by Elle Santiago

Cebu is known for its street foods. They are mostly located and situated in the downtown areas of the city. The Cebuanos since then enjoys eating in the streets specially during the afternoon when the sunrays is at its lowest. Your 200php is enough to make your attempts possible. Whether alone or with your friends, you have to try for yourself street foods to appreciate Cebu. Go stride in the streets of Cebu and experience streetfeast.

Puto & Sikwate

Puto and hot Sikwate is very delicious during the morning. It is because it is already the culture of Cebuanos to make Puto and Sikwate their kind of breakfast. Sometimes a person wants something different to miss the usual and something usual is appreciated to know the difference. Poto and Sikwate is called sticky rice and cacao chocolate in English. Sticky rice, sweet rice or waxy rice is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia and the eastern parts of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. There is this plain white sticky rice and there is this dotted violet sticky rice. The cacao chocolate is sometimes combined with creamer or milk and sugar for people who prefer their sikwate a bit sweeter.

Dirty Ice cream

Why is it called a dirty ice cream? There are two reasons: it’s called dirty ice cream because it was a mom’s warning to a kid wanting to eat an ice cream that is being sold on the street; and the vendors usually do not wear gloves.

Despite its name, people is still a fan of the cold treat, and it’s actually not dirty like people have been led to believe. It is either placed in a cone or sometimes in a cup. The cart carries flavors like ube, mango and vanilla. You can buy dirty ice cream a scoop or place it in a cup if you want to eat a some more.

Fried Chicken in a cart

One will crave fried chicken for lunch time to time or some other time. One will want to try that fried chicken in a cart. As observed, those properly dipped in and from the oil, has golden features and is luscious to look at and is appetite awakening. One may choose from chicken wings, breast, neck, thigh or drumstick. One will want to pair it with puso, which is rice wrapped and boiled in a triangular casing made of woven coconut leaves. Fried Chicken in a cart is very satisfyingly delicious when it is newly cooked. You will want to pair it with manong vendor’s homemade mix of soysauce, calamansi and a little amount of catsup. Lunch is solved.

Tempura
Tempura is a Japanese dish of fish, shellfish, or vegetables, fried in batter. Cebu has it in the streets! You can have 3 pieces on a stick. It can serve as your snacks during the afternoon. Tempura is paired with a homemade condiment of mix sweet and spicy and sour sauce. Tempura carts are most and usually found and situated in the nearby churches here in Cebu. You can also find it outside the universities. Students are very fond of tempura specially after class hours. Some, instead of having their regular dinner with that of a meal and rice, they opt to choose to eat 2 or 3 sticks of tempura as a replacement.

Pungko-Pungko

Sometimes one will crave pongko2x for dinner. It is called such because typically and originally, you will sit in a small wooden bench before a small wooden table beside the street to eat your desired pongko2x combination. One of the pongko2x combinations is puso, longganisa, ginabot and a cold drink. Pongko2x is more appetizing with vinegar, onions and chilli. You will be fond of them once you see them since a group of pongko2x vendors reign the pavements. Some of them are gathered in a place prepared and set up by them for their growing number of customers. Aside from the mentioned combination above, there are more food to choose from – hotdog, lumpia, ngohiong, squid and porkchop. You can save an amount for dinner when you choose pongko2x. Try it for yourself.

Fruits

In the streets, you can always find fruits to buy. You can choose from watermelon, banana, orange, apple, pineapple, mango, mangosteen and many others. Fruits give you the needed vitamins and minerals that is needed in the body. Time to time you have to eat fruits to nourish your body and to prevent certain kinds of diseases like anemia or hypertension. We must adhere to the saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Fruits will always be a natural cure so make it a part of your lifestyle to eat fruits. What is your favorite fruit? When was your last time you ate fruit?

Now you know what are the treats in carts and in booths you can buy in the streets of Cebu. If you are through with solitude, invite friends so that you will not be alone in the experience. Once you have tried the streetfoods, you will at some point in your moment, will look and crave for it. Do not hinder yourself. Go ahead. With the amount of 200 pesos, you can already enjoy your streetfeast!