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Banana Cue: a comfort food

Filipinos love to eat. Most say that the world eats 3 full meals a day, that is, breakfast, lunch and dinner. We Filipinos eat 6 full meals a day. It is divided into breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and midnight snack. It is already written in the psyche of society. What am I trying to point to? We love food and we love to eat. Whenever there is something on the table or in the fridge, we tend to finish it.

Let me introduce you to one of the comfort foods of the Filipinos. It is made from cardava banana. I may be wrong here, but cardava is used solely as an ingredient for food shakes in other countries. Unlike here in the Philippines, it is grilled, boiled, fried, or made into a soup, as an ingredient in the famous Philippine halo-halo or even coconut milk. However, I will talk about frying.

This is the banana signal. The name taco de banana comes from the combination of the words banana and barbecue. It is fried with layers of caramelized sugar and placed on a barbecue stick. It is also known as maruya in the southern Philippines. Anyone can see it being sold by the owners’ children or simply sold on the side of the street on any Filipino afternoon. Its price ranges between 5 pesos (USD0.10) and 8 pesos (USD 0.17) per bar or per order. It is always best to eat it hot so that the banana does not become difficult to chew. It is stimulating for the palate and the senses. The aroma is sweet and so is the taste. It is crunchy and at the same time chewy because of the sugar and the banana. The snack is heavy and satisfying to the stomach. One can enjoy coffee, tea, soft drinks or the famous gulaman and sago drink “sa-malamig” by eating this snack. There is also the famous special maruya cut, which is a favorite among the locals. It is a special cut because the banana is cut into smaller pieces and coated with the caramelised sugar. Every bite is pure happiness.

The banana taco will bring energy during the afternoon sleep. Look for it near schools, offices, and streets with heavy foot traffic. Try it and tell me what you think.

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