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Americans try Filipino Street Food

Food/Drink / by

I guess it must be Street Food Days on LiP, because today we are doing to watch a video of Americans trying Street Food from the Philippines.  Tomorrow we have a sort of unique Street Food Delivery system to show you!  Let’s look at the video:

So, what did you think of the video?  How many of those things would you try?  As for me, I have tried about half of the things that they show there, and really the ones that I have tried are pretty tasty!  I can’t say that I would turn down any of them, especially if I were hungry.

For those of you who followed the articles from my son, Aaron, while he was in the States, he would have loved to have gotten a Philippine Street Food test while he was in the USA!  He really missed the street food there while he was gone.

Which of these street foods have you tried?  Are there any that you just would not eat?  If so, why not?

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Comments

  2. Depends on how adventurous you might be, and ultimately on how hungry you might be. Personally, I would be more inclined to try bizarre offerings up to my 60’s, but hereafter I need be totally deprived of any sustinance for two or 3 days before … ughhhh. Well, it depends on what’s available. As I innocently asked my first gr/live-in prior to migrating here – can I survive in the Philippines without eating _bugs_? Yes one can but it was an honest question at the time. Pinoy “cuisine” is thankfully beyond that general Chinese level.

  3. I love street food, got so excited when I came back to the US after my last trip to the PI, I thought what a great idea to do here. So I went and got a grill and some beef, chicken, pork and set up on the corner of my street. Come to find out I was in violation of my HOA, and zoning so I had to obtain a special permit. 1. Check. Then the health department showed up I guess I needed a health department permit, and special refrigeration and sanitizing equipment, along with a special grill that cooks to a certain temperature. 2. Check. I had made a little handwritten sign to advertise but found out it was in violation and not to code so I had a custom sign made, along with obtaining the requisite permit. 3. Check. My niece wanted to help so then I had to obtain workers compensation, and withhold SS, and medicare taxes for her.4. Check. Come to find out since I used the word barbecue on my sign I was in violation of numerous copywrite, and trademark laws so after paying those fines I had an attorney do a trademark search for my new name, and had a new sign made 5. Check,…….but I did it! I have my own street food stand for only $150,000! So if you are ever in Ohio stop by and get genuine street grilled kabob of chicken for only 19.00 to go, or if you are going to stand and eat in front of the stand $19.00 plus the dining in tax! …..Next I am going to talk to my priest about having an outdoor street mass just like in the Philippines, as I really enjoyed coming across one when out walking with my wife one night during a previous trip to the PI, I mean how hard could that be. AHHH! Freedom!

  4. The girl in the middle of the pic is certainly cute, but really, none of he 3 people portrayed in the pic are likely to be Pinoy? Really? Go have another look.

  5. I’ve eaten everything in the Video except the Isaw – and I have no plans on attempting that…I don’t eat organs!
    My favorite of them all is kwek-kwek. A trip to the Philippines without kwek-kwek is unthinkable 🙂
    One time I was in a resataurant and ordered Kare-Kare, which I was expecting to be made of oxtail. When I got it, it tasted weird. Upon inspection, I saw it was made of something like cow stomach or some such thing. I didn’t touch it. These are the kind of surprises I can do without! In general, I like Filipino dishes…the food there is great!

    • “isaw” aren’t “organs”, it’s intestines.
      That corrected, I had some food 2 days ago so I’m not *that* hungry yet.

    • Hi Steve – I don’t eat isaw either. I may be wrong, but I would not consider isaw an organ. It is intestines.. I don’t think those are classified as an organ????

      I also love kwek2. It is good stuff.

      • KwekKwek? Boiled quails eggs or whatever so disguised? Even pushing 65 I’ve never liked hard-boiled eggs and i’m not likely to start unless absolute hunger forces me. I’m not a fan of Balot either. Tried it. Once. Thank you very much.

        • In Davao, Kwek Kwek is made with chicken eggs. I have never seen kwek kwek done with quail eggs, although I know it is common.. just not here where I live.

  6. I used to love eating the fried chicken intestine until one time I got sick. Very sick!
    Three days on the toilet was not much fun. Never experienced stomache pain like it.
    A lot of this food is out in the open air absorbing all the jeepney fumes for hours. Be very careful with the chicken that is getting cooked next to the road. Very yummy but you will pay the next day.
    Still worth a try for the experience though

  8. It’s funny how in ports all over the world while on the pier waiting for a water taxi to the ship after being in town all night, street food always tastes good, even if it was a mystery as to what you consumed. But now as I’m older and am no longer waiting on the pier at 0400 AM I’ve become more selective and the swarming fly’s are not as appealing as they once were. Street food in the Philippines, I’ll pass.

  9. Love this article Bob! I have eaten all of those foods and much much more.

    The intestines are actually quite good to me and MANY Americans, especially in the south, eat the same thing. In America they are called chitlins…and many people like them as long as they DON’T know what they are.

    Street food in the Philippines is fantastic! I eat as much as I can. I love fish balls. Kwek Kwek is delicious to me.

    I am not a big fan of the banana deal but I do eat it. I also love boiled peanuts, which is very common in the Philippines, but not so much in America. Boiled peanuts are eaten quite regularly in the the south in America.

    There are so many good “filipino foods” but my absolute favorite is the barbecue pork on a stick. I forgot what they call it…I just call it DELICIOUS. Filipinos do pork better than anywhere I have ever been.

    I have many friends that simply will NOT even look at “filipino food” and that is unfortunate because they are really missing out. But that brings me to another point. I get asked all the time what I eat when in the filipines and I hear people say they would never eat what many filipinos eat. Hmmm.

    Chicken Adobo, pork adobo, pork tocino, pork liempo, sisig, and many others “filipino” foods are terrific. But many filipinos eat hot dogs, pizza, chicken, hamburgers and many other foods that most would not consider filipino.

      • oh damn, it’s a 3km walk to get some boiled peanuts. I wish! Prior to my recent move that was just down the street. Sigh, no more. I The good part is that from way over there I can easily get a tricycle back home fo 8 pesos! If I survive the walk to get the boiled “monay” in the heat of the noon-day.
        Hmm, I’m sending my older kids to the “kanto” here to see if there’s any “banana-que”, which would be much more sensible *IF* there is any to be had.

    • Hahahaha, you posted “barbecue pork on a stick. I forgot what they call it”.

      I’ve never heard it called anything but “BBQ”. Wiser minds may contribute.

  10. Bob,
    I will not eat any of the street foods. I don’t want to risk getting food poisoning due to lack of sanitation. I do eat many of the Filipino dishes that my wife fixes and really enjoy them. She uses lean cut’s of meat unlike a lot of people who have more fat and bone than meat.

    • Hi PapaDuck – I would say that in some cases you are missing some good stuff! In other cases, no big loss. But, I have had some pretty good street food, and have never got sick from it.

    • Heh, and when the wife shows up with a few kilos of meat and leaves it out in the mid-day sun to go bad all afternoon if you don’t notice and take care of it … what’s better?
      After all, from perspective of the wife, food never goes bad and is *free* (with your “free” money when you can access a deposit for your work), as is all the money we work hard for every day and night, Free. Just go to any ATM and it spits our more, never mind when there’s zero account balance. Pinoy wife logic and “care”.
      By Pinoy wife standards you can leave meat out to spoil for days!

      • Hi Ed – I am curious… in all the time you have been participating on my site I have never heard you say one good thing about your wife… lots of bad things though. Why do you stay with her? Now you are maligning all Filipinas. My wife has never left meat out for even 30 minutes… so what you say is not “pinoy wife logic”. Man, that statement is disgusting.

        • Yes Bob, “disgusting” would be the appropriate term.
          Good I found it barely in time to chop it up and put it in the freezer.

          As for maligning, I only state what I experience, just as you state what you experience. Your web site is about “Life in the Philippines”, yes? We all post what we experience is true so that readers can have heads-up and just perhaps we can each also learn a little bit to possibly help ourselves.

          As to your question, I still prefer to stupidly love and trust my wife, defying all sensible logic, and in deference to our 5 kids together. I know your situation is totally opposite, but if you’re in my shoes, what would you do? You may decline to comment.

          • Funny way to love somebody.. publicly post everything negative about her, and never praise her.

            BTW, I didn’t mean that the rotting meat was disgusting, I meant that it is disgusting the way you demean your wife. If she is that bad, do something about it.

            • Bob, my point was that leaving meat out to rot in the midday sun is not exactly sensible. Surely she had her ‘reasons’ for doing so. That doesn’t make it sensible.\

              I have never posted anything about my wife that isn’t true to the best of my knowledge and people might be well advised that wives come in all shades even here in the Philippines and even with a college education.

              Doing something about it?
              We have a family meeting (her family!) tomorrow about her.
              I’m not the one who called the meeting about her, so put that into perspective.

              As for praising her, I recall doing so several times here; sadly that seems overshadowed by her reality. You may post your reality but reality sadly isn’t all a bowl of cherries for everyone. Happy for you, hope what I write helps some people have their eyes wide open and NOT in RETROSPECT.

        • Bob, actually I have over time posted some positive comments about my wife. Sadly that tends to get overshadowed.

          • Please cite a positive post that you have made about her? I have never seen one that I can recall, and I read every common that comes to the site (all 152,796 of them).

            • Bob, there were a few, some even recently.
              I didn’t archive everything I posted on your web site. Shoudl it be really important, please extract an ASCII (plain text) copy of everything and I’ll search through it. Otherwise, as I clearly stated, the good was obviously overshadowed by the be not-so-good, which would justify your missing the former.

              Likely were you to ‘grep’ on the words “love” and “trust” you might find a few positive comments you sadly missed in passing.

              • The matter of Ed’s wife seems rather off topic and I agree with Mindanao Bob that this is not the place to air domestic issues. If someone has a problem with a domestic issue then keep it domestic and do something about it. Here we call it ‘washing your dirty linen in public’. Not a good thing.

  11. Ive eaten the balut and something known as “chicken butt” from street vendors. Was definitely early morning after a night of partying in Tarlac. The next day after I woke up I walked to the mall and passed the vendor. I realized immediately that it was a huge mistake considering how unsanitary it all looked. Guess those things don’t register when you are intoxicated.

    On another note,
    I also have a hard time eating from places that have raw meat hanging out in the open….such as chickens or pigs. I notice this a lot in china and consequently “china towns” in different cities in other Asian countries. It just makes me very uncomfortable especially with the recent epidemics……bird flu, sars…etc.

    • When the only place you can buy meat is the one-and-only city “palengke”, what, you will become totally vegeterian?
      Ok true, you can raise your own chickens and pigs. Beef cattle are a bit harder to raise. Please post your experiences raising and slaughtering your own meat.
      None of which can be convenient when hungry and passing all that meat on the grills.

      • I happen to know that there are many grocery stores in Kidapawan, even a new and nice Gaisano Mall that sells meat. You certainly are not forced to buy it at the palengke.

        • Yes Bob, and that’s *now*. Was not so when we moved here a few years ago.
          Point being, smaller centers have smaller offerings – in context of your LiP,
          Not everyone lives in Manila or Davao or Olangapo or even Kidapawan at the tail end of 2015. Point being, in many places, it’s ether the palengke or grow-your-own.

      • Absolutely understood Bob. In my case I was totally sober when I tried Balott. One time. Only time. No amount of possible intoxication might lead me to repeat that experiment. Perhaps one week of total hunger, but intoxication, no.

  12. Hi Bob, good video l like most street food , but some like balut I won’t touch just don’t like
    Look of it, barbecue pork on a stick probably my favourite when I first came to the Philippines we were looking for a roast chicken, came across this small stall selling
    Roast chicken on the spit looked okay till the guy went to the back of the stall to have a pee on the wall wiped his dirty hands on his on his shirt and said be ready in 5 minutes,
    We said we’ll come back lol, Derek in pasig.

    • Hi Derek – Thanks, I also enjoyed the video, glad that you liked it. Yeah, Pork BBQ is some really good stuff, and I eat it fairly regularly, especially if we go to GenSan where I feel they have the best Pork BBQ around!

      • The best BBQ is wherever you find it. Family swears that’s in my backyard, both before and after out move.

        Point being, properly prepared, marinated, and grilled, it’s kinda hard to make bad port BBQ unless one really ignores it.

    • Derek, that may be one dude in one place in Pasig.
      Last week I was out with some Pinoy friends for late-nite native chicken and pork BBQ. “Minute burger” is fine but sometimes one needs something a bit better on the evening street, even if more expensive. One might wonder why the sidewalk tables are all occupied. Is it just the beer beside everyone’s food?

  13. My son has tried some street food. I haven’t. I haven’t because in Bolivia they’d use old oil. So, people advised against trying street food.

    Is the oil they use to cook street food OK here?

    Rusty

    • Rusty, it’s all pretty much palm oil in the Philippines. How old at any given street outlet? No way to know unless “baho” (excessive stink). You may ask but don’t expect the “cook” to have any clue. I can say that in a previous lifetime my live-in’s street-food endeavoujr never used oil older than 3 days, and that properly filtered and stored. That was however *us*. Do the math – you want cheap, ok. You want tasty? Ok. You want healthy? Ok. Pick one of those 3 then divide by any other factors you may desire. 🙂 Enjoy!

      • Ed,

        At 71 I only eat at places that I know serve, and cook, with healthy foods. When your young, and foolish, anything goes.

        Plus alcohol kills whatever in the food your eating. That and our bodies defenses works its magic.

        Rusty

  14. Bob:

    I’ve tried them all…. I’ll try anything once. They really aren’t my favorites.

    I will also mention another thing. The older I get, I find the less adventurous I become. In my career, I’ve eaten so many different things and traveled to so many places all over the world, it actually stops being much of a thrill anymore. It has become really sort of “Been there, done that”

    I find that when I travel nowadays, I tend to eat far more western food than I used to when I am in situations where I have a choice (for example, not business dinners).

    I guess that I am really lucky that Rebecca is an excellent cook and that she knows what I like and don’t like. Though there are Filipino foods that I like, there are still others I do not like.

  16. Pork BBQ is the only street food that I eat here in Philippines.
    It’s trully tasty. All foreigners like it.

  17. I like the isaw. I cannot do the balut though…lol. I do not know what the crispy fried chicken heads are called but I can’t get by those either. That and that “blood on a sick” stuff.
    I have found here in my home that the coconut oil is better to fry anything than any I have ever used.
    I eat street food pretty often. You just have to use your head.. I have a few that I will go to if I can find them and I have never had a any problems with getting sick.

    My lady can fry anything…lol . Her pork belly is awesome..I swear she could fry water. 😛

    • Hi Richard – I have not tried isaw, nor did I see it happening.. but enough of you guys are saying that you like it… I might work up my courage! ha ha

      I think the chicken heads are called “helmet” if I am not mistaken.

  18. The main point about food is that it will definitely contain bacteria; they are everywhere. Wash your hands and wipe them dry and within seconds new ones are back. Some, including E.coli (which lives in the gut of humans AND other animals) can be very dangerous; especially if they are making toxins (poisons). The trouble with bacteria is that they reproduce by dividing into two and can do this every 20 minutes. One bacterium can be 8 in one hour, 64 in two hours, 512 in three hours, over 8,000 in four hours …. and over 4 million in six hours. Although one bacterium (and the toxins it produces) may not be harmful to a person, the effect of 4 million bacteria making the toxin can be. And the condition the bacteria reproduce best in is warmth …. just what you get by leaving food outside. All food should be frozen or refrigerated whilst raw, well cooked and then again frozen or refrigerated when cooked if not to be eaten VERY soon. All raw and cooked meats should be kept separate (any dripping of juices from raw food to cooked food is a serious health risk) and all handing should be done with clean hands (or disposable gloves). Even many people in advanced economies with stringent food hygiene rules are not aware of this so what chance for street vendors who are unlikely to have been given the necessary education. Actually, even some restaurants do not follow food safety rules (ever seen Gordon Ramsey on TV in UK and USA restaurants!). The safest way to eat is always to cook in your own home, but what is the fun in that! Btw, I have not even mentioned moulds/molds (fungi) or viruses!

    • All great points, Steve, and very true. I have this ongoing issue with my fiance that she will cook rice and keep the leftover rice in a covered dish on the table all day long. This seems to be common practice in the Philippines. I tell her its unhealthy but I’m not sure she believes me…haha. Anyone else seen or have an opinion on this practice? I’ve told her to keep it covered and in the ref. Its tough arguing about it with such a beautiful lady! 😉

      • Would you beautiful lady believe the UK National Health Service? They write ” You can get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. However, it’s not the reheating that causes the problem but the way the rice has been stored before it was reheated.
        How does reheated rice cause food poisoning? Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that can cause food poisoning. When the rice is cooked, the spores can survive. If the rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores can grow into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. The longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that the bacteria or toxins could make the rice unsafe to eat.
        Symptoms of food poisoning: If you eat rice that contains Bacillus cereus bacteria you may be sick and experience vomiting or diarrhoea about 1-5 hours afterwards. Symptoms are relatively mild and usually last about 24 hours.
        Tips on serving rice safely:
        ideally, serve rice as soon as it has been cooked
        if that isn’t possible, cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour)
        keep rice in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating
        when you reheat any rice, always check that the dish is steaming hot all the way through
        do not reheat rice more than once”

        Btw, I graduated in microbiology (but too many years ago to mention!) and studied microbial diseases as my main option, so my words are sound.

        • Thanks, Steve. I hope all reading this take heed – I’m sure it will prevent a lot of unpleasantness, or worse!

  19. Hi Bob,

    I watched the video and did not see any food that I found adventuresome. They said something was intestines, but it just looked like Filipino BBQ. I have eaten pig intestines in a Korean restaurant. I forgot what the dish was called but it was very spicy. I don’t recall the intestines actually having any flavor. Chitterlings are a traditional Southern dish that I have never tried and have no strong desire to try. I think very few people eat them. I think it is/was a dish that very poor people ate/eat like opossum.

    The fried quail eggs looked good. I ate quail eggs in a Vietnamese restaurant once, but to me I could not tell much difference between quail eggs and chicken eggs other than size. I ate quail the bird as a boy that my Dad shot when hunting and my memory of them is that they taste very good.

    I found the peoples over-reaction to what they were eating interesting and amusing.

  20. Steve,

    Very informative information. Keep posting. I know your information is accurate.

    Do you think that people who eat reheated rice, and they live up to 95 years of age, have just built up immunities? Are the more developed countries just too cautious? Too clean?

    Rusty

    • There definitely is a point that those who live in clean conditions from birth may fail to pick up certain germs and so not have any immunity to them (or related germs) in later life. Those who contracted cowpox were found not to get smallpox, hence the first ever vaccine (vaccine is from the latin ‘vaccinia’ (the cow)). Some people may eat unhygienic foods and live to be 95, just as some smoke heavily and live a long life; it is a complex mixture of genetics, immunity (also partially genetic) and luck! But those who died too soon due to eating contaminated food are not here to tell us! There is certainly a balance between being too clean or too unclean but it is too complex to work out that balance for each individual; life is a game of risk. Risk can be managed to some extent so why not avoid food you think may be contaminated in the same way you avoid crossing a road ‘contaminated’ with heavy traffic.

      • Steve,

        I agree on the smoking issues and those that don’t get cancer, etc. Their second hand smoke causes problems for others, right?

        I remember when my mom said I wonder why your still alive. You crawled under filthy train seats as a kid sucking up all the filth.

        I now relate that experience to those people who live to the age of 95 and eat reheated rice. In other words they built up immunities, right?

        Still I’d rather be safe. Why eat something just to see if you’ll survive.

  21. Hi Bob,
    That’s a fun video, all the foods they showed are my favorites when we visit family. The first time we visited my wife told me “I eat street food but you don’t have too”. That was a few years ago and now her family jokes that I’m turning Filipino because I eat whatever they do, with the exception of Balut. Street food is the best!
    And Isaw, how is that any more disgusting than eating the wings or breasts or any other part of the bird?
    Hmm, maybe next May when we visit again I’ll try Balut, I know the time is coming when I’ll have try it!
    Good topic Bob