PINOY ADVENTURES: THE STREET FOOD MENU

This is Philippines! It shines throughout the year but we also experience rain and cold weather. Anything that grows here are edible, but if not, we make a way to make it edible. We make a poisonous taro a delicious refreshment. We find a way how to eat a tough-skinned janitor fish a tender recipe. We make a leftover lechon (roasted pork) a mouth-watering new delicacy. Because we, Filipinos are food-loving people. And since I am hungry at this very moment, let me serve the menu for an exotic meal that many foreign people found as a mouth watering challenge.

TADA! IT'S THE STREET FOOD MENU!

You probably be wondering what these ‘street foods’ are. Let me start with the Chicken dishes.

This is not about the wings, breast and legs. Today, we are going to eat the chicken’s intestines, head, and feet – roasted in a stick. If you'll ask me how they taste, well, all I can say is I keep on buying them. The intestine or what we call ‘isaw’ has a rich creamy flavor. (Probably because of the undigested corn that they ate or some undigested thingies). The head or ‘helmet,’ as we call it, is also tasty and nasty. It was named ‘helmet’ because it is what we use to protect our head (funny). While the feet (or claw) or ‘adidas’ is bony but delicious to gnaw (LOL). Apparently, it was named after a famous shoe brand (Sporty!). You can also find ‘puwet ng manok’ or the sexy hen butt (laughs) which is creamy and juicy.

We also have in our menu the ‘ beta max’ or pig’s blood. Personally, I don’t want to eat this but those who already tasted it said that it’s really good. Of course, we are Filipinos. We eat anything that could be chewed.

You may also try the ‘one-day-old’ chick. It was called ‘one-day-old’ because it’s only a day old. It’s like eating a small chicken.

And if we have chickens, we must have eggs too. We have the 'bugok.' It is delicious especially when paired with vinegar. By the way, in Filipino, ‘bugok’ means ‘rotten egg’. But my stomach doesn't ache when I eat this so I conclude that it is safe (LOL). Another egg treat is the ‘kwek-kwek’ or quail eggs covered in flour with an orange coloring.

But if you want the best egg treat, you should try ‘balot’ or commonly known by foreigners as the ‘almost-hatching-egg.’ Usually, 'balots' are made from duck eggs.

One time, I was watching Fear Factor in AXN and comes the participants in the final round to win $50000. The challenge was to eat three 'balots.' Because the participants were all Americans, no one was able to win the contest. So, it made me think: what if one of the contestants was a Filipino? I believe he would have begged for more.

Lastly, we should not forget the legendary 'fishball' and 'kikiam' -- the mothers of all Filipino street food. By the way, fish ball has always been $0.012 since 1991.

Honestly, many foreigners find our taste buds weird. Some even find it “challenging” to taste some of our favorites. These may appear weird and sound weird but I guarantee that once you have tasted them, these authentic Filipino street foods, you’ll have a mouth tingling experience of the exotic Oriental food menu.