Today, after my weekly weigh in at the local health center (down 20 since arrival), I took a padjak to the municipal building. I noticed something was odd about 3 blocks from destination. The main road was clogged with people! As we got closer, I realized that there was a giant flea market scene going on. Half of the main road and all of the road in front of where I worked was filled with women. There were piles and piles of clothes on the ground that they were sifting through, there were carts with women selling food, stalls with shoes, lots of toys, even jewelry. Did this just pop up over night? I mean, last night I left work and the street looked like it always did! Something is going on!
So, I purchase a hot pancake (coated with butter and sugar and then wrapped in a banana leaf) and went in to ask some friends about the goings on. Well, it turns out that the government is giving away money today! Its only for those who don't have a lot and you have to be on a list to receive it, but there it is... a sort of welfare program! Of course, where there is money being handed out, there has got to be a market right? When the government does these handouts, apparently these overnight markets just seem to pop up! How efficient capitalism is! Keynes would be proud of the filipino!
Anyway my last post was about food and I almost forgot an interesting conversation I had with Carlos and Brix the other day. Warning, if you are the quesy type you might not want to read further. Anyway, we were talking about the sorts of things that I just can't get myself to eat... and of course, the pig blood soup came up. They just think that is so funny. This started us down the road to topics related to odd food. Frogs? of course! Lizards? you bet! They told me about how there is this town north of Manila that is well know as the "place to go" if you want to eat snake. I told them that I had tried snake (thank you Rustler's Roost!) and didn't prefer it. They wondered if I had ever tried snake blood? "Your kidding", says I! Apparently, in this part of the world (tradition comes from Japan they say) snake and snake blood are quite the delicacy. The blood is considered a tonic actually that has medicinal properties. When in this town, you go to a shop and choose the snake you would like to eat based upon the ailment you have. Fever? then go for the black snake. Sore muscles? must try the king snake! To begin the preparation, they chop off the head of the snake and pick it up by its tail so the blood can fill a glass. This you drink immediately. The snake is then cooked and then you eat that. Good for what ails you!
It is interesting though, for all the strange (to our standards) food eaten here, I hear a lot of talk about how horrible genetically modified food and pesticide/herbicide/hormone altering farming is. Quite the awareness of this issue. When at the market, you can spot "native" pig or chicken, or just pig or chicken. The native foods are guaranteed to be free of these additives. The cost is higher but there is a real market for these foods - just like home. There is a big market for herbicide free rice. Carlos, my counterpart, is a great advocate of native farming and can prove how dollar for dollar, native farming outpaces commercial farming from an economic perspective. For example, the native pig is smaller, requires less food and living space (allowing for more pigs per square acre). No expensive chemically modified feed to purchase, etc. He travels to rural areas on his Saturdays to talk with farmers about these issues. He is so passionate on the subject that he does this for no profit.. only for the educational benefit of the farmer!
So, it turns out Im learning a bit about farming here as well! Who would have guessed?
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