Pinoy's Unusual Raw Food

Filipinos are sometimes famous with the foods that they eat, including the raw ones. Some find it disgusting, others find it entertaining and some find it odd. Raw foods for pinoys differ from each region and ethnicity. Here are some of the foods that sometimes are not for those people who are faint in heart, and yes, stomach.

1. This is the most common of all - Kilawin. The words translate directly to raw. Most of the kilawin delicacies are of meat. Some of the most famous kilawins are goat and dog meat. After killing and draining the poor animal with its blood, it is subjected to a blowtorch, mainly for the skin until it is dark brownish in color. The skin, together with some meat, are sliced to thin sizes and then mixed with local herbs, spices and vinegar. The most common recipe is made by mixing the sliced skin with minced ginger, onions, salt and vinegar. The other version is substituting vinegar with lemon juice. It is believed that the lemon or vinegar will cook the raw meat. The food is mainly used as a side dish or for "pulutan" (finger food while drinking alcohol). The dish originated from the Ilocanos of the Ilocos Region. It was introduced by these men to the tagalog provinces mainly Metro Manila.

2. Inbaliktad. Ilocanos are also responsible for this one. Sliced cow meat is doused with boiling water and afterwards is mixed with ginger, onions, salt and vinegar, just like kilawin. The only difference is it is mixed with a bitter juice that came from the digestive tract of the animal which is produced naturally by the cow - a mixture of digested grass and hot water. Only Ilocanos have the stomach to eat this one though.

3. Jumping Salad. No, this is not a moving salad of fruits or vegetables. It is fresh and live prawns in a bowl with vinegar, lemon, ginger, pepper and onions. It is enjoyed by Pinoys especially if the prawn still wiggles as they are eaten. It is a famous expensive pulutan, because it is fresh, not soiled by the fridge.

4. Yellow Fins and other fishes. This is a large fish like tuna. The only requirement is that it should be fresh from the sea. The skin and bones are removed then the meat is sliced into thin slices. Just like the kilawin, it is prepared by using the same method, by mixing with vinegar, ginger and onions. Fish like tuna, milkfish and tilapia also fall victims to these procedures.

5. Small Crabs. I saw someone, when I was a kid, who have the guts to eat one alive in the river. The man was "hand" catching some fish in the rocky river and caught one "alimango" (crab) and it went straight to his watery mouth and ate it. When he saw me, he flashed me with a bloody smile, wow. It seems that this practice was done by the elderly on their time. Just like the jumping salad, sometimes crabs also suffer the same fate.

6. Ant eggs. There are species of ants in the Philippines that they call "abuos". These ants are bigger than the normal sized ants that we see roaming the household. These ants live in tree tops and makes box houses out of the tree leaves and lay their eggs in it. Some daredevil Pinoys get these house boxes to get the eggs for, yes you guessed it, for food. These are mixed with vinegar and salt and safely deposited in their stomachs. Yummy.



There are also unlisted ones here but I have to dig more for information.