eating in the streets

I've been warned time and again against eating street food. I'm not talking about those Sabrett hotdogs being sold on the sidewalks, rather, I'm referring to the somehow exotic street food found in the streets of Philippine cities. People say they're dirty, or they're unhealthy for numerous reasons, or that nobody knows where the ingredients came from, whatever, bottom line, street food is allegedly not good for you. But yes, I do love eating street food.

My favorite is the famous (or is it infamous?) balut. It's a duck egg, with a half-formed embryo, ideally between 16 and 18 days old. You tap the wide end to make a crack, then slowly form a small hole. When the hole is wide enough, you can sprinke some sea salt or a few drops of spicy vinegar into the hole and sip the tasty liquid (can it be called broth?) found inside. When you've drunk the broth (?) inside, crack the egg open and start eating the contents. Again, sprinkle some salt, this time on the yellow yolk, and start eating. Do the same with the duck embryo. The squeamish can close their eyes if they wish, this being very forgivable especially for first timers. Personally, i don't like eating the white stuff, i don't know what it's called, but it's very hard and doesn't taste at all like anything, so not eating it isn't really that big a deal. I recently saw an episode of Fear Factor, they actually gave some firemen a thousand US dollars each for eating balut. Imagine that.

Besides balut, i also love barbecued chicken skin, chicken intestines, what Pinoys call isaw, and pork intestines, called tiripilya by people in my hometown of Teresa, Rizal.

There's also this thing called tempura that I like. No, it's not the Japanese kind, the tempura I'm talking about look like white sausages skewered on a bamboo stick. Actually, they're like elongated fishballs, I think they're made from the same stuff. Or maybe it's just the sauce I like? Each vendor has his or her own version of the sauce, maybe that's the thing. The sauces almost invariably taste good, whatever vendor I buy from. The funny thing is, these things are available at the supermarket, although they don't really taste as good when i cook it at home. Maybe it's the sauce, maybe the ambience, what do you think?

And kwek-kwek! These are quail eggs covered in orange batter and deep fried. They taste like, I don't know, quail eggs wrapped in batter? Again, maybe it's the sauce that makes it really good. Now that I'm living in Cebu, I don't really get to eat kwek-kwek anymore. I don't know why, but I can't seem to find anyone who sells these things.

...with everything on it...

Most people say the sandwich was invented in the middle of a card game. The Earl of Sandwich, stomach already growling but not wanting to leave the card table, ordered someone, perhaps his valet, or maybe his chef, to “put a slice of roast beef in between two loaves of bread.” Thus the sandwich as we know it was born.

Other people believe that the Israelites came up with the first sandwich when they put slices of lamb in between two pieces of matzo bread. Whatever school of thought one belongs to, one can be certain about one thing: sandwiches can be considered one of the best foods in the world.

Some people argue that a sandwich is a sandwich is a sandwich, that there’s no difference between a ham sandwich made at home by your wife or your mom and a ham sandwich from the local deli. Other people, however, do not subscribe to this notion. With the countless kinds of sandwiches one can find, a food enthusiast can spend the rest of his life just feasting on sandwiches.

Another argument arises from the structure and components of a sandwich. Most purists believe that sandwiches should have at least two pieces of bread with some sort of filling in between. Other people feel that pastries with fillings are also sandwiches; this includes bread and dough products like siopao and meat rolls. Still others insist that open-face sandwiches are not sandwiches at all, but are just a simplified form of pizza. Following this line of reasoning, proponents argue that a pizza is actually a form of sandwich.

It’s gotten to the point that the definition of sandwich has actually reached the courts, with a United States judge ruling that “a sandwich must have two slices of bread and not one tortilla,” stemming from a lawsuit that a sandwich restaurant filed against a shopping mall for allowing a Mexican restaurant to operate inside it’s premises. The main issue? The sandwich restaurant claimed that the burrito is actually a sandwich; therefore, the Mexican restaurant should not be able to operate inside the mall, as it serves the same kind of food that they do.

Taking all these arguments aside, it is a fact that most people do enjoy sandwiches. From the simple pan de sal with a slice of homemade goat cheese in between, or the most complicated submarine, Clubhouse or Monte Cristo sandwich you can find, there’s probably not one person in the world that can say something bad about sandwiches. Even comicbook and literary characters have been found to love sandwiches. Wimpy, Popeye’s friend, has an unnatural affinity for the hamburger sandwich. Author Lawrence Sanders’ Captain Edward X. Delaney, the main character in the Deadly Sin series, is not only a food lover but an affirmed sandwich addict, going so far to classify sandwiches into two kinds: the wet sandwich, with greasy fillings, to be eaten leaning over the sink, and the dry sandwich, with a dry filling, eaten at the table, with a newspaper to catch the crumbs.

Open-faced, single-decked, double-decked or even triple-decked, many people love sandwiches for different reasons. Some people love it for its ease in preparation. Other people, especially those under time constraints, prefer eating sandwiches because it’s so easy to eat, and one can usually finish a sandwich in ten minutes or less. Others choose sandwiches because it’s practically a full meal on its own: meat or fish, veggies and bread. Its relative inexpensiveness also makes it attractive to most people. The popularity of hamburger restaurants also attests to the love people have for sandwiches, and you can probably find at least one restaurant that serves some sort of sandwich, wherever you go. Some cities even have restaurants with menus devoted mostly to sandwiches.

Whatever its origins, whatever its ingredients, whatever its structure and components, is all but academic. For as long as there is a slice of bread, or two, three even, for as long as there is a baguette, a hotdog bun, or, purists notwithstanding, a tortilla, and there is something you can use for a filling, be it cured meats, poultry, fish, butter, cheese or most anything with flavor, it is a foregone conclusion that sandwiches will remain a perennial favorite, that sandwiches are here to stay. And yes, both my wife and my mom make spectacular sandwiches.

of beef jerky, garlic fried rice and a sunny side up egg...

The 1950’s was an era that saw the emergence of many things American: huge, fin-tailed automobiles, the soda fountain, drive-in movies, the jukebox, rock and roll, prairie skirts, bobbie socks and leather jackets. It was also a time when, in the Philippines, reconstruction was going on. Filipinos, hand-in-hand with their American cousins, worked towards the rebuilding of bombed-out Manila.

Unknown to many, the 1950’s also saw the introduction of one of the most popular meals in the country today. Bringing with them their taste for beef jerky, Americans began sharing this food with the Filipinos. Then it was somehow discovered that the salty, jerked beef went very well with the local version of garlic fried rice, called sinangag. Add to the mix both the Filipinos’ and Americans’ liking for the fried egg and an honest-to-goodness satisfying meal was invented. Whether it was the Americans who actually discovered this combination, or the enterprising Filipino carenderia owners who did, still remains to be determined, although some people agree that a small eatery in Paranaque was one of the first establishments to serve this dish.

What is definite, however, is that the tapsilog, as this meal came to be called, grew to be so popular that quite a number of eateries quickly came up with their own versions of it. In fact, it grew so much in popularity that a lot of people mistakenly believed that it was purely a Filipino creation, completely disregarding the Americans’ contribution of the beef jerky so important to the concept. Manila in the early 1980’s experienced a tapsilog explosion, with restaurants popping up here and there; variations of the meal were then discovered, such as the tosilog, with tocino replacing the tapa, and longsilog, with longganisa. Cebu soon followed in the early nineties, with a handful of tapsilog outlets mushrooming around the city.

What's also interesting to note is the use of the word tapa. Obviously this was taken from the Spanish "tapas", or appetizer, although common usage in the Philippines led it to mean a seasoned beef dish. Another thing, there are so many recipes for beef tapa that no one can can really claim that they use the original recipe in making it: at best, it's always made "the way lola made it."

calling a spade a spade

It’s around 9:00 pm, Election Day, May 14, 2007 and my wife and I are at a “Cuban-inspired” restaurant near (or is it part of?) the Ayala Entertainment Center. Perusing the menu, I came across entries described as “Spanish this”, “Valenciana that”, and some other food that are not customarily associated with Cuba, such as hummus, chicharon and a “something-Orientale”, chicken, I think. I ask Charleen, my wife, “Hey, I thought this was a Cuban restaurant?” We look at each other in wonder, and start nitpicking, haha.

First off, the sisig: I didn’t know they had sisig in Cuba. And why exactly is a “something-Orientale” being served in a “Cuban” restaurant? Most glaring on their menu was PASTA and PIZZA. What the fuck? In a “Cuban” fucking restaurant? No matter that the restaurant is supposed to be owned by a group that runs some of the best restaurants in the Philippines, when I want pizza or pasta, I’d go to an Italian restaurant, definitely not a “Cuban” restaurant. At the very least, for pizza, I’d go to Shakey’s, Greenwich, Pizza Hut, Yellow Cab, Da Vinci’s, Domino’s or whatever pizza restaurant is nearest. Heck I’d eat those generic pizzas being sold on the streets if there’s no other alternative and I’m absolutely dying for a slice. For pasta, I’d probably just cook it at home, if I’m too lazy to go out, or if my budget is pretty tight. But pizza and pasta in a “Cuban” restaurant? Who gives a fuck that the ingredients supposedly come from Cuba, or the dish is “Cuban-inspired”? Pizza is pizza, pasta is pasta, and they’re both Italian in nature, as Italian as la dolce vita, as Italian as the red Ferrari 550 Maranello I always dream of but know I will never own.

Then I realized how much I dislike restaurants that label themselves as this or that, or follow a particular “theme”, such as this now-defunct restaurant near the Iglesia ni Cristo Church along Mango Avenue. It was named after someplace in Morocco, the same place where Pepe le Pew hangs out, anyways, they had, ta-da, porkchops! Yup. And sisig. No kidding. Sure, they had hash pipes, “shisha” they called it, but still, porkchops and sisig? Isn’t Morocco a Muslim country? That fact alone should have warned the owner to lay off on the pork dishes. Besides the pork dishes, they had tapsilog, gambas and a whole bunch of other food that ideally shouldn’t be served in a “Moroccan” restaurant. And I don’t think I ever saw couscous on the menu.

On the same note, a restaurant in Crossroads Arcade started out by serving “Spanish” food. A couple of weeks later, they began serving ‘diner’ food, maybe because they saw the diner a couple of doors down getting a lot of customers. And what about this coffee shop in Skyrise Building? For a short time, they started serving of all things, NACHOS. Nice combination, nachos and coffee. Wow. Obviously they were trying to steal some business from the Mexican place beside them, but come on, nachos and coffee? Gimme a break.

I mean, if you’re going to open a restaurant, do it right. If you’re going with a theme, stick to it. If you’re going with food that’s identified with one country, stick to it. Don’t freaking confuse the customer by including food from another country. If you’re going to serve a whole shitload of dishes from different countries, don’t bother labeling your restaurant as “Spanish” or “Moroccan” or “Cuban” or whatever. Like, what’s the point of calling your establishment a Japanese restaurant if you’re also going to serve pochero?

are these my thoughts on food, or are they food for thought?

I'm a fairly new writer, I've only been writing for a couple of years. I'm a feature writer for Sun.Star Cebu, the leading community newspaper in the Philippines.

I write mostly features about food, and the restaurants in Cebu City and its suburbs.

I'm pretty new at this, so please bear with any mistakes you might encounter.