I grew up in Binangonan, Rizal while Edmund spent his younger years in Iloilo.
Aside from the food vendors inside the public market, street vendors on the sidewalks, there were also lots of people selling food going from house to house in Binangonan during those time.
Every morning, a guy would come bringing fresh cow’s milk or minsan carabao’s milk. Madaling araw meron nagtitinda ng pandesal. Sumisigaw na sa pinto. Pandesal… mainit pa! Twice a week, ala sais impunto, merong sisigaw puhtooo kutsin taaaa! Pag dating ng mga alas dyes ng umaga, si aling Nena naman darating may dalang kakanin. Pag dating ng tanghali, meryenda naman, turon, at sorbetes kuliling. Pag tag-init, merong kinabog, bitso-bitso.
Sa labas naman ng bahay, merong puto-bumbong, bibingka, fried itik, ukoy ni ka Luring, lugaw ni ka Adyang, halu-halo sa Harry’s, samalamig (buko juice, gulaman at sago) sa bangkeeta. Pag Holy Week, merong inihaw na hotdog, inihaw na pusit, pansit luglug, pandesal na may Star Margarine, bonete, at kung anu-ano pa.
Kaya ako, laki sa street food. Hindi ako pang restaurant lang. Sanay na sanay ako sa mga tindero sa kalye at yung nag do-door to door. Idag dag mo pa ang kulektor sa jueteng, tuwing bandang ala una ng tanghali, nadyan na sya… “Ka Felicing, may numero ka na ba?” Late afternoon kung dumaan yung magtitinda naman ng sweeptakes. Pag medyo dumidilim na at wala pa, my mom would ask my father “Rec, naka bili ka na ba ng swipstik, tila wala pa”.
“ka Cardo, dalawa na ang kunin mo na tikit, at baka ikaw na ang susunod na tumama sa swipistiks”.
Papa——–“Naku baka sa tuwa ko, ang taas ng lundag ko, mauntog ako sa kisame, mamatay pa ako”. (That’s why my parents never won in the sweepstakes).
When I got married and had kids, I brought them along to Binangonan. Dinadala ko sa palengke ang mga anak ko. I let them drink samalamig, eat sorbetes, bibingka, etc. I wanted them to be down to earth and flexible. Hindi naman sila anak mayaman kaya kailangan pwede rin sila sa pagkaing kalye.
Everywhere we go, we have no qualms buying street food. Awa ng Dyos once pa lang nagtae si Nyke, in Vietnam, but from eating seafood in a restaurant, not from street food. But we also take precautions when in ghetto places, we don’t buy street food.
In Korea, they observe cleanliness and hygiene. Kaya we were comfortable buying and eating. Mukhang malinis.
Every night, Oyen and I bought curly potato on stick 2,000 Won / stick
This is my favorite, tempura wrapped in noodle with french fries.
Edmund is not fond of sporadic eating. He’s on diet kasi. Pero he never says no to churros, bitso-bitso and mais (corn).
Nyke’s favorite grilled squid
We didn’t know what this was but it looked good kaya kain din kami. I bought one stick (W3,000) which we all shared.
It’s been several days, so far our tummies are still okay.
Suggest to Edmund to try CHURRERIA LA LOLA, lower ground floor at Power Plant Mall, Rockwell. The churros are crunchy with Belgian chocolate dip. The lines are long though.
thank you for the suggestion Alvin. Happy NY.
Ms A i like how your family is very down to earth you don’t mind eating streetfood.