the Philippines "Crices"

by TIm Tayag http://timtayag.com/?cat=15

Isn’t it ironic that we, a supposedly agricultural country that produces food for the rest of the world, are experiencing a rice shortage that has forced us to import our own staple food. Our country needs rice to keep functioning. Rice, not fuel, powers the Filipino people. This is not just rhetoric. It is a fact!


Rice, as a food and a symbol of life, has been with our civilization even before Magellan and Catholicism invaded our shores. Our ancestors revered the grain to such a great extent, they created terraces and terraces of it on the treacherous slopes of tall mountains. No other people would risk life and limb just to enjoy their favorite food all year round. The Chinese love “siomai”, but they didn’t create a Great Wall of Siomai. Our ancestors even worshipped a rice god called “Bulol” and sculpted statues of his squatting image, which can now be sold to the Louvre for more than $1M a piece. Even today, we find rice in our everyday menu: fried rice, java rice, rice cakes, rice pudding, rice milk, rice wine, paella, suman, champorado, rie-a-roni, and avarice in some departments of government.



Our addiction to this starchy grain stems from the human anatomy of the Filipino. Yes, God created us to consume it. The proof is in the lines on our fingers. If you notice, the lines on your palms have meanings that only fortune tellers from Quiapo can decipher. However, the lines on your fingers have no use except for measuring the amount of water you need to cook your rice in the cooker. We all don’t have the same size of fingers, but every time we finger the rice, we know exactly how many cups of water is needed to cook it. It always comes out perfect – not too dry and not too sticky.


We also have developed a highly sophisticated inborn talent of determining the perfect rice to “ulam” ratio. We know exactly how many bowls we need to go with our dish. In fact, we are the only people that can eat one piece of siomai with 4 cups of rice. Our fingers have developed the dexterity to slice food so thinly to allocate our tight budget.


You can always tell the Filipino in a restaurant in the world. We’re the ones ordering the extra cup of steamed rice because we have the foresight of knowing that there will be a shortage. The big question is, with our physical and emotional dependence on it, why did we not anticipate this rice crisis. Was it due to force majeure, mismanagement of natural resources, or was it because of an alleged fertilizer scam?