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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