Manila Series 110 : "Daing"

Unknown to many, it's not just the Eastern world who appreciates this kind of food, the Western world does too.

As the Philippines is surrounded by water, it's only natural that fishing is one of the means of livelihood around the archipelago. And of course, the preservation of sea produced is a way of life. Not forgetting the abundance of SALT in a lot of areas.

Saw them being sold in Divisoria.

In the Northern Philippines, dried fish are called Daing, down south in Cebu is called Bulad. Where as in some places, each kind of dried fish is called differently. We have danggit, pusit, aramang, tinapa just to name a few.

Most commonly fried when eaten at breakfast, for most of us Filipinos, they are deliciously eaten with rice, dipped in vinegar or accompanied with chopped tomatoes. On their own, they are salty, with some even need to be washed with water prior to cooking.

Although a common food, it comes with a price, the SMELL. Here is what turns people off from cooking them. For it's not only in the kitchen that the smell is so strong, it goes around the house, including the clothes, curtains, or any cloth fabric hanging around that are exposed to its' smell. Even to one's hair, it's that nasty.

Anyone here loves to cook an omelette?

Abroad is a different matter, this especially to flats having communal corridors. Complaints to the management have occured where warnings have been thrown about to Filipinos. But Filipinos' ingenuity can't be denied and it is possible to cook them, just don't get caught. A technique can be putting a lot of butter in the pan or light a scented candle near to absorb the smell plus an added scent in the room.

Try it and get back to me.

Now, just in case that drying fish is not a Filipino thing, that it was just an influence from those long ago colonizers, so to whose influence was it?

Can anyone guess as to where this was taken?

I found this in a grocery store as I was looking for snacks outside of Lisbon, in Fatima to be exact. Suffice to say that I was just standing there, bemused for the length and the size that i was seeing. I didn't see any of this in Lisbon though but I stayed mostly in the touristic areas.

Was it a Portuguese influence?

Any Filipino store abroad sells DRIED FISH so no worries, comfort food is just around the corner. They are that accessible, but of course, for a price.

Bon appetit!

All images are mine, the last image was from an old Samsung Galaxy S6, the rest from S7. Edits from Picsart.