the fresh stuff being cooked on a grill.
