#11: Food Finesse

One of the things that makes my face twitch when in parties or buffets is when people dump 5 different kinds of food on their plate. Yes, even the cake and ice cream beside the menudo and pancit guisado. How can they stand that?

I know people will tell me, but it will all go in your tummy anyway? Why bother separating them in your plate?

C'mon guys. Then if you're gonna run that by me then maybe you should just blend all those in an osterizer and just suck them through a straw.

Enjoying food is an art that takes much care and respect.

You know, the cooks or chefs who prepared the tasty meal on that chafing dish has painstakingly put together all its specific ingredients in a ceratin order so that it will taste exactly the way it does. For example, the caldereta has so many different versions. One is simply stewed in tomato sauce with liver spread. Another version has peanut butter and cheese. Another version has gata and suka. Whatever version it may be and whoever cooked that caldereta deliberately made it taste like that and it will simply be utter disrespect if you just mixed it with the pastel and the ube ice cream. Oh dear. I am pained by the wasted effort.

If you are in a simpler sit down dinner at home or in a fancy-schmancy restaurant, then you won't have the chance to do that. But in buffets? Some Pinoys shamelessly expose their... greed, if I may say. They place everything in their plate (and in portions they cannot finish) as if the glaciers have already melted and will drown our poor island any minute from now. Mga repapips, relax! You can come back again later! And if fate has been cruel at wala ka nang nabalikan, then at tleast you have dropped a few coins in your elegance bank.

Also, it will give you space to properly enjoy and taste those yummy morsels on your plate. If two viands will fit without procreating or being mutated into a scary monster, then that's it. And PLEASE, place your dessert on a different plate! Then start off with 3 bites from the first dish, then 3 bites from the next and so on. Then kuha ka ulit! Iba naman. Taste how the ox tongue absorbed the  cheesy creamy sauce. Feel the texture of the meat against the tangy, juicy crunch of the pickles. Then allow 3 spoonfuls of rice (ang siba din pala e ano? May pasosyal-sosyal pang nalalaman...)to break the rich medley of flavors in your mouth. O di ba ang sarap?

Ganuuuun! Namnamin mo! Make love with your meal!

Chances are, if you know how to enjoy your food, you also know how to enjoy life. Take your time. Hindi ka mauubusan. Breathe in the morning air (so long as wala ka sa Recto ok?). Play with your toddler and find out what is the latest trick he learned. Talk about the latest about PNoy with your Granny. Walk. Enjoy looking at the grocery displays. Sway your head with the windshield wiper. Wave back to the malunggay leaves saying hi to you from outside your window.

In the end, it's not in how much but in how good it all was.