How many Exotic Foods of the Philippines do you eat? I have eaten all but two on this list... (Click) to see the pics

I have eaten all but two on this list... How many of these Exotic Foods of the Philippines do you eat? (Click) to see the pics

Every country has their share of exotic foods served on the table with some even known as the country's specialty. The Philippines is no different.  Here are a few of those I found.

There are so many Filipino exotic foods that are truly unique and delicious.  Below you will find some of the many Filipino exotic foods.

Some of them have a strange appearance and look weird.  There are some people that dive right in and eat them while others find them not acceptable or not appropriate to eat. Personally, I fall somewhere in between.

That being said... If you follow the adage "don't judge the book by its cover", then you will able to eat each of these without hesitation.

This saying really applies to unique exotic foods of the Philippines.  I have eaten all but two on the following list.  And for me most of it was overcoming the mental challenge involved in getting it into my mouth.  And "YES," I ate the balut.

BALUT

Balut is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell.

Balut eggs are believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack.

Balut is sold primarily by street vendors in the regions where they are available.

SOUP NUMBER 5

Soup Number Five, is a soup made from bull's testicles or penis.

Like balut, it is believed to have aphrodisiac tendencies that makes people say it is better than spending money on Viagra..

GINATAANG KUHOL

The French call "kuhol" by the name  "escargot". Kuhol or escargot is an edible snail. Guinataang Kuhol is a favorite appetizer in Filipino restaurants. It is also a popular pica-pica (finger food) that goes well with cold beer. Ginataang kuhol is a spicy dish.


 DINUGUAN

Dinuguan is a Filipino savory stew of blood and meat (typically stomach, intestines, ears, heart and snout) simmered in a rich, spicy dark gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili , and vinegar.

TAMILOK

In Palawan and Aklan in the Philippines, the woodworm is called tamilok  and it is eaten as a delicacy there.

Tamilok is prepared as kinilaw—that is, raw (cleaned) but marinaded with vinegar or lime juice, chopped chili peppers and onions, a process very similar to ceviche. The taste and texture has been compared to oysters and clams.
 

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Crab Mentality and Ways To Cope

The phrase crab mentality is one that many of us are familiar with, or have fallen victim too. It is a mental mindset that best describes individuals who possess a selfish, short-sighted way of seeing the world.

It’s basically saying, “If I can’t have it, neither should you.” Normally, it is not a compliment to an individual’s character or personality if they are referred to having a crab mentality; it is actually something that a lot of us would see as being an insult.

The phrase derived from what occurs when you place several crabs in one container. If one crab attempts to escape a bucket of live crabs, the other crabs will attempt to pull it back down, rather than allowing the crab whom is trying to escape  to gain its freedom.

The process, if you ever get the chance to watch at times seems underhanded, because the crabs at the bottom of the container will allow the one crab to get almost to the top and getting a sight of its freedom, before snagging it back down; just to start the process all over again.

The crabs are oblivious to the fact that eventually they all will meet their fate and that not even one of them would ever see or feel freedom ever again; which I imagine is of no concern to them.

When a person is said to have a crab mentality, it simply means they are unwilling to allow someone else to escape a situation, are plagued with jealousy and envy, or possess the need to stop the successful progress of another.
In the mental mindset of someone who has a crab mentality, their train of thought is to sabotage another persons plan for attempting to leave a life that may not have rendered the other individual any good whatsoever. That is simply of no concern to the crabbily individuals.

Instead of using their resources or simple encouragement to help advance other’s; they would rather not lend any support at all.

Sometimes even going as far as to trying to break the person spirit or means of advancement altogether, by talking negatively about the person or insulting the individual’s self-worth.  They ever go through the extremes of criticizing any attempts one might have towards self-betterment.

There is no age cap on this type of mentality; it’s in every gender, and every race, and in every social standing. It’s found in our jobs, our schools, our homes, and yes even in the blog world. I have found that a lot of times, those who are guilty of the mentality, deny that they even have it at all.

It’s the inability to be happy for someone else that is taking the necessary steps to move forward; instead, that person is classified as, “trying to be better”, “trying to be like someone else”, or “trying to be something that they are not.” It never registers to the crab mentality holder that the person, maybe just wants to better themselves.
So below I’ve come up with some easy fixes to cope with those who possess such foolishness.

Ways to Cope with Crab Mentality

When handling a person that has a crab mentality you must first see them for who they really are. And, you’ll be able to pinpoint them easily; they truly can’t help exposing themselves.

You tell them a dream that you have or a goal that you’re trying to reach; and they tear it into little bitty pieces, as though your dreams was paper and they were paper shredders.

After you know the truth about these individuals and have placed them in the category of having a “crab mentality”, you then should protect your dreams and goals from these individuals.

They can’t tear up, what they don’t know about, right?

Place those gems (your dreams and goals) only in people who believe you can achieve what you’re setting out to do. They will in turn give you insight, encouragement, and inspiration to reach those things you wish to obtain.

After you have categorized these individuals you should then steer clear of them…. all of them!
Not forever if that’s not what you’re able to do, but for as long as you can until your gems take shape and you’re able to be around them without them influencing your progress.

Lastly, keep your eyes open and avoid having the mentality yourself. Since no one is exempt from practicing this selfish behavior, you should look for the first sign of you possessing the trait and eliminate it immediately.

By supporting someone else’s dream or helping them to reach their goal, you may just find that you have actually helped yourself to get little bit closer to reaching your own.

Let’s discuss now, shall we? 

Have you ever had to deal with someone who possessed a crab mentality? 

How did you handle the individual? 

What advice would you give to other’s who may have found themselves surrounded by individuals who see their personal growth as trying to be better?






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If you like this and other Filipino related topics, food,  humor and videos be sure to visit us on Facebook at Dr. Dave's Filipino Scene.

Dr. Dave's Filipino Scene promotes cultural diversity of Filipinos around the world uniting them thru humor, fun, food & traditions.  Hope  you visit our new Fan page.

Here is a link to visit us:  (You may need to copy and paste this link into your browser)

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Be sure to tell your friends.  We hope to see you there.

Salamat:-)))

-=-Dr. Dave-=
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October is Filipino Heritage Month - Who are the Filipino Americans?

October is Filipino Heritage Month - Who are the Filipino Americans?

Filipino Americans are immigrants to the United States from one of the 7,107 islands and islets that form the archipelago of the Philippines, and their U.S.-born descendants. In the United States, Filipinos are categorized as Asian Americans. This official category is used to refer to people who can trace their ancestry to the peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian sub-continent. However, Filipinos are unique within the Asian groups given the strong Spanish influence in their culture in addition to Chinese and Malaysian influences.

 The Philippine Islands were under Spanish colonial rule from 1565 through 1898. In 1564 Miguel López de Legazpi, acting on behalf of King Philip II of Spain, set off on an expedition to colonize and Christianize the archipelago. He landed in Cebu in 1565, and during the next seven years transformed the Philippines into a Spanish colony and the only Christian nation in Asia. About one hundred years before the arrival of the Spaniards, the religious traditions of Filipinos had been strongly influenced by Muhammadans, also known as Moors or Moros. In fact, even after the Spaniards' arrival, conversion to Christianity was not uniform; the Moors in the southern Philippines successfully resisted Spanish influence for three centuries.


American Control of the Philippines

The Philippines and the United Stated have had a long-lasting, intertwined political history. At the close of the Spanish-American War of 1898, the United States paid Spain $20 million at the close of the Treaty of Paris, wherein Spain relinquished claims on the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Initially, U.S. military forces controlled only Manila and surrounding geographic areas. Early in 1899, the Philippine-American War began as the United States tried to gain greater control of the archipelago, whose inhabitants had already fought for and declared a Philippine Republic headed by Emilio Aguinaldo. The war ended in 1902. President Theodore Roosevelt's peace proclamation applied to all except the "country inhabited by the Moro tribes," located in the southern lands of the archipelago. Some scholars contend that the Philippine-American War extended unofficially until 1912 or 1913. On 4 July 1946, the United States granted independence to the Philippines, marking the formation of the second Philippine Republic. However, Filipinos and Filipino Americans celebrate Independence Day on 12 June, the date when the Philippines declared independence from Spain in 1898.

There have been four identified waves of Filipino migration to the United States, each marked by a particular sociopolitical context that has shaped both Filipino and American history. The beginning of the first wave was in 1763, although Filipino migration to the United States has been documented as early as 1587, when so-called Luzon Indians landed in Morro Bay, California. The Indians were crewmembers of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza. These early travels by the Luzon are not surprising given that their lands were among the first colonized by Spaniards in the 1560s.

Filipino Migration

In the first wave of Filipino migration, Filipino seamen (Manilamen) in Acapulco crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Barataria Bay in Louisiana in 1763. They established a series of Philippine-style fishing villages and pioneered the dried shrimp industry in America. In 1781, Antonio Miranda Rodríguez, a Filipino, and his eleven-year-old daughter were sent by the Spanish government from Mexico to settle the Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula, later known as the city of Los Angeles. The second wave of migration to America occurred between 1906 and 1935, after the United States had gained control of the islands. It brought students, scholars (pensianados), and workers. More than 125,000 Filipinos migrated to Hawaii to work on Hawaiian sugarcane plantations. The Filipino presence in Hawaii continues to be significant. In 1994, Ben Cayetano, Hawaii's fifth governor and the first of Filipino heritage, took office; he was reelected in 1998. Some Filipinos in the second wave of immigration went to labor in the farms of California and canneries of Alaska. This led to the prominent participation of Filipinos in the United Farm Workers, most famous for its 1965 Delano, California, grape strike.

The third and fourth waves of migration follow each other very closely. The third wave began with the end of World War II (1939–1945) and lasted through 1965. These immigrants traveled to the United States mostly to join the U.S. Navy as noncitizens. The fourth wave of migration came with the passage in 1965 of the Immigration and Nationality Act that removed the 1924 national origins quota system. This wave of migration has been characterized as the "brain drain" wave because of the high numbers of Filipino professionals moving to the United States.

Filipinos As a Component of the U.S. Population

Filipino Americans make up 2.4 million of the 11.9 million Asian Americans in the United States. They are the second largest Asian subgroup in America, closely trailing the 2.7 million Chinese Americans in the country. Filipinos provided the largest number of immigrants from any Asian group between 1981 and 1998, bringing over 927,000 new immigrants to the United States during this seventeen-year span. The majority of these immigrants settled in California (47 percent of all immigrants from the Philippines settled there in 1998). In 1999, of the 1.5 million foreign born Filipinos living in the United States, over 61 percent were naturalized citizens. Although the information is scant, available vital and health statistics for Filipino Americans compare favorably to those for other ethnic minorities in America. In 1998, 6.2 percent of births to Filipinas were to teen mothers, 19.7 percent were to unwed mothers (a far second place among Asian Americans to Hawaii's 51.1 percent), 84.2 percent of Filipino American mothers began prenatal care in the first trimester, and 8.2 percent of their children were born in the low birth weight category. These numbers are not surprising, given that the Philippine nation of over 74 million people has similarly low rates of children born to teen mothers (3.9 percent) and born at low birth weight (9 percent) along with high rates of immunization, with anywhere between 71 percent and 91 percent of children immunized for various illnesses. Filipino Americans have higher than national average rates of participation in the workforce, high school graduation, and college graduation. Even though Filipino Americans have over twice the national proportion of three or more household members participating in the workforce, their per capita income is slightly below the national average, although they have below national average poverty rates. Filipino Americans are most notably visible in Hawaii, Alaska, California, and Nevada.

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Bibliography

Bautista, Veltisezar. The Filipino Americans (1763–Present): Their History, Culture, and Traditions. 2d ed. Naperville, Ill.: Book-haus, 2002.

Scharlin, Craig, and Lila V. Villanueva. Philip Vera Cruz: A Personal History of Filipino Immigrants and the Farm Workers Movement. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000.

U.S. Bureau of the Census. "The Asian Population: 2000." Available from http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-16.pdf

PINOY TRIVIA: When and who introduced the English language in the Philippines ? If you thought it was America, like I did, you would be wrong.

PINOY TRIVIA: When and who introduced the English language in the Philippines ?  If you thought it was America, like I did, you would be wrong.
 
The Philippines is the world's 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK.

Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans.

A British conquest of the Spanish Philippines occurred between 1762 and 1764, although the only part of the Philippines which the British actually occupied was the Spanish colonial capital Manila and the nearby principal port, Cavite, both on Manila Bay.

On 24 September 1762, the small but technically proficient force of British Army regulars and British East India Company soldiers, supported by the ships and men of the East Indies Squadron of the British Royal Navy, sailed into Manila Bay from Madras. The expedition, led by Brigadier General William Draper and Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish, captured Manila, "the greatest Spanish fortress in the western Pacific", and attempted to establish free trade with China.

On 2 November 1762, Dawsonne Drake of the British East India Company assumed gubernatorial office as the British governor of Manila. He was assisted by a council of four, consisting of John L. Smith, Claud Russel, Henry Brooke and Samuel Johnson.

British author Nicholas Tracy writes that the British only ever continuously controlled Manila and nearby Cavite. But Manila was the capital, and key, to the Spanish Philippines, and the British accepted the written surrender of the Spanish government in the Philippines from Archbishop Rojo and the Real Audiencia on 30 October 1762.

The isolated British presence in the Philippines was precarious and attempts to extend their rule outside of Manila and Cavite were unsuccessful, with only a few areas briefly coming under their authority or influence. The Seven Years War was ended by the Treaty of Paris (1763) signed on 10 February 1763. The British ended their rule by embarking from Manila and Cavite in the first week of April 1764, and sailing out of Manila Bay for Batavia, India, and England.

Hmmm When I say "Eat-all-you-can" what sorts of feelings does this conjure up for you?

Hmmm When I say "Eat-all-you-can"  what sorts of feelings does this conjure up for you?  What do you think of when you hear this familiar term?   Do you get hungry like I do?   Did you all of the sudden get hungry just with the thought of this?  :-))) 

If you are not familiar with the term I shall explain. 

In the Philippines buffet restaurants are called "Eat-all-you-can" restaurants.

Eat-all-you-can restaurants are popular among barkadas (a Filipino term meaning a group of friends) and families who are looking for a food adventure.  These are great for people who like to eat a lot, like lots of variety, don't like to dress up, and they will be popular with the kids, too.

Like buffet restaurants, in the USA, "Eat-all-you-can" restaurants are made up of long tables filled with salads, soup, rice, Pinoy dishes, Chinese foods and several other kinds of dishes, fruits and desserts.

So the next time you are feeling hunger pangs and not sure what you feel like eating visit an "Eat-all-you-can" restaurant and have your choice of foods and deserts.


Maybe Lucy and I will see you at one of them.  :-)))