Street Vendors

This blog is about the Philippines, the Filipino culture, and about my thoughts of possibly relocating there one day. During a visit there I saw many things about the way Filipinos live their day to day lives that intrigued me. There are way too many things I like about the Philippines and the culture to list in one update of this blog so I will just talk about a little bit at a time. This time around I will concentrate on the food of the Philippines and one of the many ways you can get great food there. A big part of Filipino culture is eating and it is evident by the many different places you can eat. From restaurants, home style cooking served right out of somebody’s home, to street vendors.

In America if we want a quick snack we usually go to a fast food restaurant like McDonalds, Burger King, Jack-N-The Box, KFC, Subway, etc. or decide to just order pizza from many of the well known establishments. In the Philippines there are many other choices and a lot of them are much healthier than what we have in America. They do have a lot of the same fast food restaurants there in the Philippines as we have in America. I know I saw McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut for example but I had no desire to frequent any of them. Instead of eating where I was familiar I decided to indulge myself at much lesser known places.

Street Vendors are everywhere you go on the streets of the Philippines and compared to the fast food restaurants they are much cheaper, and in my opinion much better tasting. You can get different chicken parts grilled on a stick. I tasted chicken feet, livers, skin, the head, and even the intestines. The chicken intestines were actually my favorite part due to the spiciness of them. Chicken feet or adidas as it is called there was one of my least favorites since there really isn’t much meat and you seem to spend more time spitting out bone than actually eating.

Another known favorite of many Filipinos is chicken inasal. It is served all over Bacolod and is my favorite dish to eat there. Chicken inasal is marinated in a vinegar mixture and grilled while being basted with a mixture of oil, margarine and calamansi juice, its color is derived from achuete seeds. The smell of it grilling will stop you in your tracks and force you to answer to your stomachs rumblings. You can partake at many of the street vendor stands or sit down at many of the open air restaurants located all over the city. One place I really enjoyed in Bacolod was Lion’s Park located across the street from the SM Mall. You are in the Philippines so enjoy it with a cup of rice and make sure you eat with your hands. Food always tastes better when you eat it with your hands.

My next example isn’t necessarily a street vendor but I believe it falls in that category and that is the small businesses that serve home style cooking right out of their home. I saw many of these in the neighborhoods (otherwise known as barangays) where I stayed during my visit. The menu will change from day to day depending on what they want to cook or what they have on hand that day. My first home style cooked food was from such a place. The portions are very large considering the small amount of money it costs. I only had to walk about 15 steps outside the door from where I was staying to find one of these places and the food was great. When you see the locals frequenting such a place all day, it’s a clear sign that the food is good.

Some visitors of the Philippines will warn against street vendor food, and in some cases they are correct due to the sanitation standards there. The key is to listen to the Filipinos you are with, if they won’t eat it then you don’t eat it. I didn't get sick during my visit and I ate everything in site. The choices you have are never ending and the price is always right. If you plan to visit the Philippines then I implore you to step out of your food comfort zone and experience foods you can’t get everyday in America. Don’t worry the hamburgers and pizza will be there when you get back home but the food of the Philippines cooked by true Filipinos may not.