The Care & Feeding of: The Exotic Foreigner

[Jack Peterson]

Just now, Jack Peterson said:

Well I have come to realize that many are indeed happy that we (Foreigners) will try things, it really is part of Integration 

I have double post this as I am having a problem and just trying to sort it out the best way i can, Sorry all but we gotta do what we gotta do ourselves, to keep the Boss sane. 

[Tukaram (Tim)]

1 hour ago, Queenie O. said:

My husband and I have observed that Filipinos in general don't seem to have the hearty appetites and adventuresome tastes that most westerners seem to have.

Yeah, pretty much.  I have met a few adventurous ones (mostly ones that have been OFW), but most just don't seem to care.  I try to take my wife out somewhere nice for a holiday dinner and she says it is a waste of money.  You just eat it and sh@t it out.  Money, and food, is gone.  Why bother?  She feels the same about me buying her flowers (they just die - why bother?). Plants she likes, flowers are a waste.

 

You can go to any fiesta and all the food offerings are the same.  They are almost always prepared the same. Taste the same.  Nothing is allowed to be different...I think they learn it in school ha ha.

[afathertobe]

Agree with you guys here, huge difference between Thais and Filipinos in this regard. Thais love their food, would talk about it constantly, comment what they like, dislike about it, how it should have a bit more fish sauce or how it's a bit on the sweet side. Filipinos on the other hand just think something is "good", as in the proper way to prepare that particular dish, or not. Extremely limited palate, spaghetti has to taste exactly that way, fried chicken too, otherwise it's barely edible. 

I'm determined to broaden the horizon of my son though, he's a bit too young still but I will get him to try many different foods and cuisines. 

That said, I actually like traditional filipino food a lot more than their version of Western foods. I can eat the slightly sour-spicy vegetable with fish, or the fatty bacon and beans in a broth with rice, that's all ok to me. What I dislike is the "festival-food" for lack of a better word: spaghetti and sliced hot dogs, fried chicken, fried noodles, what else...  

[David B]

After reading this thread I feel very lucky. Early in our relationship, just dating, my wife told me she doesn't/can't cook. I said no problem. I can and love to.  As I work full time and she's home all day, she finds dishes on the Internet, and now she's my personal chef. I'm a foodie and she impresses me daily. I've never had it so good. 

[expatuk2014]

On 3/9/2016 at 10:38 AM, AlwaysRt said:

Oh yes, every day. Meal planning = hmmmm, where to go eat. Cooking = need to leave by 7:30 so I can have the meal on the table by 8:00 

my wife is very good she cooks most of my food seperatly espec when she and her sister eat pork!

I eat Pansit and vegtables and lots of chicken and fish. I cook everything else !

And I love the Purefoods Angus hotdogs they are the only ones I eat.

and burgers mmm I buy a pack of 5 from waltermart for around 300 pesos and they are good and dont shrink in the GF grill

if I cant buy them then its a pack of four from cdo in a white cardboard box Highlands brand.

fish is mostly Salmon or bangus.

 

[mogo51]

I cook breakfast and dinner most days.  Except for my favourite dish Chicken Adobo, which my SO makes so wonderfully well.  I never say 'no' when she offers.

As for western food, she enjoys it as much as I do.  We eat lots of veges and I cook an array of different food, but not Filipino yet. Will have to learn when we arrive next year. I sometimes cook a dish just from what we have in the fridge and last week SO told me it was the same as Pancit.

She is adventurous and will just about try anything.

 

[robert k]

Love chicken adobo and chicken curry. Pancit canton or shanghai. Barbecue chicken from a few places, D&C Chicken in Dumaguete would be one. I didn't used to like chicken that much. I used to call chicken a leafy green vegetable. Pork barbecue on skewers is good or my fried breaded pork chops. Chorizo de Cebu or local variant fried with fried egg over garlic fried rice is a hearty breakfast and hopefully you will work it off by bedtime. I never found a brand of Philippine hot dog I liked, I will have to try the angus dogs. I find that it is worth it to me to climb the price scale a little to some kind of sausage. I'm looking forward to my next plate of peeled and blanched grilled shrimp. Tunafish Bunwich at Dunkin Donuts gets honorable mention. I like Bangus although it is boney. Cream Dory is ok but I like a little more texture to my fish but if you like tender you can't fault it. I'm not a great fish eater. I'd like to try some gummy shark (not endangered) next time. I limit rice to a maximum of about 1/3 of any meal at most and usually not that much. I mix it up on vegetables although I like turnips when available. Fruit is whatever looks good at the moment plus some of whatever is cheap at the moment, it all gets eaten. If there is a Chowking near you, there is always that. If you get bored you can always try something different.

[Jack Peterson]

Odd as it may seem and I think it is a timing thing, my wonderful wife  just cannot Boil that ever loved 4 min egg.

She is a wonderful cook in many respects but alas the egg escapes her.

[Queenie O.]

My husband and I laughed at lunch today--meatballs and spaghetti. I had been making tbe meatballs and sauce and in the beat had forgotten  to drink water, so over lunch I drank three glasses full during the meal. We laughed because after  many years like most Filipinos he doesn't drink until his meal is finished. He says that way he can eat more that way, and proceded to eat a mountain of spaghetti:)  I couldn't finish mine.. Have youn noticed this habit in your household? Not sure if this is done in other countries too.

[robert k]

1 minute ago, Queenie O. said:

My husband and I laughed at lunch today--meatballs and spaghetti. I had been making tbe meatballs and sauce and in the beat had forgotten  to drink water, so over lunch I drank three glasses full during the meal. We laughed because after  many years like most Filipinos he doesn't drink until his meal is finished. He says that way he can eat more that way, and proceded to eat a mountain of spaghetti:)  I couldn't finish mine.. Have youn noticed this habit in your household? Not sure if this is done in other countries too.

Queenie, some years ago doctors were saying it was bad to drink water while you were eating because you were diluting your digestive enzymes, but they have probably reversed themselves on that as they frequently do. Later I heard diet advise that you should drink water before a meal because you may be more thirsty than hungry and eat less if you aren't thirsty.

I haven't noticed that drinking with my meal lessens my eating, maybe you just make great spaghetti?