Few thoughts on Filipino food and a few moments spent in the carinderia

While working at the Carcar kiosk, my lunches are usually taken with the staff at carinderias. Side-shops equipped with plastic tables and chairs, all of the food is already cooked and prepared, sitting and waiting in covered pots, or on plates in a glass display case. The women behind the counter most often has a wooden stick with several strands of loose plastic straw tied to the end, which she waves around to swap the flies away. Customers come in and proceed to either lift every lid of every pot to peer inside, or peer through the glass case, to see what’s on the menu for the day. Orders are taken by pointing. If you or someone else grabs the last plate of fried egg, I am afraid you are fresh out of luck. Since the food is already cooked, the food is obviously lukewarm, but enjoyed with a plate of rice in this heat, sustanance, no matter what temperature, is what really counts. Since it has proven quite difficult for me to eat anything present at most Filipino meals, I have abandoned my pure vegetarianism -- although, according to Bengalis, I was never "strict" vegetarian due to the fact that I still chose to eat eggs. Here, I am resorted to eating all of the fresh and delicious fish and seafoods to be had.

Bangus (or, milkfish) is the national specialty – locally, found in abundance in Pangasinan – and usually comes whole, split open, so the fish is lying flat, fried and/or sizzling on a hot plate. It is particularly tasty, and besides shrimps and prawns, it has been my favorite fish dish I’ve had here.

Besides fish, I have often enjoyed pinkabet, a mixture of pumpkin, squash, okra, green beans, onions, and a small helping of tiny, fluorescent pink shrimps, almost too small to discern. The spices seem a mixture of oil and the juices from the vegetables cooking, with garlic and perhaps other spices. Lyndon and I will perhaps attempt to cook it at home this week.

Usually, ordering chopsuey and/or “mixed vegetables” although healthy has remained pretty bland for my tastes after living in the land of kimchi and the house of curries and channa masala. And too often, mixed vegetables implies mixed with meat and seafoods, of course! But, I am not picky and when treated to a meal or invited to a home, I will make do and fill my plate so as not to be rude.

Other healthier varieties are two different kinds of seaweeds – lato and guso. Guso is bright green and rubbery, as they use to make the rubber soles for sandals and shoes. Mixed with lots of vinegar, chopped green and red onions, ginger, and chilies, it is tough to chew. Lato is a darker green and looks much like a tree with mini mistletoe berries. It is sweet, probably also due to a dousing of vinegar, but is less chewy than guso and thinner and more stringy, although still looking like something you would find in your backyard.

Another personal favorite is sinagong, a clear-broth soup usually with either fish or prawns, some green beans and tomatoes, but tastes much like a Filipino-version of Thai tom yum with a strong flavor of lemongrass and ginger.

Despite my perhaps horrid descriptions of Filipino food, I have really enjoyed everything that I have tried. Since moving down to Cebu, I’ve had a chance more often than not to eat home-cooked Filipino meals and more authentic foods, than my choices in Manila – when, now that I think about it, I rarely ate Filipino food, and instead indulging in the variety of kinds foods available (Mexican, Middle Eastern, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Italian). I'll soon grow tired of rice, but the endless new dishes that I try will cease to amaze and surprise me.

And still, the carinderia, although not my favorite place is my regular spot for lunch. Invested with flys, a meal can't be quite fully enjoyed for moments of dropping my fork and spoon to swat away the meancing flys from landing on my food. It's a constant effort and you must not let your guard down. But, the carinderia I frequent does so far have the best halo halo (more on that later), which I watch with wide eyes as they crank the ice from an antique steel contraption.
Ahhh, this is how and where I eat.