Food culture is different here than anywhere I have been.
Food is not something that the Filipinos take pride in. It is just something that you have to do - eat. Very little herbs and spices are used. Instead, sugar is added to everything. The poor just eat what they have, with little thought or prep put into it, unlike the poor Indians, who still manage to make everything delicious! The wealthier Filipinos go for western style franchise food. SMOOTHIES ARE BIG HERE...everywhere you go there is a smoothie place - making VERY sweet (not so healthy)fruit drinks. Pizza is also big as is spaghetti. Western franchises are quite an experience. Yesterday, we went to Pizza Hut.
Here's how it went:
We sat down and were immediately asked for our order (so far so good). I ordered an Americano coffee and the crab salad rolls. Nick ordered - what else - pizza and a mango smoothie. About twenty minutes later, I was brought my salad rolls. I ate them. They were boring. Then, ten minutes later I was brought an almost cold cup of coffee. Nick has still yet to receive his food (mine is all gone). Then came Nicks pizza. He had ordered the supreme...with meat and several vegetables. The waiter put down the pizza which had NO vegetables on it, and said, "We don't have any vegetables, is that OK?" Then came his smoothie. I asked for some hot coffee. While waiting for the hot coffee, I was brought hot milk...I guess for my cold coffee?? Finally, after all the food was gone, my hot coffee came. It was really bad. So, while they long for the "western" food experience, it really is not western at all...just bad. So the Filipino food is bad, and the western mimicry is bad. The only good food here seems to be ethnic food and food made by people who are not from here.
Service is also pretty bad. People are friendly, and polite, but there is just no concept of good service. Everything takes forever. Last night, here at the hotel in Manila, I ordered two Chinese dishes and some rice. One dish came out and we ate it all, and the second never showed up. When I said to the waiter, "excuse me, I ordered some Chow Mein, is it coming soon?" he replied, "No. You didn't order it." Sigh.
Anyway, the real drag is that I have probably gained six pounds! It's one thing to gain weight eating GOOD food, quite another to gain it eating bad food (must be all that sugar they sneak into the food). Actually, we were quite lucky to land on two good places to eat in El Nido and Moalboal, so it was not all that bad, however, I was WAY over budget on food - as
the good food, was quite a bit more expensive.
Not so in Thailand and India...good food is everywhere, and it is ALL very inexpensive. Same in Vietnam!
Well, in two hours we are off to the airport. We are leaving FIVE hours early, to ensure we do not miss our flight as we did last time we were here. Traffic here is horrendous. We are staying at a hotel very near to the airport, and last night it took an hour to get here! We had plans to go to midget boxing last night, but by the time we arrived, it was too late. Yup, you read it right, can you believe it, they have a place where all the waiters and staff are Little People, and there is a boxing ring. Hard to believe that things like that still exist in the world. Can you imagine if someone tried to do that in the west - my gosh, the outcry! (and rightly so). Anyway, we decided against it.
Tonight we will be back in Dubai where we intend to spend a day at the Gold and Spice Souks. Hopefully I can bring back some great spices. I cannot wait to get back to my kind of food. Real fruit smoothies in the morning, made with my homemade yogurt and fresh BC fruit. Fresh, crunchy vegetables, and whole grain bread - without sugar! Four more sleeps!
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