Philippines
/ Metro Manila / Shopping
A large variety
of food is grown and processed locally throughout the year. Domestically
raised food is cheap compared to other countries. Also, foods
locally produced reaches the market in a fresher condition than,
for example, in the US. There are also imported foods available
from neighboring countries and the west. Canned goods are relatively
cheap, but things like imported cheese and meat are costly.
Basic food
is cheapest and often of the best quality in markets. These correspond
to what Americans call Farmers' Markets. Rice costs approximately
11.50 pesos per kilo, pork is about 60 pesos, chicken 60, and
beef 80. The price of fish and seafood is very inconsistent. As
long as the weather is good prices may be as low as 18 pesos a
kilo for fish, but when there has been a typhoon, or just bad
weather, the price may double or triple. In comparison to meat
and fish, vegetables generally are not cheap. The most common
vegetables in The Country are potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage,
beans and eggplant. These all cost 10 to 15 pesos a kilo most
of the time. Untypical vegetables such as cauliflower, red cabbage,
and head lettuce are grown in the mountains around Baguio. But
prices for these western vegetables are quite high. Head lettuce
sometimes reaches 85 pesos a kilo.
There also
are native vegetables, many of them not found in western countries.
The most important are: sweet potatoes (kamote), pumpkin (kalabasa),
kasaba, kangkong, malunggay, gabe, ube, sitaw, lima beans (patani).
Sweet potatoes
are not unlike potatoes in taste, but have an underlying sweetness.
The color varies from yellow to violet. Cassava, gabe and ube
are also carbohydrate vegetables, similar to the potato. Kangkong
and malunggay are leafy green vegetables. Sitaw are very long
string beans. There is an abundance of tropical fruit available.
Fruit is cheapest on markets. In Manila, the biggest market for
fruits is Divisoria. Another market in Manila with a wide variety
of high quality fruits is the San Andres market in the tourist
belt. However, fruit prices at San Andres market are high.
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