Meet a typical canteen or “eatery” in the Philippines. I’ve eaten pretty much every meal in the Philippines at a place like this so far. The food is great and it’s very economical. The food is cooked beforehand and laid out in buffet trays. You order rice (7 pesos – 17 cents US – per serving at this eatery) and then select from the various meat and vegetable dishes on display. The vegetable dishes were 15 pesos each (about 37 cents US) and the meat dishes are generally around 30 pesos (75 cents US). They also provide free filtered water now. You can also buy cold drinks from a fridge. No chopsticks, of course, and I have to get used to eating with a fork again. I’m finding that using a fork feels somewhat inelegant after using chopsticks for so long. I feel like a caveman shoveling food into my face. I should pick up my own chopsticks and carry them around with me. Or would that be pretentious? 🙂

This is the food that was on offer today at the eatery where I had lunch in the Philippines. I love that you can just pick and choose from the various vegetable dishes and see exactly what you are getting. It’s my kind of place and my kind of food.

Tags: canteen, chopsticks, eatery, Legazpi, Philippines Bike Trip 2013, US