Introduction:

Tammy : Hi, this is Tammy together with Ray, and we would thank you for listening to the Unipro consulting podcast. You may visit our website at www.uniprohk.com and go to the news and events for some of our episodes that might interest you. And today we’re going to talk about food and cultures, how exciting it is! This is not the ordinary podcast you usually listen to here, our main topics are usually about business or news about the world. But this time we thought of going different, because of what is happening to the world right now, we want to free our minds to think of beautiful things, maybe at least for a while right? 

Ray : Hi everyone, I hope everyone’s doing well today. This podcast is mainly about food and cultures from different countries here in Asia. Let’s go talk about great things and free our minds for a while and relax a little bit, should we?

Tammy : Yes, of course, I like it actually, since a lot of people are going through difficult times right now, so why not talk about food and cultures from different places. Well, I would be honest that I haven’t really tried a lot of great food in other countries, just a few known ones and I’m happy to share it with our listeners!

Ray : Cool! Me too, maybe after this podcast, it will all make us hungry, don’t you think?

Tammy: Well we haven’t started the discussion yet, but i’m not hungry!

Ray : That’s great! Let’s now starve ourselves by just talking about food and culture.

Tammy : I also think that after this discussion, probably our listeners will search and plan their next destination if the borders are now open. 

Ray : Maybe!

Tammy : Yes, maybe. 

Ray : Maybe you can share good foods there in the Philippines first?

Tammy : I love that! There is a lot of great food to try when you visit us here. Well, Philippines has a lot of places, like cities or provinces and we have different signature dishes in a certain place. But maybe I could talk about some few that are already proven and tasted by tourists. The first one is the “sinigang”.

Ray : “sinigang”?

Tammy : Yes, that’s my favorite food actually. It’s a soup based dish. With a lot of vegetables, you can add pork, shrimp or fish. It’s a little bit sour because of the tamarind mixture from the soup. So if you like to try sour soup. I highly recommend this one. It’s actually great for the rainy season, because the weather is a little cold. 

Ray : Yes, people love to eat soup during cold weather, like here we love to eat hot pots during winter, or some food that makes our body hot a little. And since most of the time it is hot i didn’t know that people love to eat soup.

Tammy : Yes, we also do, especially during the rainy season. But actually, even if it’s summer, I like to eat sinigang, like all year round. 

Ray : I like to try that food when I visit the Philippines!

Tammy : It’s actually easy to cook! Since the ingredients are also available in other countries, I’ll just bring the soup based then I can cook it anywhere! 

Ray : Sounds cool! 

Tammy : Yes it is! And another one is the adobo!

Ray : Adobo?

Tammy : Yes!

Ray : What is an adobo?

Tammy : Adobo is actually easy to cook too! We have pork adobo, or if you don’t eat pork, you can have chicken adobo, or you can mix them both, pork and chicken adobo!

Ray : Wow, sounds delicious, what kind of food is this? Or how do you cook it?

Tammy : It’s easy food again, even you can cook this one! The sauce is just a mixture of soy sauce and white vinegar! You can also add a hard boiled egg to make it more appealing. 

Ray : Wow! I can probably try cooking that if I have time! 

Tammy : Yes, a super easy food to cook and a lot of tourists also love to eat this food! These 2 dishes are the most popular here in the Philippines, it’s kids favourite too!

Ray : Cool! So to our listeners, who would like to visit the Philippines, add these 2 foods to try it there!

Tammy : Yes! I’m sure you will all love it too! And what about there? What are the great foods to try when we visit there?

Ray : Well, there is a lot of food to try here too! Beside the street food – which is so popular here, like the “chou tou fu” – which I think not all people will dare to try because of the smell. It’s actually yummy! 

Tammy : I know! I tried that before. How can I forget! I remember my mom really didn’t like the smell when I brought it up to our hotel room, she asked me to eat outside instead. 

Ray : That’s a funny story! Because not everyone can tolerate the smell of it, but just disregard the smell, it’s one of the popular street foods here! And other than that! The milk tea is great too! 

Milk tea actually started here, the original milk tea came here. 

Tammy : Oh! Is it! I super love milk tea! The original flavor, like the milk and tea itself!

Ray : Oh really! You must come here and try it! Once you try it, you don’t want to go back home! 

Tammy : For sure I will try it when everything is over! 

Ray : Sure! Another one is the “bao bing” or the shaved ice, this is actually a desert, but it’s super yummy as well, so if you love desert, i recommend this one too! And of course, I will not end this discussion without mentioning the beef noodle! If you are a fan of eating noodles, this is a must try! While if you are a fan of rice, I would suggest you try the braised pork rice!

Tammy : Okay! Now I’m starting to get hungry!

Ray : I told you, you will really get hungry after this discussion! I’m sure after this, you will go straight to your fridge and look for some food!

Tammy : That’s so true! 

Ray : Anyway, what’s your favorite cuisine? 

Tammy : Well, if you would ask me, I always go for Asian food. What about you?

Ray : Same here, I love Asian food, I do also eat western food or european food. I love them too, because we live in Asia that’s why we used to eat the food here, but of course if we visit places like the United states, we would try their burgers! Which is popular among americans.

Tammy : oh burgers! I love burgers for my midnight snack!

Ray : Midnight snack? Isn’t it too heavy for a midnight snack?

Tammy : I know! But I’m usually hungry at night! I don’t know, but it feels so good to sleep when full. 

Ray : That’s very unusual and maybe unhealthy?

Tammy : I know right! I should change my habit!

Ray : Correct! What about steaks? Do you also love them?

Tammy : Oh of course! It’s a bit expensive here, so we eat them occasionally. What about you?

Ray : Yes, same here! People usually eat it with a purpose – like if you have an important meeting with a VIP or celebrating something special. Like you said, we also eat it occasionally because it’s a bit pricey. But i like to eat wagyu steak, it’s so tender and tasty!

Tammy : Me too! I love it too! But I haven’t tried it yet because it’s really pricey here! I know it’s famous in Japan?

Ray : Yes, It’s actually famous in Japan, so if you are planning to visit Japan next time, save up for your wagyu steak!

Tammy : I think I have to save up first for the plane ticket! I haven’t been there, but I love their sushi, sashimi, ramen, I love their food in short! As in everything. Japan is actually on the top of list to visit, not only to eat but their culture and scenery are nice too!

Ray : I agree with you! I love Japan too. Their food is so delicious, I know not everyone likes to eat raw food, but adding the wasabi spice up their food too! Actually it’s one of the most expensive foods as well here and I think the Philippines as well, right?

Tammy : You’re correct! Mainly because everything is imported from Japan. We don’t have it here, so we get it straight from there and of course you have to pay for the taxes and everything, that’s why it’s a bit expensive. 

Ray : Yes, true. Imported goods, especially those frozen foods, cost included, like the transportation – how you ship it to the destination, customs and taxes is additional costing too, that’s why it makes it a little bit more pricey. 

Tammy : In addition to that, Japanese foods are delicate too, like how slice the sashimi should be I think accurately?

Ray : True. Well, after all, you are eating a Japanese food! It’s delicious, and i think we all deserve to eat great food after we work hard, right?

Tammy : That’s so true! By the way, I like Thai food too! I think that’s one of my first favorites, maybe because that is the first country I went to. The “Tom yum goong” is superb! I love all the spices they put in their food, very tasty and aromatic!

Ray : Yes! I definitely love thai food too! What I like the most is their Pandan Chicken. It’s a chicken wrapped in Pandan leaves. The smell, the aroma makes you want to eat more!

Tammy : Yes! Wait, have you tried the white chicken in Singapore? That’s delicious too! I think it’s famous there?

Ray : Yes, of course I know that, I love to eat that in Singapore, it comes with 3 sauces, I like the ginger sauce!

Tammy : Me too! I love the ginger sauce with the white chicken, the combination is yummy!

Ray : Singapore is also famous with their Chili crab, have you tried?

Tammy : Oh yes! I think I tried it once in a very famous restaurant – which I forgot the name!

Ray : You mean the Jumbo seafood restaurant?

Tammy : I think that’s it! 

Ray : There are actually a lot of famous crab restaurants in Singapore with Michelin star! Let’s try them next time!

Tammy : Oh I love your idea! Maybe when everything is over, hopefully next year, we all can travel again and eat great food from different countries. For now, i will “sinigang” and “adobo”!

Ray : I hope you can send me some here!

Tammy : Of course! I will let you try Philippine dish next time! And let’s have a bowl of beef noodles there, too!

Ray : Of course, I love to let you taste foods here!

Tammy : Now, I’m seriously hungry!

Ray : Me too! So let’s grab some food?

Tammy : I like it! I hope our listeners got to relax with this podcast, are you hungry too?

Ray : I’m they are! Once again, thank you for listening and enjoy your day everyone!

Tammy : Enjoy your day, everyone! See you on our next episode!

Ray : bye!

Tammy : bye!