Anyone who has lived overseas for any length of time will know what I am talking about when I mention that there is always one specific thing that we miss from back home. Oh no, I’m not talking about the big stuff, like family, friends and our house back home; of course we all miss that. What I’m talking about is those little things, the things that identify with home, but that we so totally take for granted until we move to foreign climes, and they are no longer available.
For some people it is something as simple as marmite, or if the advertisements are to be believed, then Vogels Bread, but for me the iconic New Zealand product that I’ve longed for and lusted over since arriving here three years ago, is the humble can of beetroot.
able to source some lettuce from the local market, so no problem there. Bread, in the New Zealand style however was and still is hard to obtain. There is plenty of bread here but variety is virtually non-existent. Sliced bread as we know it in New Zealand comes in only one style – plain white. There are other breads available, such as pandesal, which is a small, sweet, bun that you eat warm, and spread with butter or margarine, but for sandwiches my choice was limited to plain, white bread. The rest of the sandwich was pretty easy to concoct – a dab of mayonnaise, some tomato, slices of cucumber and a slice of cheese. Being a very hot country we are limited in the varieties of cheese that we might see back home, but for the sandwich, processed slices of cheese serve the purpose adequately. So, my sandwich was complete...or was it? There’s no doubt the sandwich was tasty. I’ve even managed to convert my wife to eating sandwiches with me for lunch, or taking one with her when she was working, but for me, something was sorely missing...my beetroot.
I arrived in Manila, the capital city of The Philippines just
over three years ago, to start a new beginning with my soon to become wife. To
say that the past three years have been ones of happiness and joy, would be to
say the very least. I look back at the past three years and marvel at how well
I’ve adapted to and fitted into what really is a totally alien environment for
me. Despite how well I’ve been accepted and have adapted to living here there
has always been something missing from my life; and it is that ubiquitous can of
beetroot.
One thing I learnt quickly when I arrived here in Manila was
that I better learn to like eating rice. After all, we have rice with literally
everything; breakfast, lunch and dinner. If that’s not enough, many of the
“merienda” snacks are made out of sticky rice. It is not without reason that
rice is seen as the staple meal of most Asian nations. It never ceases to amaze
me that even when we get to eat out at the mall and we visit a fast food
franchise; say McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, or The Philippines own indigenous
fast food outlet Jollibee, the kids, my wife, our friends all order meals that
come with rice. I almost feel like screaming; “For goodness sake, we’re not at
home now, we DON’T have to eat rice with everything. Order a burger for goodness
sake”; but of course, they just order their rice and fried chicken and sit down
to devour it happily. Returning to the thrust of this topic; my beloved beetroot
- One way I determined that I wasn’t going to eat rice three meals a day was to
introduce my family to an old Kiwi favourite for lunch; fresh salad
sandwiches.
One of the things that struck me early about this country is
that they are not as typically Asian as many countries in South East Asia. After
400 years of Spanish rule, followed by 40 odd years of direct American rule and
then another 40 odd years as an American armed
forces outpost, The Philippines has embraced and adapted many western habits,
attitudes and mores. Their choices of cuisine are often influenced by European
and American styles, but of course always with their beloved rice. Sandwiches
therefore were not totally unknown here, so it wasn’t like I was trying to
convert the heathen to Christianity or anything quite that difficult, but
finding the ingredients that I knew and loved from New Zealand, was not as easy
as I thought.
First ingredient for my comfort sandwich was lettuce. Now lettuce is available here, but it could not be described as the vegetable of choice for most Filipinos. Still, my wife was
I
made initial inquiries of the family, asking where I could buy beetroot. I was
greeted by blank stares. “What is beetroot?” was the query from them. After
Googling an image of the iconic Watties Beetroot can, they were none the wiser.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” was my wife’s response. Every time
we went to the supermarket I was on a mission to find a can of the elusive
stuff, but to no avail. Where it should have been in the Supermarket aisle, it
was nowhere to be seen. Canned tomatoes – sure; Canned carrots – of course;
Canned peas – absloutely; Even Canned olives or pimentos – you bet; BUT beetroot
– not a single can to be found.
In
desperation I turned to the internet. I actually Googled the following question:
“Where in Manila can you find beetroot?” I was quite astounded to find many
people had asked the same question and YES, there is one company here that makes
beetroot in a can – Del Monte Corporation. The next question had to be where I
could buy it. Most people who answered said that it was available in the really
big supermarkets and was displayed in the “sauces” area or the “International”
area. I discussed with my wife that we needed to take a trip to Taguig to visit
the brand new Supermarket that had opened there recently as they were reputed to
have the largest “International” section in Manila.
Fortunately
the Universe was smiling on me, as the very next weekend when we were shopping
at SM Fairview, our local supermarket, I glanced down to the very bottom shelf
in the canned vegetables section and lo and behold, staring back at me was the
most beautiful sight in the world – 3 shiny cans of Del Monte Beets. It may have
had a different name, but it was beetroot. “A rose by any other name would smell
as sweet”. As I recall, I screamed; “Oh my God, it’s beetroot”, much to my
wife’s chagrin. I grabbed the three cans and threw them into the shopping
trolley.
So,
my great beetroot hunt is over now and lunch is now the most satisfying meal of
the day, as I complete my “perfect” sandwich, with that beautiful purple juice
staining and coming through the bread. As I munch my lovely sandwich I reflect
on just how lucky I am to live in this wonderful country, with these amazing
people and of course – beetroot!