Hellobee

I had to go to the wet market today to buy ingredients to make dog food, so I decided to take some pics and share what a local market is like in the Philippines. To tell you the truth after I moved to the island capital where I finally had access to a real supermarket after 3 years, I used to only shop there because it was convenient and clean. But once I started making dog food for 5 dogs, buying lots of greens for my rabbit, and realizing that produce was marked up 2-3 times at the supermarket, I had to switch to the wet market. Now I regularly go to 7 different places to buy our food: 3 supermarkets for imported and dry goods (they all carry different things), the Korean market, the only deli in town for imported meats and cheeses, bakery for bread, and the wet market for produce. But that’s life here. Nothing is easy or convenient or delivered, so I spend a lot of my time at the market!

This is one of the largest vegetable stalls and I shop here most often because they are one of the very few shops that carry lettuce for my rabbit and have a lot of variety. Green lettuce is 250 pesos/kg ($4.95/2.2 lbs) and romaine is 270 pesos/kg ($5.09/2.2 lbs). All the greens you see here are local greens similar to spinach, that usually grow wild like weeds. I even have two of these varieties growing in my yard now.

The squash I purchased today was 40 pesos/kg, but I’ve seen it as low as 20 pesos/kg. The 2 I purchased for my dogs were organic, but it’s a huge price difference that I didn’t realize until I wrote this post!

From this stall today I purchased:

• celery (for my rabbit)
• white onions
• red onions
• tomatoes
• ginger
• squash
• calamansi (similar to lime)
• radish

Organic lettuce direct from farms is also 250 pesos/kg, but it’s organic! and very limited in quantity. I have three organic farms that contact me directly whenever they have lettuce, but because it’s hard to grow in this hot, tropical weather, I’m always looking for lettuce!

The lettuce wasn’t looking fresh at my usual stall, but I have one that I go to at the deep end of the market and found some there. Only 4-5 stalls sell lettuce (green or romaine, usually green), and it’s a huge 2 block x 3 block market.

There’s a dried fish section, and I bought some dried squid. For Koreans, dried squid is their version of beef jerky. The quality here can’t compare to Korea, but it helps our cravings. Charlie loves dried squid!

I make dog food twice a week. I’m buying 4 kilos of chicken here for dog food at 170 pesos/kilo ($3.27/2.2 lbs). I believe the US is the only country in the world that doesn’t use the metric system, and it’s still hard for me to convert!

One of the most popular dried fish to have as breakfast here is danggit.

We’re hosting friends with kids the same age as Charlie and Olive. They love shrimp so I buy a pound to make shrimp pasta and salad ($4.36 for 1.2 pounds).

There is a popular Filipino street dessert called taho that’s made with silken tofu, brown sugar, and tapioca pearls. I live outside of town so I never get to see the local vendors that sell authentic taho,  and decide to make my own. Sago are tapioca pearls and I buy 1/3 of a kilo.

Some things I didn’t purchase but wanted to share…. Bananas, plaintains, etc. are a big part of Filipino culture.

Banana cue pictured below is a popular merienda (twice daily snack).

There are so many amazing tropical fruits here, but it’s not the season for harvesting now — it’s time for planting with the rainy season. My favorite local fruit is pictured below and called guyabano (soursop). I don’t eat much fruit because it’s too sweet for me, but this is the perfect mix of sweet and sour!

Ampalaya is a very bitter veggie, often cooked like broccoli with beef. It’s a super strong taste, but I love it.

Stray cats, kittens, and dogs always abound at wet markets looking for scraps.

Bagoong is a fermented fish or shrimp condiment that is often eaten with tart green mango, which is not sweet like its yellow counterpart. I just noticed there is a Korean newspaper under the bottles because Korean newspapers are one of the very few that exist here.

There is a huge dried fish section because there was no refrigeration in the past, so Filipinos ate a lot of dried and fermented foods.

The pink eggs are salted duck eggs, and balut is chicken egg embryo. I haven’t tried either of these delicacies while I’ve been here.

I almost never eat pork. Unlike chicken, pork is marked up double at the supermarket.

This seaweed is called lato locally, and sea grapes in the Western world. I love lato.

I was never a fish eater after I got a fish bone stuck in my throat when I was 3, but I’ve grown to like it in my adult years. Fish here are typically sold whole, but vendors will clean, scale, debone and cook it for free or almost no cost.

 
I see locals collect these shells (escargot) on the beaches in low tide daily since I moved here. These were still alive so they were super fresh.

Rice, rice, baby. The majority of locals are famers.

These carenderias are all over town and where most locals eat for less than $1 per meal. For a pretty good meal!

I buy meats for the family at the supermarket because there is almost no price difference for chicken as it’s from the same national supplier, and because it’s kept properly refrigerated. But we’ve never been sick eating food from the wet market! In fact the only time I’ve had food poisoning in the Philippines was when I ate at a nice buffet restaurant. I used to avoid the wet market because as you can imagine, the meat section stinks and proper refrigeration is very questionable. The one in the island capital pictured here doesn’t have nearly as many flies as the one in El Nido! The produce is almost all local though, and so much cheaper than the supermarket so I can’t justify paying 2-3 times more at the supermarket. After 4 years living here, I guess I am a local, because even some of my Filipino friends don’t shop at the wet market!