Rice from The Philippines
I will be the first person to admit, I am not a huge fan of rice. It does little for me. The Philippines staple food is rice, and it’s everywhere. Not only that but it’s hard to get anything else but rice, aside from fast food eateries.
The thing I found about rice in the Philippines is that the servings are usually really small. In fact it’s a small soup bowl that’s used to fill most servings that’s then turned upside down on your main plate. Though in some night food stalls you will get a small parcel of rice in a banana or palm leaf.
In the markets the rice obsession continues as you will see more varieties of rice than just about everywhere. A lot of people are even paid in just rice. Give a Filippino some bread and they will still be hungry, give them rice and they are happy.
The unfortunate thing about all this rice is that most of it is imported. If you’ve read my journals from the rice terrace in the north of the Philippines and about the rice terrace devastation in the Philippines then you’ll know what I mean. The Philippines is well capable of growing most of it’s own rice, but does not.
Likewise the Philippines does not seem to take heed of other nations from the past who relied only on one crop. Should a crop disease hit Asian rice, the Philippines is in trouble. The same is also true for shortages as was made evident in 2008/9 during the food shortage problems. Rice prices soared and the people suffered.
I hope for the Philippines sake they reinvest in their own agriculture and diversify a little.
This is an additional post and one of a series highlighting Filipino food
thanks for the valuable information. Its really sad to know that philippines has the capability of growing rice but is not able to that. Whatever the reason be. Seriously they need to reinvest in agriculture.
My “commute” to work is a four-day transit across the Drake Passage aboard a research vessel. The ship is crewed by Phillipinos….rice is served in the galley 3 meals a day – of course they serve other things, but rice is ever-present.
-Will- Thats some commute! But i know your site so i get it. Still, i hope your pinoy crew can cook you up something more than rice x 3 times!
The Philippines produces a lot of rice, sadly they can’t afford to eat their own rice. It’s more lucrative for the farmer to export the rice they grow and buy the cheap stuff to eat.
This is very true. A shame too.
hmmm..rice is the staple for most people in the world. it’s not just a philippines obsession. in america, almost all major supermarts already have their own rice aisles in fact, and sushi is very widespread as well.