Halal Food Hunt in Baguio and Sagada

Before the trip to the Philippines, I’ve had countless advices of - “do” and “do not” eat when I’m here from my parents. Packed with lots of everyday emergency food items like cup noodles, Campbell soup packets and biscuits, I was ready to be a survivor in a foreign land. Not forgetting, I packed along the thermos for boiling water to cook the noodles and soups. Yes, people, you can call me ‘kiasu’. But it came in very handy. My room became famous for emergency food supplies.

Being mentally prepared not to easily find Halal food, my buddy (Feeza) and I had to go surveying restaurants, food stalls etc. Days past; the truth was that I couldn’t bear to eat any more junk food as my real meals. Till now, I'm constantly craving for home cooked food, mamak food etc.

The first day we had Fillet-O-Fish for dinner. We ate there after interviewing the manager for a few minutes, asking whether the fish burger was cooked together or separately from other meats like beef and chicken. He said that it was cooked separately. The manager also said that they do not serve pork in McDonalds and thus Muslims can go there too. We were convinced that we had come to the right restaurant. McDonalds was the first restaurant in Baguio where we could have our first decent meal.

Back in Sagada, I think we had a few choices to choose from. I’ve tried the vegetable fried rice and vegetable pasta. I think I had too much vegetables, very unlike what I always have back home.

All in all, I became a vegetarian here. Like Feeza always says, “We’re becoming like goats”, and she would do the sound of a goat. On the bright side, I think in a way it’s good to eat vegetables daily as it’s good for digestion and good for the bowel as well.

Truthfully, it’s hard to find Halal food here. Feeza and I had to constantly ask the person in charge of the place how the food is to be cooked. In Baguio, when the Muslim leaders came here to have the discussion. I asked them of places where we could find Halal food. They said that we could find them at the market which opens from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. But the hard thing was that we were out by 7 a.m. on most days and only back after 7 p.m. so the only choices left was McDonalds and of course my food stock, which I was very tired of eating. That was the experiences I’ve had of my first few days in Baguio.

Just now, I wanted to try ‘Halo-Halo', the local desert. It’s similar to our local dish of ‘ice-kacang’ back home. So the gang and I went to ‘Chowking’ and interviewed the manager in charge at that time about the food available there. As a result, the restaurant became the second one where we could find our fish dishes.

Apart from the fish and vegetarian food I could eat, I bought bread, cookies and potato chips as well.

I realized how lucky I am to be living in a multi religious and multi racial country (Singapore!) where people understand my culture and religion. There are sections for Halal and Non-Halal food. Gosh, I miss my ‘nasi lemak ayam’! I’m mentally preparing myself for the first chicken I want to have upon returning to Malaysia (via Air Asia), that is ‘nasi lemak ayam’ on the plane!

By Alia