Filipino Street Foods!

We Filipinos love street food. Every time we stroll around the downtown area, we can't help but to buy street food. We also eat street food after class, work and church service. I am not really sure why we love eating street food maybe because it is cheap, available, or it is just fun eating outside while standing and talking with your friends and family. Well I guess we just can't resist the flavors of these street foods.



Below are the list of street foods in Philippines especially Davao City. Most are my favorites while some are mostly Filipino's favorite.



1. Isaw -  made from barbecued pig or chicken intestines.  The intestines are well-cleaned and boiled before grilling over charcoal. It has somehow found it's way to name every other animal meat organ barbecue after itself.

2 Fishball, Kikiam, Squidball and etc. 

3. Fruit Slices -  Slices of different fruits such as Green Mango, Papaya, Jicama (Singkamas), Guave, Pineapple. These fruits slices come in 5-10 pesos per pack and your choice of condiments (Salt,Vinegar,Soysauce,Chili Powder)

4. Boiled / Grilled Corn

5. Banana Cue - Deep fry Banana  coated with sugar. There are also Camote Cue (Deep Fry sweet potato coated with sugar). You can also buy grilled Banana with margarine and sugar.

6.  Buko Juice

7.  Kwek Kwek - Deep fry boiled egg coated with color orange flour. It usually come with cucumber,salt and vinegar.

8. Samalamig - from the root word lamig meaning cold, are prepared beverages that contain sago (tapioca pearls) and gulaman (gelatin), and are usually flavored with syrup from a wide variety of fruit extracts.

9. Siomai -  is either steamed or fried. It is commonly eaten with a dipping sauce composed of a mix of soy sauce, calamansi extract, and chili sauce. Before I can only eat this in Chinese restaurant but now it is available in street at a very low price.

10. Taho - made of fresh soft/silken tofu, arnibal (sweetener and flavoring), and sago pearl (similar to tapioca pearls). This is really a very healthy food!

11. Last But not the Least Balut!!! - is a developing duck embryo (fertilized duck egg) that is boiled and eaten in the shell. Honestly I am not fond of Balut but I don't say it taste disgusting. For me it taste okay but I don't really eat Balut because of its looks and I feel it is similar to abortion haha. Well I include it in the list because many Filipinos addicted to this and this is a very healthy food. Rich in Protein.

While enjoying the good taste of street food we should also make sure that what or where we are eating are clean. We can judge it by looking at the vendor, the place and how were the foods being prepared. If you are unsure better not to buy especially if you have a weak stomach but don't miss out the fun in the street!

By: Doris Jamoner