I'm just now watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations as I get ready to leave later for some little neighborhood shopping (it's soooo sunny hot outside...). The episode is set in Colombia. Amazing how many things are similar between Colombia and the Philippines. It's crazy!
Even the streetside restaurant where Anthony is having his lunch with a local coulde be a streetside restaurant in Manila, in a semi-residential street in Manila's Malate district. It looked like that part of Manila except the people look different. Lol!
Then they have these colorful little buses for public transport that's pretty much like Manila's jeepneys except they're buses! Complete with the barker or guy that shouts the routes out for commuters looking to get on the right bus, the markings of the routes on the buses' windshields, etc.
And then of course, the food. They went to a local market where there were many different sorts of tropical fruits. One of which was a caimito that Anthony tried. Caimitos are also available in the Philippines. One wonders if the Philippines got those from South America originally or vice versa during the heydays of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade... a version of globalization for that time. Amazing!
Another food they have which the Philippines has too is the chicharron, and the chunchullo (Colombian term). The Philippines also has chicharron, and chunchullo would be the Philippines' chicharon bulaklak. The latter are fritterlings of pork intestines. They are yummy but more of a guilty pleasure sort of food, mainly consumed as a snack. I wonder if Anthony knew just how much bad cholesterol he was chowing on when he had those. Lol! I remember some of my older family/relatives trying to shy away from consuming chicharon bulaklak because it's really unhealthy... a pig's internal organs deep fried to lip smacking crackling goodness! Lol! :D And dipped in vinegar in the Philippines as you eat them like chips.
Colombia has empanada as well. I love empanada! Gah! It's kinda obvious we probably got these pork recipes from the Spanish or perhaps once again, because of the galleon trade and the exchange of cultures and goods between Latin America and the Philippines that surely transpired along with it.
The people might look somewhat different but it's amazing how many things are similar between the Philippines and another place thousands of miles away.
