one filipino dish a week

I have been MIA the last couple of weeks. I didn’t expect that I’d be this busy. Please bear with me. I have a few things down the pike that I’ll be posting shortly. In the meantime please go through older posts and as always… Eat Filipino Food!

In this episode: The Girl teaches us the how to eat with our hands the Filipino Way.

Some points on how to eat with your hands:
1. Wash your hands
2. Use the rice to make the food stick together
3. The ring, middle, and pointer finger act as the spoon to scoop up the food
4. Use your thumb to push the food into your mouth

There are many things in life that we take for granted but when we look back on that particular thing we realize that it has such great importance in our lives that it really needs to be celebrated. Looking back at my childhood I am really grateful and thankful for the dinners that my family had. Everyday we sat at the table to share dinner, Saturday lunches and to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Looking back at those times it was definitely a bond that made my family close and probably attributes my close relationship with my parents. Granted that I’m the only child but I think the forum of the dinner table is when the family can just be themselves and share their joys and tackle their problems together. I may not have been privy to some of the issues that my parents spoke about when I was a young boy but I think that was a place for us to share that moment with each other. One thing that I’m glad was that there was no tv. It forced the family to really talk to each other and create conversation. It made my parents aware of how I was doing in school and who my friends were (what I told at least) . But the dinner table is a powerful place that is quite important in a home. There aren’t too many big events in our lives that we don’t share a meal with our family and friends. Take time this week to share a meal with your family/friends together.

I’m so glad that my mom brought that table with us when we moved. It’s definitely an important piece in our lives and makes my family what it is today whether we realize it or not.

Several birthdays, Christmases, anniversaries, joys, tears and heated debates have happened at this table. Lives have changed, people have moved on, kids have turned to adults but the table remains an integral centerpiece each step of the way.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours! Eat Filipino Food!

Below is the conversation that sparked this entry

paoix: When you eat chicken you kill the chicken
The Girl: No, someone else kills the chicken
paoix: Yes, but you are the cause that the chicken is killed
The Girl: I will not eat the chicken that I kill. The chicken is already dead. Someone else killed it. If no one will kill the chicken I will not eat chicken.
paoix: The reason that the chicken gets killed it’s because you want to buy the chicken to eat it
The Girl: But I only want to buy the chicken that someone else killed
paoix: Which in essence you killed because they wouldn’t have killed if you did not have the desire to buy

This repeats several more times without any resolve. So here it is out there for everyone to continue the discussion and maybe come to a resolve. I am of the camp that because us consumers demand chicken we are the main reason that chickens get killed for food. Because of our need for chicken (the demand) someone will always kill a chicken (the supply). A market is created and because of the demand that’s the reason why chickens get killed. The Girl on the other hand is on the camp that she’s only buying the chicken because it’s already killed. And essentially she’s not the reason for the chickens death because it’s already dead.

Obviously, this can be substituted for any type of meat that we eat. To me this is an interesting discussion because we have been so distanced from our food supply that we have no idea where our food comes from or how it is made. The grocery store is as far back in the lifecycle as we go. We’ve become pretty complacent with accepting that the food in the grocery store is safe (including myself). This ignorance leads to dangerous food borne diseases and to some extent the obesity problem in the US.

Bringing it back to the discussion… are you a chicken killer? so, what say you?