Only in Pinas

If you’re a foreigner living in or have lived at one point in the Philippines, I’m pretty sure that if you were made to write something about this country, the easiest subject would be on the oddities and idiosyncrasies of the Pinoys (or Flips, as my kano friend Chris would say).

I remember Anthony Bourdain, whose show “No Reservations” on Travel and Living channel I make a point to watch during the rare times I get to hold the remote control at home (the remote control is the only electronic gadget that my Mom knows how to use and constantly lords over it).

Now, I don’t know if the brave-will-eat-everything Mr. Bourdain has filmed in the Philippines yet, but if he hasn’t, then I highly suggest that he pen in this country in his list of exotic places to go to. We have so much to offer that foreigners would find bizarre, weird and wonderful, especially when it comes to food and this is right up in Mr. Bourdain’s alley.

Sometime last week, a day before The Eagle was to fly in, I was with the group composed of The Eagle’s advance party who was doing the rounds of the areas that The Eagle will visit and making sure these sites are “friendly” and ticking off the sites that weren’t. It was already way past 12:00 noon when we wrapped up and headed to a local, newly-opened restaurant. Tired, hot and extremely hungry, I devoured the delicious and spicy sisig. Try as I might, I have forgotten the other dishes served up that day, and I’m sure they were all yummy but the sisig was the only one that made quite an impression on my stomach. (It made such an impression that I was feeling its after-effects that night and the day after. I so love spicy food, which I eat a lot of despite my IBS).

So, sated and with a happy stomach, I waited for the dessert which was locally made ice cream placed inside small, white, plastic cups. As it turns out, the ice cream came with two surprises as well for me: first that it was made by a local hardware store and secondly, it was really delicious. It came in three flavors I think- mango, cheese and mocha. It had the flavor of fresh fruits in it and it wasn’t too sweet like its more popular commercial counterparts. While I was eating it though, I was fervently hoping that their secret ingredients have nothing at all to do with nails or copper wire.

Now, I know that an ice cream made by a hardware store is not bizarre enough to be seen as a “weird and wonderful” Pinoy eccentricity as compared to our balut, barbecued chicken and pig entrails, or fried pig skin or our penchant for eating fish in its entirety – from head to tail. But I was just reminded of this while I was eating that ice cream. We Pinoys love to eat, and we eat almost everything that other people in other countries shun from.

For example, I love to eat fish eyes. Yes, I really do. It’s scrumptious. Especially when the fish is cooked in vegetable stew. Pig’s brains? Yummy. But I stopped eating it a long time ago because it is said to be high in cholesterol. What about fried ice cream? It’s not as yummy as just ice cream, but it’s a taste that needs getting used to. In fact, The Eagle, while touring the local cultural booths in her visit here, was given a treat of it and I saw her nodding and smiling as she spooned in a healthy slice.

Now, not all Pinoy food eccentricities fall under the “weird and wonderful” category. There’s one Pinoy fare that I am guilty of eating, something that I shouldn’t have eaten but at that time when I ate it, it was considered normal.

I once ate a dog.

Yes, I am guilty of this crime and I’m not exactly proud of it. But I was about 6 years old and at that time, the Animal Welfare Act or kindness to animals was totally unheard of. My uncles would catch stray dogs wandering in the barrio (village) in my Mom’s hometown and they would either roast them or make menudo out of them. I remember it tasted like chicken, only that it was leathery.

I also remember that when the dish was served, my Dad – who absolutely will never eat any four-legged animal except pig – wasn’t told by my Mom’s mischievous relatives that the menudo was made from dog meat. He thought it was pork as he feasted on it, blissfully unaware. It was only a day after when he was told about the whole thing and until now, he doesn’t feel too happy about it.

Let me clarify, for the record, that I am a huge dog lover. I would never commit the same crime again now, that’s for sure. It was one of those Pinoy food oddities that was certainly weird but totally not wonderful.