I love my adobo with rice, but a friend once showed me how to eat it with bread.
Hmmm. Ok, maybe I will if there’s no alternative. But I still would rather have hot, steaming rice.
The Philippines has been eating rice for centuries. Changing an entire nation’s eating habits won’t be easy. But as former socioeconomic planning secretary and UP professor Felipe Medalla pointed out to me a few weeks ago half-jokingly, if Filipinos won’t eat too much rice, there will be no shortage!
So experts are now pushing for rice alternatives and extenders, namely sweet potato and corn, which actually have more fiber content and thus more nutritional value.
Here are some recipe/blog entries on kamote and other alternatives from my favorite food blogger Market Manila. I hope you don’t mind if many of them are snacks or desserts! The last recipe is my favorite breakfast alternative to sinangag. Enjoy!
Minatamis na kamote
Deep friend bananas with caramelized sugar
Roast duck with sweet potatoes
Battered and friend bananas
French Toast / Eggy Bread / Pain Perdu a la Marketman
April 24th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I have cut down eating rice to lose weight and shifted to eating more whole grain food like wheat bread. For some of us, alternatives such as bread would just be a simple choice while shopping. But remember that there are millions of poor Filipinos who subsist on rice alone. I met a family of 7 who eat rice with one pack of noodles. How about them? What alternative do they have? NFA should clean their act soon or many impoverished Pinoys will have nothing on their plates.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:44 pm
hmmm… i think it’s going to be really difficult to wean ourselves off rice which makes me think whether it’s really worth looking for alternatives…
we are now living where potatoes are the staple food, yet the first thing we did upon arriving is to ask around for asian food stores… particularly where we could buy good quality rice grains.
besides, when i did the math, rice is still the more cost efficient option compared to bread, potatoes, etc.
thus i think the better alternative to this rice problem is, as pointed out on the previous blog post, minimize waste… know the whole family’s regular rice intake (in terms of cups) and cook accordingly… if my calculation is correct, a cup of uncooked rice will yield between 2-3 cups of boiled rice (depending on the type of grain that is).
just a thought…
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I agree with the suggestion to reduce rice intake, but perhaps selectively. For those who are battling obesity or trimming waistlines, cutting down on carbo like rice is the best remedy. This is not enough however because we need to augment our production of vegetables and fruits, fish and poultry as sources of richer nutrition for the vast majority of our people. Plant more rice. Grow fruits and vegetables. Raise fish and poultry. Get productive, not consumptive.
I am now in Ho Chi Minh City where locals boast they have several years in reserve of rice; where US$1 (P42) can buy 3 full meals per day consisting of a balanced diet (rice-vegetables-meat or fish); and of course, moderate intake that’s why they are mostly slim and healthy. They also eat lots of rice noodles and French bread as alternatives sources of carbo.
God bless and Godspeed to us all.
God bless and Godspeed to us all.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:38 am
When I was trying to lose weight, I dropped rice from my diet and lost about 10 pounds within a month (I do not mean to be insensitive to those heavily impacted by the rice shortage, but for some, this could be a motivation to get down to a healthier weight level). In lieu of rice, I had corn sometimes but I ate mostly wheat bread with just about everything. I even tried bread with pinakbet, but that was really pushing it. Boiled plantain bananas and other root crops are complex carbohydrates, so they are pretty good substitutes, too.