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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 07/20/2010 : 11:48:24
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The indigenous fruits and vegetables of the Philippines are a gourmet chef's delight, as well as the fatal undoing of many an incautious chef.
The reasons caution should be taken in selecting Philippine produce are many and each is deadly important. No mention of this produce should skip over the subtle but potent inherent dangers. Nothing less than less than a thick volume with references including toxicology, microbiology, parasitology, pharmacology, etc. should be attempted. A less thorough discussion would be an invitation to invoking the phrase, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." But I figure I can wrap up this matter with a few random examples in pictures and captions.
Some Philippine Fruits and Vegetables of the Problematic Kind
 
Many a Filipino chef has reached into the wrong bin:
(L) Snake Beans (Sitao). (R) Bean Snakes (Oatis).
Two cultivars of Kamoting Kahoy
(Kamote or Cassava) are grown by the
near-extinct Bumluk tribe. The tribal
names for the two varieties translate
as "Bitterly-Nutritious" and "Sweetly-
Poisonous." Unfortunately, all surviv-
ing Bumluks have a sweet tooth.
 
Durian fruit (L) is remarkably tasty, but smells like sloth feces.
Turdian (R) is the foul fecal product of the Greater Leprous
Swamp Sloth. Its fruity aroma is irresistibly delicious.
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Edited by - HalfMooner on 07/20/2010 11:50:37
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2010 : 12:56:38 [Permalink]
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Ouch!
If I happen to go to the Philippines some day, I'll make sure to invite your expertise to the table. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2010 : 23:12:18 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
Ouch!
If I happen to go to the Philippines some day, I'll make sure to invite your expertise to the table.
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Please feel welcome to call upon my expertise, Mab. For starters, never assume a simple dish like "fried rice" is perfectly safe to order: You may inadvertently get a disgusting (but protein-filled) order of "flied lice." |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2010 : 23:59:48 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
Ouch!
If I happen to go to the Philippines some day, I'll make sure to invite your expertise to the table.
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Please feel welcome to call upon my expertise, Mab. For starters, never assume a simple dish like "fried rice" is perfectly safe to order: You may inadvertently get a disgusting (but protein-filled) order of "flied lice."
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O.o
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
 Posted - 07/21/2010 : 00:44:17 [Permalink]
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| Mmmmmm......sloth feces. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2010 : 03:24:21 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Starman
Mmmmmm......sloth feces.
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Yes, it's filled with vitamins and minerals, and tasty, nutritious, moth larvae. It can't get no better than that!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2010 : 04:04:13 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Originally posted by Starman
Mmmmmm......sloth feces.
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Yes, it's filled with vitamins and minerals, and tasty, nutritious, moth larvae. It can't get no better than that!
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Sloth Moths? Who'd'a guessed it? Imagine the size of the sloth in whose hair Mothra had nested.
To me, the best thing about that link is discovering that sloths climb down from the trees to take a dump. Until learning that, I never wanted to walk under a tree in their habitat. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2010 : 05:15:13 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Originally posted by Starman
Mmmmmm......sloth feces.
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Yes, it's filled with vitamins and minerals, and tasty, nutritious, moth larvae. It can't get no better than that!
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It looks like they only do their business once a week. So I'm guessing that there had better not be a line at the bottom of that tree.
edited... |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
| Edited by - moakley on 07/21/2010 05:15:48 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2010 : 06:03:49 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by moakley
Originally posted by filthy
Originally posted by Starman
Mmmmmm......sloth feces.
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Yes, it's filled with vitamins and minerals, and tasty, nutritious, moth larvae. It can't get no better than that!
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It looks like they only do their business once a week. So I'm guessing that there had better not be a line at the bottom of that tree.
edited...
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Fact is that sloths are pretty much territorial, especally males. The little pile of faeces at the bottom of a tree serves as a boundry marker as well as a moth incubator -- and Starman's lunch.... 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2010 : 08:25:09 [Permalink]
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A bit more seriously, I did a review of Philippine produce the other day, just for my own information. I intend to sample most of the foodstuffs here, and I already love several of the tropical fruits.
While doing that, I thought of some possibly funny approaches to the local produce.
The big, spiky durian, "king of tropical fruits," really does stink somewhat like shit, but is perfectly wholesome and tastes wonderful. Durians don't, as far as I know, grow on Luzon, but in Mindanao and more equatorial climes such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
Kamote, a tuber from which tapioca is derived, when fresh is dangerously loaded with cyanide, but when processed properly, is a solid starchy staple food for people all over the tropical world. It comes in a bitter, more poisonous variety, as well as a "sweet" (actually, just less poisonous) variety.
Snake beans I have never even seen with my own eyes, but the picture I found make them look very much like little green snakes. (By the way, the local "Baguio beans," which are a type of green beans, are famous all over the Philippines, as are the strawberries grown in nearby La Trinidad.)
Foods here are actually quite good, though perhaps the habit of frying is a bit too common for healthy nutrition. Restaurants do cut steaks quite thin, but at least they usually taste good. (The Philippines imports much of its meats and dairy products from Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, etc. Meat dishes, aside from pork or chicken, are somewhat rare, and usually served sparingly.) I plan to do some barbecuing here. When I do, I will request thickly-cut steaks from a butcher. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Produce of the Philippines
