Rabbit fish, anyone?

CEBU, besides being well known across the world as one of the top tourist destinations in the Philippines, is also endowed with a great variety of good food. What locals consider as plain, tourists may consider as rare find.

There are dried fish and other seafood for starters. Salted and sun-dried—crisp when fried—this food is a joy to nibble. A popular variant would be danggit (or tabbit fish in English), but more on that later.

Like they say, a “little can go a long way,” as this food may tempt the dieting rice-eater to feast on more carbohydrates than is expected in his daily intake.

Click here for Election 2010 updates

The practice of drying fish goes a long way in history. According to an article at ehow.com, “Native Americans taught European immigrants” the practice of drying fish “when they needed to preserve high protein foods for the trail.”

The site adds: “Drying fish removes enough water from the final product so that the growth of microbes that cause spoilage are retarded. But drying isn’t the same as dehydrating, which removes all but three percent of the moisture.”

The process can be very tedious. Thousands of fish and other selected seafood are de-gutted, generously applied with salt, then are left out to dry under the sunlight.

A batch of fish is laid on top of screens so that both elements of air and heat can work hand in hand to speed up the process of drying. The salt is very necessary as means of preserving and avoiding spoilage due to bacteria. Once the batch is dry enough, it hits the road and is sent off to the markets.

Indeed, variety is not a problem with dried fish. Although the taste is generally salty (with the exception of a few that are sweetened), the difference lies more on the “texture per creature,” you might say.

A more popular one, as mentioned earlier, is danggit. This breakfast treat is usually fried and served with garlic rice and fresh tomatoes. When prepared with a favorite dip made with vinegar and spices, people find this meal very hard to resist. Danggit is usually the choice pasalubong (gift) made by tourists and visitors to bring back to their provinces. A good place to get them here in Cebu would be in Taboan. You don’t get these in jars or little plastic containers. The first thing that meets your eye as you arrive in here are the baskets filled and overflowing of dried fish.

Taboan sells just about every kind of dried seafood product you can imagine. They are also sold here at a relatively cheaper price, compared to the ones sold in supermarkets and malls. Besides fish, they also have dried prawns, shrimp paste, dried squid, and bottled oysters among others.

Although the eating of dried fish is still considered by most westerners to be an acquired taste, Asians and particularly Filipinos have made this sun-dried treat a regular fixture in their kitchens.