Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

It’s almost turkey time! EAM

Food/Drink, Holidays, Podcasts / by

It’s already November!  Where does the time go?

If it’s November, for American Citizens, that means it’s turkey time!  Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Every year, I hear from a ton of Americans that you just can’t get turkey in the Philippines.  They moan and groan about the lack of turkey that they really want in order to have a traditional Thanksgiving celebration with all of the trimmings.

Well, for those who have been looking for turkey, I have good news for my American brothers, and for anybody else who likes to eat turkey.

You can get turkey in the Philippines!

Yes, you read it correctly, turkey is readily available at many outlets all around the Philippines, and it has been for many years.  In fact, this year is my 15th Thanksgiving in the Philippines, and I have had turkey each year, except for two.  Those two years we chose to have some other dish instead of turkey, but we could have had turkey if we wished to.  If you want turkey, you can get it too!  Just tune in to today’s podcast and I will tell you where you can get turkey, I’ll even tell you how much turkey costs in the Philippines.  Really, it is not so expensive, since it is a special holiday meal that you won’t be having on a regular basis.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bob,

    Good article. I was surprised recently to find out that my wife’s cousin was raising turkey’s in Iloilo. He said he sells out each year. I love turkey so this will make me happy when we make the move.

  2. Bob;
    My new neighbor raises Turkeys, full size American style gobblers, not counting the Butterball Turkeys you can buy frozen in most large stores. Those who can’t find a turkey, aren’t really looking. S&R even has Virginia bone in fully cooked smoked ham, you can server both on Thanksgiving can’t you?

    • Hi Paul – I sure do agree about it being easy to find a Turkey. I’ve never had any trouble finding one, and things are a lot better now than when you and I first moved here!

      You are right about those hams at S&R… they sure are good, and a nice addition to the Thanksgiving table!

    • Hi Alan – I have never considered Epsom Salts to be a Thanksgiving treat… 🙂 Just joking.

      Seriously, though, there have been times I have seen Epsom Salts in the stores in Davao. It’s been a while, though, as I have never really been on the search for it, so I have not noticed.

  5. I have seen Epsom Salts in Davao stores, but have not noticed it for a long time. It may still be there, it just is not something I have been looking for.

  9. Hands down, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Great food, great company, great times and none of the commercialized baloney that goes with Christmas. Call me a Humbug if you will, but Christmas to me is just a holiday I can’t wait to be over with with all the expectations of presents and whatnot 🙂 Thanksgiving on the other hand, is still a holiday that is about appreciating what you have and celebrating with those you love.

  10. I agree with you mostly, Rease. I feel that commercialism is starting to creep into Thanksgiving. A lot of stores in the USA are starting to be open to kick off the Christmas shopping season, etc. Hopefully it won’t overtake thanksgiving, though.

  11. Oh right, forgot about Black Friday. Haven’t been back for a few years. We have a close knit group of friends on this island who get together every Thanksgiving to celebrate. I do the turkey, stuffing and all that. I’m kinda good at it 🙂

  12. I haven’t been to the USA in 15 years, but can’t forget about Black Friday! 🙂 We cook a turkey Lechon style on the open pit. It’s really great!

    • Rease,
      We have cans of Pumpkin, but no oven yet lol. So we will go up to S&R and get pumpkin pies. They also have pecan, apple, blueberry, cherry, lemon merengue and chocolate merengue. You can get pecan pie in Iloilo? Thats great! I love it but can’t eat much because its so rich.

      • Hi PapaDuck – Yep, I was just in S&R yesterday and looking at some of the pies. They have the bakery pies, and there are also lots of pies in the freezer case now too. For me, I prefer when Feyma makes home made pies, I just think they are a lot better, but in a pinch having the store bought pies at S&R (and other places) is a good option, especially when you have no oven like you say.

  21. Maybe I guess it is me who wants to buck the system.

    I don’t think it is the turkey that I like to eat, just like to see and smell the scents of the season.

    Maybe someone can make and sale a “Thanksgiving Turkey Scented Candle” I would buy it and save the afternoon nap and all the dirty dishes.

    But since my wife have come to the USA we have a tradition at Thanksgiving to leave town and travel. I guess having Thurs-Sunday off at my business is too much or a temptation not to get out of town.

    One year we rented a small cabin in the mountains that was built 100 years ago. The cabins were built to house the service workers who built the Blue Ridge Parkway. Didn’t have comfort rooms (just a common bath house a brisk walk away) we couldn’t get any cell phone or internet service so we was cut off and unavailable to anyone. Pretty cool in my book (well for a short periods of time). We forgot it bring the baby any of her toys so she played with the pots and pans in the cabin. She just loved getting 100 percent of her parents attention. We wanted to make this place a yearly tradition but the week later when the season closed for the cabins they informed us that they wouldn’t be opening the next year. Just my luck you find something special then it closes.

    But Hey guys enjoy your Turkey!!

    • Was in a Yankee Candle Shop this week with one of my foster children. They had scents from bacon, grass, beer for unusual to pumpkin pie and Christmas etc. so while I didn’t specifically look for the smell of Thanksgiving, I would be willing to bet that they have several varieties that would work.

      Christmas shopping was underway at the mall including photos with Santa. I never saw so much that I didn’t need. (:-) Maybe that is because I am not a shopper and haven’t been to the mall in a year and a half.

      Best wishes of all the coming holidays to the LiP family of friends.

  22. Bob,

    Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. For the reasons some of your readers posted. Great food! Great company! It’s a joyous time where people come together and remember the things we should be thankful for rather than complaining about the things we don’t have.

    Great article and comments!

    Bill