Food is important in human life particularly for survival because it is one of the most basic necessities to survive. It gives us energy which enables us to do our daily routines. Aside from these importance, food has given me a different kind of essence such that certain foods have played important roles at particular events of my life. These foods took part in some of the wonderful experiences that I have encountered in the past. For this reason, seeing those foods would always remind me of those experiences that are part of who I am today and because of that I am always capable of reminiscing those unforgettable encounters and cherish the feeling which I once felt for the longest of time.
There are a lot of foods that we knew and have tasted but among the many there is one that will come out as our favorite. And among all those foods that I have tasted, my most favorite dish is afritada. For me, afritada is not difficult to appreciate because of its enticing appearance. It is a dish basically made up of potatoes and carrots added with uniformly sliced pork and is poured with rich and thick tomato sauce. it is very nutritious since its ingredients contains various kinds nutrients like protein and iron as well as carbohydrates and vitamin A. More importantly, this dish became my favorite since it is the specialty of my mother. Moreover, she cooks it during special occasions and during those days when I am low-spirited. She cooks afritada to cheer me up and most especially to make my birthdays remarkable since birthdays happen only once a year. During my birthday, afritada is always present since my mother knows that it is my favorite dish. Then, there was a time when I asked her to share to me her recipe of afritada since we have a cooking activity at school when I was in third year. Fortunately, she did not just shared her recipe to me, she even taught me how to cook afritada. We cooked the food together and there I realized that cooking is really a passion for my mother. So, during our cooking activity at school, me and my groupmates followed my mother's recipe and it turned out to be the best. My teacher and classmates can't help but taste it over and over again. They have appreciated it very much and even requested for my mother to cook for our Christmas party. Since then, my mother would always cook afritada for our Christmas party when I was in my third year and fourth year in high school. And for every praise that my mother received, I became more and more proud with her. Then I told myself,I am very lucky to have a mother who is a good cook.
Another food which is a kind of street food has given me a lot of unforgettable and happy experiences with my high school friends. First, street foods from its name are obviously foods which are sold on streets or sidewalks and these foods are also very easy to make or prepare. Even though these foods are made up only with simple ingredients, these can surely satisfy your food needs. Other people's impression on these might be negative but a lot of people patronize and appreciate this kind of foods. The street might appear dirty as a place for eating but street food lovers never mind the place where they are eating because they think that it is the food that matters to them not the place. I am also a street food lover, I love squid balls, tempura and most especially Fried egg. Fried egg is my favorite street food because it captured my taste as well as my friends'. Fried egg is a street food very popular in one of the places of Northern Cebu, the municipality of Compostela.
It is made up of hard-boiled chicken egg, stuffed inside the ready prepared seasoned flour, deep fried until golden brown in color and this is paired with vinegar sauce. This sauce is not just simply vinegar sauce since it is spiced with garlic and onion making it more aromatic and it can also be added with chili pepper to make it spicy. The flour which serves as the coating is rough outside and is not perfectly shaped but it is smooth and soft inside. fried egg is slightly similar to "kwek-kwek" because both are made up of egg and covered with flour but the former is thickly coated with seasoned flour while the latter is thinly coated with orange-colored flour. Fried egg is bigger because it is made up of chicken egg while "kwek-kwek" is smaller because it is made up of quail egg. For the way of eating, fried egg is eaten using a small plastic bowl covered with disposable plastic which is disposed after being used and replaced with another. for "kwek-kwek", it is cued into a stick and dipped into a paper plate containing the sauce. Anyway, fried egg is my favorite street food not just because of its taste but also because of the must remembered experiences behind it. During my elementary years, me and my classmates would agree to have fried egg as our viand due to lack of allowance while in my high school years, my "barkada" has a policy that whoever got the top place would treat everyone and during our food trips, fried egg is always present and is always the best over the other foods prepared. We sometimes eat fried egg as our lunch due to lack of time to out of the campus. Most importantly, There was a funny experience involving fried egg, one time one of my friends invited the whole "barkada" for her birthday. She's just joking on us, all of us thought that she had a big preparation but to our surprise, she served us with fried egg. Despite that we still enjoyed her birthday and it turned out to be one memorable encounter. These experiences are the very reason why every time I see and eat fried egg, I can't help but remember my friends and reminisce every moment we have shared, those moments that helped us grow better as individuals.Despite our diverse personality and distinct beliefs we still became one because when we are all put together, something incredible happens. It is the magic of friendship and commonality of interests that entice us and unites us into one.
As what I have observed in our modern world today, a lot of people find it difficult to like vegetables especially the young ones because there are a lot of modern food innovations like foods with preservatives, cured meat, ready to eat foods and many more. These foods could easily capture everybody's taste because of its artificial flavoring and this results to the neglect of vegetables. Even tough "utan" or vegetable soup is a typical viand for us, I am not used to eat it. Vegetable soup is a dish made up obviously of different kinds of vegetable, may be leafy or seed-bearing, like "malunggay" (muringga), "alugbati" (vine spinach), squash, eggplant and so many more.It is ussually added with pork or fish to add more flavor to the soup and it is served hot to retain certain features of vegetables. I personally don't eat much vegetables because when I was young, I am not used to eating vegetables so, I cannot adapt to its taste immediately as I was growing up and every time we have vegetable soup as viand, my mother would always see to it that she had prepared another viand for me. Another reason is that I am a person who loves sweets and obviously I will not like vegetables because most of them taste bitter. And because I dislike vegetables, My father punished me during a supper time when I was still six. My father got angry with me for I was crying in front of them while they were eating because our viand was vegetable soup. I was crying the whole time which triggered my father to lift me up and he eventually dropped me off to the fence next to our house where thick bushes and tall grasses grew. Fortunately, my aunt heard me and helped go out from that dark, abandoned place. Another experience with vegetable soup is that when my father observed that my eyes are yellowish. So, they thought that something is wrong with me, they are thinking of hepatitis or other illness related to the liver. I got so worried at that time because I also observed the color of my eyes and what I did during that time is that I usually eat vegetables and sometimes I will say to myself "Maybe this will be the last time that I will taste this".
As what I have observed in our modern world today, a lot of people find it difficult to like vegetables especially the young ones because there are a lot of modern food innovations like foods with preservatives, cured meat, ready to eat foods and many more. These foods could easily capture everybody's taste because of its artificial flavoring and this results to the neglect of vegetables. Even tough "utan" or vegetable soup is a typical viand for us, I am not used to eat it. Vegetable soup is a dish made up onviously of different kinds of vegetable, may be leafy or seed-bearing, like "malunggay" (muringga), "alugbati" (vine spinach), squash, eggplant and so many more.It is ussually added with pork or fish to add more flavor to the soup and it is served hot to retain certyain features of vegetables. I personally don't eat much vegetables because when I was young, I am not used to eating vegetables so, I cannot adapt to its taste immediately as I was growing up and every time we have vegetable soup as viand, my mother would always see to it that she had prepared another viand for me. Another reason is that I am a person who loves sweets and obviously I will not like vegetables because most of them taste bitter. And because I dislike vegetables, my father punished me during a supper time when I was still six. My father got angry with me for I was crying in front of them while they were eating because our viand was vegetable soup. I was crying the whole time which triggered my father to lift me up and he eventually dropped me off to the fence next to our house where thick bushes and tall grasses grew. Fortunately, my aunt heard me and helped go out from that dark, abandoned place. Another experience with vegetable soup is that when my father observed that my eyes are yellowish. So, they thought that something is wrong with me, they are thinking of hepatitis or other illness related to the liver. I got so worried at that time because I also observed the color of my eyes and what I did during that time is that I usually eat vegetables and sometimes I will say to myself "Maybe this will be the last time that I will taste this". Every time that I will reminisce those moments, i can't help but laugh at myself because it feels so weird for acting that way and I can't even imagine that I was thinking of death.
Foods for me are essential not just for survival but also for enhancing my social relationship with my mother, father and friends. If not because of these certain foods namely afritada, fried egg and vegetable soup, I will never learn to appreciate my mother's passion for cooking, why my father punished me when I did not eat vegetable soup and how I became a part of a strong friendship with my friends since elementary until high school. Therefore, these foods will serve as symbols of my self development and as reminders of the past experiences I have once shared with some of the important persons in my life. Through these foods, I will never forget those moments where I learned my lesson of appreciation. Let us now give importance to foods for it will not just give us the opportunity to live longer but also it will help us to develop our personhood as we encounter them and these will also enable us to appreciate the story behind every food encounter.
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