THE TASTE OF FOOD CULTURE

Rosana had migrated to the West from the East. She had a hard time adjusting what food she had to buy at the grocery store when she wanted her food she had used to eat before. Where can she find the kind of freshly gathered tropical fruits gathered mostly from backyard gardens planted by the homeowner? She remembered how self-sufficient was her family pertaining to food household needs. His father had a parcel of land where he tended his small garden of fruits and vegetables. Their banana grove planted at one corner of their fruits and vegetable garden bearing fruits the whole year round when the sun continued to rise and set except when it is rainy season. The lush greenery when the rain stopped you can smell the fresh scent of newly gathered vegetables from the garden, cutting the long beans by hand then its natural tantalizing smell comes out. the same with the red and green pepper when they are cut. Picking a matured squash and its young leaves, its flowers will be enough for a meal. His father had to catch fish at his small pond of carp or catfish. This pond only comes to life during rainy season after a big flood has passed by and the water will stay in the pond with the carps and catfishes. After he catched one or two since they are now big enough he brought home for their noonday meal and the rest of the vegetables eggplant bittermelon and okra were left to be cook for dinner. At dinner time since the carp was already eaten what they have for dinner was dried fish to be mixed with the vegetables and they can fry the catfish to add to their meal. There most staple food is rice in every meal. This was also gathered from their garden. When it was harvested the bundles of rice stalks were placed on top of their improvised stove to dry then it was pounded by pestle and mortar. which is done by Rosanna's neighbor since they have no pestle and mortar willingly doing it to get his share of the rice grain. People share each other when they have more than enough especially when these neighbors go together and make a trip to gather wild fruits and vegetables. That's when the rainy season has ended and that's the time when these wild plants will start to bloom and bear fruits . The nearby forest was abundant with wild trees bearing fruits and vegetables, among them were oranges, lemon, guavas, tamarind, and there were also fruit bearing vines , the rattan and bayuyo. Wild trees bearing edible fruits were the longboy, ararusip and kalupit. At this time people in the community depended on the wild fruits and vegetables to survive . Wild edible plants grow abundantly climbing on trees and tall grasses. Wild bittermelon, eggplants locally called balballoosa will be cook with a small amount of lard with the young fresh green native peppers with wild cherry tomatoes and dried fish. How delicious these food go with boiled snail picked up from the rice puddies before the soil gets dry and the rice grains are ready for harvest. Catfish and mullets burrow in the mud and people dug a temporary pond and drove the fishes to catch them there. They will divide the bounty among them. Back to Rosana's household whether it was rainy or sunny since her mother was a merchant she could buy all kinds of food on market day, She bought newly catched big crabs and prawns brought by fisherman selling them in the market then buy what they need. It as a bustling marketplace for the day. Rosanna's father would bring home the crab. prawns adding the whole side of back and side ribs that he cooked and reserved the rest until the next market day. The first to be eaten was the crabs after it was cooked in ginger and onions. The next day were the prawns already cooked with coconut milk. On Monday the cooked ribs must be eaten too. With gathered sour young leaves called ariwat outside their house this was placed underneath the kettle in order to last for days after it was cooked until it was dried. How much food they had bought must last before the next market day, so his father went to the garden to bring fresh vegetables to cook. This time he went to picked up the fallen coconuts and removed the husked , opened and grated it then squeeze to used it for the banana blossom and the recipe was called ginataan. It is like living with day to day existence but this was how Rosanna find life to be exciting and living better than others. His father also raised chicken, ducks and a pig and butcher it when the Easter Mass will be held. The ducks , chicken has no pens but they slept perching on tree branches at night and the ducks slept under the house and also the pig. The rooster would wake them up at night and the duck had hatched when she will come out with her brood going out to find food in the yard. the chicken nest with eggs is emptied everyday leaving a piece for her to hatch that they ate for breakfast. Coffee and chocolate beans came from their garden being fried grinded and then brewed. Finding Rosana being now a grown up girl decided to leave their place flying to the west for a better pasture to help her family, Coming from the East going to the West seemed to be world apart but the waving hand of the dollar sign brought her to taste another food culture which she found totally different. There was breakfast lunch and dinner that she must eat everyday. It was readily accessible by ordering at the counter of fast food chains like Macdonalds . Rosanna asked herself if these foods she was ordering were nutritious. In them there was not much vegetable but full of condiments and everything is processed. Ketshup comes from tomatoes, mustard sauce comes from mustard and even the relish comes from cucumbers. Rosana cannot imagine how can she be healthy with these food comparing what she was eating before. She wanted to buy the fruits and vegetables she used to eat before. Asking from her colleagues in the hospital where she worked she learned that there were specialty food stores where she could buy tropical fruits and vegetables which may come from Tndia and right from the Philippines where she came from. The price were higher as they had been imported. There were only three vegetables that she could buy regularly bittermelon, squash long beans okra and eggplant to cook her recipe of pinakbet, the favorite dish of the region where she came from. The adobo either chicken or pork was also a favorite dish, marinated in soy sauce and lemon then it is fried in oil then put enough water until it becomes soft and the water has dried that it becomes tasty and delicious. Rosanna will crave her food tied up to her culture and also for good health.