PILIPINAS: A KaniNation

Does that look appetizing to you? Of course not.

How about this?

Boy, you know where this is going...

Here's a really good-looking steamed rice...

Finally, THIS!

Tinapa rice, Kanin Club
Photo courtesy of entengvince.wordpress.com

     Most of you would agree with me on this: PINOYS LOVE RICE. *Furiously nodding* Yes?

     According to this article, rice is a part of our ancestors' lives even during the prehistoric times. Di ba, we even a have a place in Banaue called "the Banaue Rice Terraces" and Filipinos claim it to be the 8th wonder of the ancient world.

I don't know if it's the terraces or the rice that makes it
such a wonder... Maybe it's the rice.

     So it's not really surprising that we can't imagine meal time without a freshly steamed rice. How ever way your meal was cooked (fried, sauteed, sauce or broth filled), if you are Pinoy, rice is essential to your daily diet. Kumbaga (as if), it will always be a part of Recommended Dietary Allowance. It's not optional.

     We even took the rice consumption to the next level! This is how a regular Pinoy's diet would probably look like--

• Breakfast, "Tap-SI-log" - SI as in sinangag. Left-over-from-last-night rice which is fried and seasoned, ready for the next day's meal
• Coffee break, Rice Coffee - Made out of toasted rice, which is eventually "brewed" in hot water. Caffeine free! It is said that it boomed during World War II. Maybe not everyone does actually drink rice coffee, but yes, it's proudly a Pinoy original.
• Lunch, Whatever meal plus extra rice! - One viand is to two to three rice; one cup just doesn't seem to be enough for us Filipinos! Don't forget, "Ate, palagay ng sauce, thank you!"
• Merienda, any kakanin you can think of - That's why it's called KAKANIN. It's made out of KANIN, RICE! Puto, kutsinta, palitaw, sapin-sapin; you name it!
• Dinner, probably the same thing you had during lunch, still WITH RICE - You know what I'm saying?

     We're that much adik with rice! I like how Mikey Bustos said it: "A Filipino household without a rice cooker is like Bruno without Mars--it's just the way we are. We're Rice-ivores!" (Click HERE to watch that video!)

     Americans invented this diet called "South Beach Diet". It's a long story, but basically, you have to avoid food with carbohydrates. That shouts NO RICE. I know a lot of my friends who gleefully agreed for the sake of losing pounds. Effective naman, I should say. But I also know that it's not for everyone, especially for a lot of Filipinos.
   
     I don't know about you, but even if my favorite food is carbonara, I can still eat it with rice. Just like how I had my lunch in PLM as a student--Instant Pancit Canton plus rice for only 35PhP! I'm proud to say that my Meal Plan goes pretty much like the list above.

     If you agree, why don't you declare this with me:
     Cheers to Pilipinas, a KaniNation!