American in Davao: Foods

Showing posts with label Foods. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Carenderia

Here in Davao and I would assume all over the Philippines along most commercial streets there are many little businesses. They might be in the front of a house, in front of a business or even a curbside stall.

They will sell almost anything, flowers, snacks, fried bananas, coconut and mango juice, cell phone covers and more than I can think of at the moment.

One that I have frequented when my car was in the shop for repair is the Carendaria. A Carendaria is a little restaurant with a few tables and plastic stools. At the front they serve inexpensive foods for the local pedestrians.

Most I have seen has a table with many covered pots of foods. You walk up, and lift covers until you find something you would like for your meal.

Once you tell them what you want, they fill a small plate or saucer with your order. You then get a plate of rice and a bowl of broth.

The place we most often go to has their foods in long chafing pans behind a glass window. There vegetable dishes, pork, chicken, fish and beef items, with beans, carrots, squash or maybe okra. There are some places that have goat and other items.

There is a container of drinking water and glasses to help yourself. There is usually a refrigerator with sodas and even beer for sale.

A vegetable order is about 10 pesos (26 cents US), plate of rice 6 pesos (13 cents US, meat dish 20 pesos (45 cents US). A small bottle of soda is 13 pesos (29 cents US). and a large bottle is 25 pesos (56 cents US).

So usually it costs me 39 pesos (88 cents US) for lunch and I am usually comfortably full.

To save money some Filipinos bring their own container of rice but either way it is a cost effective way to have a meal and there are usually many such places to eat on most streets.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Food Shopping Observations

There are so many things the same as in the USA and so many that are so different.

Produce is different. In the states you can go into the market and find many varieties of vegetables and fruits. One of the items I miss is large ripe red tomatoes, even if they were picked green and some procedure ripened them. Eggplant is the Asian type which is small and thin, not like the main variety in the states that is huge and can feed a family. There are items I had not seen before such as long beans. These are like string beans but are about 1 foot long. Potatoes are small and I have never seen any young red potatoes.

Here the tomatoes are small, a little larger than an egg and most are still green or just turning red. Lettuce and cabbage are much smaller too.

Rice. In the states I thought there were just one or two types of white rice. Here there are so many and each type has different grades. Some differences are where they are grown. Before moving here I just thought rice was rice. Yes there is brown rice and wild rice, but with wild rice the wild part is a grain, not rice.

Someone told me the quality items are exported and we get the ones that cannot get shipped out. I think it might be with the large population the growers do not let them reach maturity so they can get them to the stores.

There is something else I miss but am better off without. That is frozen convenience foods. Back in the states if I was too tired to cook or go out to eat, I could open the freezer, grab a frozen meal and pop it into the microwave.

Here we buy vegetables, meats, fruits fresh. With the frozen meals, a lot are loaded with salt and fats. Even the ones that say they are “healthy”

One of my problems is there is so much MSG used in package foods here. And then some people add more when they are cooking.

All our meals are made with fresh items and I have been showing Elena how to cook with home made sauces and not the items loaded with MSG.

What ever the reasons, this is one of my observations.

As with anyone who has moved to a new country in a different part of the world, you just need to get used to what is available and try to forget what is not available.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

A trip to Agdao Public Market

Here in Davao as well as in most Philippine Cities I would guess there are multiple choices to do marketing.

From smallest to largest are first Sari-Sari stores. These are neighborhood stores built on the property of a residence. On some streets there are so many, you think every house has one. There are also some alone the main roads. These stores sell toiletries, dry goods and some food items such as eggs, bread, and small packages of things like sugar. They also sell cigarettes loose. The prices are a few centavos or pesos over store prices since they buy most goods at the big markets and sell them from home.

Next are Connivance stores. These are small markets that sell most items.
There are also many fruit stands alone the main roads

I will now jump to the largest which are the markets. These are like the Super Markets in the States. These are located in the malls and owned by the mall as is the department stores.

Now to the main part of my story.

There is Public Markets called Palingke or also known as Wet Markets. They are individual stores under a roof. In there you can buy most items including cooked foods and some dry items as soaps, detergents and even flip-flops but most of the market is made up of stalls selling produce, meats, poultry and fish.

With fish, you pick your fish or in the larger fish as tuna, you pick a piece, it is weighed and then cleaned, de-scaled and even fillet. The vendor we use is amazing. Anyone who has had Bangus, also known as milkfish knows there are so many bones, some as thin as hairs. Well he can fillet a bangus so well you cannot find a single bone.

At the stalls for pork or beef, you point out the piece of meat you like, tell them the cut and weigh the amount you want and then cut it up it for you.

The chicken stall has whole chickens, breast halves, legs, thighs and even chicken heads and feet.

From going there for our weekly shopping each week, I receive a smile and sometimes a hand shake from the stall workers/owners. Most everyone is nice, smile and say hello.

When vendors saw I had a camera, they all smiled and posed for the photo.

I actually enjoy going to the Palingke more than the market in the mall and look forward to that day each week.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Curative Properties of the Philippines

In 1997 I had moved from Southern California to Florida. I had never had any skin problems, acne or any form of dermatitis.

After moving to Florida I developed different problems. A kind of acne on the scalp and upper neck, dry itchy rash behind the ears and rashes on neck and chest and dry itchy rash on the knees.

I had visited 5 Dermatologists and 3 allergists and they said it was unspecified dermititous and there was nothing to do except use creams to relieve the itching.

Well, I have been in Davao, Philippines for 3 weeks and guess what, all the problems are gone.
With less Aircon (A/C) and all the sweating from the heat and humidity with just fans to cool yourself at home, I thought I would have had more troubles.

Another change is my weight. Before I moved, my weight rose to about 236 pounds. Since I have been here, eating fresh foods and with the walking and sweating, I have lowered my weight to around 225.

There is no frozen prepared meals. Here we get fresh vegetables, fish and meats. Yes for all you know about me, I am eating fish. Also I eat rice at all meals. I have also learned to eat until I am no longer hungry, not like in America where I ate frozen meals and then snakes to eat until full.
So, for me and my health I have found that I am healthier living here.

So far I have not had any cravings for foods I cannot get here. That will probably happen at times, but I will get over that.

When I moved to California in 1979 I missed a lot of foods and ways they were prepared in New York style. Such things as hot pastrami sandwiches, New York style Pizza and other things I cannot think of at the moment.

When I moved to Florida I missed good Mexican foods, burritos fresh tortillas and more.
So, no matter if you move to a different region, a different state, or a country almost ½ way around the world there will be things you miss and new things to try and enjoy.

I have found some foods I have never had before. One is I love is when Elena makes me Mango Shakes. Most places just uses mango and ice. Elena adds some condensed milk. Ummmm so creamy and delicious.

Then there is the “Elena’s Mango Float”. Mango Float is to many the national dessert. You see it at most buffet restaurants but I have not tasted one as rich and creamy as Elena’s. She tells me there is a secret ingredient she uses, but will not even tell me. I guess she thinks I will tell online and hers will not be special anymore. Even the girls friends at school will ask Elena to make it for them.

Even fast food chains are different. At KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) gives you in there meal deal a cup of Cream of Mushroom Soup. It is one of the best mushroom soups I have tasted.

Come back for more interesting stories of the Philippines.

American in Davao