Posted by Robyn Lee, March 13, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Last month on a visit to Butuan City in the Philippines, writer Robyn Eckhardt and photographer David Hagerman of Eating Asia witnessed the traditional processing of the sago palm, a plant mostly used for its tapioca-like sago flour. They thoroughly document the breakdown of the "Tree of Life" in three parts: extracting starch from the hack-out trunk shreds, using the flour in sweet coconut-flavored sago flatcakes, and frying up the fat-rich sago worms that hatch in the sago palm's trunk.
Never before have I wanted to try something made of sago so badly. But I think I'll save the fried worms for later, even if they tasted "crispy, salty, and greasy, with a lick of smoke."
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 23, 2007 at 4:15 PM
Lori over at Dessert Comes First has a lovely photo essay from visiting her neighborhood wet market in the Philippines:
"Here, the fish are so fresh that they’re still jumping about, eagerly gulping their last breaths. The fishmongers are so adept at scaling the tilapia that their eyes are everywhere but on the fish. Clams are squirting seawater from their shells, and the market’s aisles are strewn with large containers of just-caught catch from the sea. This is as close to my food source as I can get here in the city. Some stalls over, seafood like squid and baby crabs are lined up attractively, waiting for the next lucky buyer."
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 1, 2007 at 4:27 PM
Filipinos like to eat pork and so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the number one dish expected at any big party or holiday feast in the Philippines is lechon: an entire suckling pig stuffed with herbs, slow-roasted for hours over charcoal, and served whole, its skin turned golden-red and crispy but the meat inside still moist and delectable. Sidney Snoeck has a mouthwatering set of photos from the district of La Loma, the lechon capital of the Philippines, where much of the neighborhood lives and works in compounds dedicated to roasting pigs year-round.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 26, 2007 at 2:41 PM
Marketman’s Philippine Fruit Index: "I was recently reviewing a reference guide which had a section on tropical fruits from this part of the world and I was surprised to note that I seemed to have covered many of the fruits in the book. Turns out that Marketmanila has already featured over 50 locally-grown fruits in the past two years!!"
(If you read nothing else, make sure to check out his Mango Slicing 101—it's pretty easy once you know what to do.)
