Food in the Philippines

The most popular food in the Philippines is grown here. What do you think it is?

Rice! The rice grain has an outer layer called a husk. These are dried in the sun.

Then the rice is milled to remove the husks. Does this look like easy work?

Finally the rice is winnowed to remove any husks that remain.

Filipinos also eat cassava, which is a root crop like kumara. It has to be cooked very carefully by peeling and then boiling for one hour.

The fish in this photo is called galunggung. The crab is called river crab. The vegetable dish is a mixture of eggplant, pumpkin and okra (okra is a green vegetable.) The dipping sauce is a mixture of soy sauce, fish sauce, calamansi (like lime), onions and tomato.

Spices are important in Filipino cooking. People grow herbs, chillis and lemongrass.

Other popular foods are... Coconut, Banana,Pineapple, Mango, Peanuts. These are coconut palms.

Even though Filipino farmers grow many foods it is hard for them to have enough money for their families.

One of the reasons that many farmers are poor is that they don’t own the land they work on. They need to pay rent to their landlords.

Sometimes farmers add chemicals to the soil to try to grow more crops and make more money.

Adding chemicals may give farmers a good crop for a few years, but in the long-term they damage the soil.

Why must we care for the soil?

Being wise about the future is important for farmers. They want their children and their grandchildren to be able to grow food from the same soil.

Hermie and Oping suggest that farmers grow organic food without chemicals. They are teaching people how to do this.

Two important parts of organic farming are using natural compost and intercropping. Hermie demonstrates how intercropping works. By planting different vegetables near each other the soil stays healthy.

Isabel’s garden is a good example of inter-cropping. She is growing fennel, herbs, lemongrass, kumara, bananas, eggplant, cassava, sugar cane and okra in one garden.

Being wise about how we treat the earth is called Stewardship. What are some ways that you can be good stewards or kaitiaki of the earth?

Does your family grow any food at home? Do you know anyone who buys organic?

STEWARDSHIP We do not own the land, the seas or the sky. We are kaitiaki. We must care for creation so that all people who come after us can live well too. We need to share the water and food from this earth with the whole human family. Photos: Louise Far