Food of the Gods

When I was a child, I did not have hesitation eating any food given to me. I would eat first before asking someone to tell me what it was that I just ate. Oftentimes, I find the experience delightful. There is pleasure in eating as far as I’m concerned. It satisfies my palate and tummy.

Any squid dish is a favorite. The squid itself doesn’t have taste. The taste comes from how the dish is prepared and how it complements with the garnishes (if applicable). I like the soft, rubbery texture of the squid. The black “ink” coming from its body makes eating it (squid) more exciting. I like adobong pusit. I could consume tons of rice if I have adobong pusit in front of me.

I find the taste of fish balls odd. I couldn’t define it. When I was a kid, my mom gave me fish balls skewed on a stick. After my first bite, I spat it immediately. I did not like the taste. It tasted raw, somewhat fishy and repulsive. Nowadays, I am still not fond of fish balls. I remove fish balls whenever I see it in pancit. I don’t patronize fish ball vendors plying their carts along the street where I live. Back in college, I didn’t join my classmates having fish ball buffet while waiting for the next class.

There are some Filipino food which I really find too exotic for my taste. I’m 100% pinoy. I’ve been exposed to these exotic food but I never acquired the strength of stomach to digest them. It’s appalling to see how it is prep up, to make it more ‘nice’ to look at. These exotic or should I say exquisite food befit the stature of the gods. Perhaps they have to stomach to eat them.

Pork blood does not have any taste at all. The coagulated blood is supposedly brushed with a concoction of vinegar, soy sauce and other liquid seasoning while it is barbecued over a hot flame. It’s soggy. It also becomes grainy because residue of the blood literally sticks on one’s tongue. One time, I was eating pork barbecue blood and honestly, I was immensely enjoying it. I did not know, back then, what it was. When I asked my Aunt about it, she curtly replied “blood of a pig.” I froze and threw the stick out of the window.

Chicken head’s sight makes me puke. I really don’t know why people eat this. It’s so disgusting. I only tasted chicken head once. It won’t happen anymore.

Chicken liver and gizzard are the exceptions to the list. I love chicken liver and gizzard. I like it when it is lightly sauteed.

Chicken intestines, aka as IUD (intra-uterine device) because of its appearance, is one of the more popular street food items sold daily in every streets of the Philippines. The worm like intestines actually taste just like any of the edible parts of the chicken. Dipped in vinegar, it makes a perfect accompaniment while drinking beer.

Pork ears (and face) are the main ingredients of sisig. I like sisig when the ears and skin of the pork’s face are crispy. I don’t eat sisig if it looks “creamy,” thanks to the egg topping. I don’t like the thought of eating an ear cartilage.

Pork intestines and liver seem interesting to eat just for experience. Haven’t tasted them yet. In pancit, I always ask the cook if it is pork or chicken liver. I eat chicken liver. I remove pork’s liver. Intestines, on the other hand, are integral part of longganisa. After cleaning and removing the unwanted parts, the ’skin’ is stuffed with ground meat, tied up on both ends and voila! May longganisa ka na.

Chicken feet and ass are novelty parts of chicken. There’s not much in chicken feet and ass to eat actually. I stopped eating chicken feet when I was in grade school for no apparent reason. I haven’t eaten it again since then. In Jollibee, I can’t figure it out if I am already eating the ass part because everything is breaded.

Chicken skin is sinful because it can send you to a hospital due to high cholesterol and other ailments associated with high blood pressure. An airline inflight kitchen has the best deep fried chicken skin in the Philippines. I should know, I have been eating chicken skin for quite sometime when I was still a flight attendant.

One day old chick, as the term implies, is literally and figuratively a day old fried chicken. Everything on it. Haven’t tasted it and will never try eating it.

Penoy is a duck egg which did not develop properly after 9 or 12 days. It looks, smells and tastes like an ordinary hard-boiled egg.

Tokneneng or Kwek-Kwek is a deep fried chicken egg (tokneneng) or quail egg (kwek-kwek) coated in food coloring, cornstarch and flour. I like the quail more than the chicken egg. A novel way of preparing an egg.

These are just some ‘food of the gods.’ The list is endless. Readers may disagree with my taste, that’s a given. Some of the food that I’ve mentioned above are also served in other ASEAN countries. The names may be different but the basic ingredient/s is/are the same. The diversity of food reflects the culture of a country. It also reflects how ingenious the people are based on the variety of food that they can come up given the resources of a country.

Call it exotic, extreme and odd, these food are part of Pinoy culture deeply rooted and generally accepted by the populace. Rich or poor, they all tasted one or two items in my list. Whether they appreciate it or not, that’s another story.