Food A We Know It...Dining Experiences in Manila - Part 3

You see, when I returned to Manila, I am suddenly allergic to almost everything (up to this time and now have to take meds for that – this is another blog). I got into this junk food (and I hated myself for this!) because I had no time to cook (I could not find a maid – and this is another blog too) to help me out in cooking as a single working mum. Then we used to eat out a lot, and mind you, even those pricey restaurants in posh locations such as Greenbelt, use MSG in their cooking. I remember once that I worked as a consultant for a well-known chain of restaurants in Makati, Trinoma, and BF Homes, and discovered to my horror much later on that the reason their restaurants get so busy was because of delicious menu loaded with this Knorr Seasoning (I didn’t know then such contains MSG). Ajinomoto says their MSG is “natural” and has the “purest taste of Umami.” I really do not know because I do not want to know.

All I know is that I quit my job eventually because I was ill – I would get massive headaches, pain in my jaw, and at times, felt like losing my balance. I was so scared and always thought I was having a bloody stroke! It took several visits to doctors (one neurologist even told me to take Prozac thinking I was depressed, or maybe crazy?), money spent for medicines which I didn’t know what they were for, time and energy suffering. It took me so long to know and find the truth.

Question is: Why is this allowed to be used in the Philippines? Why is the use not regulated? Who is supposed to be responsible for its manufacture, sell and use to the consumers? Is it the Bureau of Food and Drugs? This I still have to find out.

For the meantime, I am sharing his experience to anyone and especially those who travel to Asian countries, like the Philippines, which is fond of using MSG as their seasoning.

Hey, what happened to natural seasoning? In the UK, we use a lot of herbs and spices, and I have used them for ages even when I was based in Manila. Do we really need MSG to enhance the flavor of our food or “enliven the taste of bland food?” Thins is MSG is not natural; it is CHEMICAL.

They say for Oriental cooking, it makes big difference if MSG is added. Uhmmm, on http://chinesefood.about.com/od/healthconcerns/p/MSG.htm, Rhonda Parkinson says, “"While "taste-essence" is of Chinese heritage, it was never accepted by the elite society of gastronomy where cooking skill and lavish use of natural ingredients are the essence. Today's version is a chemical compound known as monosodium glutamate or MSG and to me it does nothing to enhance flavor. Rather it gives food a peculiar sweetened taste that I find absolutely distasteful, and for some people it has unpleasant side effects.”

There you go.

Why don’t we flavour our food with natural herbs such as basil, thyme, rosemary, and spices, olive oil, garlic, onions, chilies, and the like?  Apart from having medicinal values beneficial to our body we know we are not ingesting chemicals.


I actually brought some spices with me I purchased (and love), like Jamie Oliver's organic salt and spices, and those from Sainsbury's (one supermarket I adore apart from Waitrose and Mark and Spencer's in London) - organic and natural. I have yet to fins something of these kind here locally in Manila.

I will keep you posted!

For me, I WOULD BIN MSG!

Photos from: www.inmagine.com

 This is purely the opinion of this blogger based on personal experience.

Food A We Know It...Dining Experiences in Manila - Part 1

Upon my return to Manila, Philippines, not only was I scared of so many stories of unresolved crimes everywhere, the danger we all know about - theft, kidnapping, car napping, being mugged even at broad daylight,   taking cabs especially at night, and more. And what I feared too was the weather being too hot; too humid, especially during summer as it becomes really unbearable-at least for me. Moreover, I was away for years, did not keep in touch with old mates, my family relocated to the US, and, found myself all alone. Then on my first day, I got ill with this unimaginable painful headache. I checked into the ER.

 I thought it was the extreme heat and pollution. Or the stress of it all. Little did I know that the culprit was...the food I ate!

Apparently, a former helper added something to her cooking. Something that is commonly used still in this country despite the danger it poses especially to people who are allergic to it, or hypersensitive to it. I never had this for years in the UK because I do not think this food additive is even allowed to be used over there for cooking. Nor ever had it again after my trip in Singapore sometime in early 2000 when I got so dizzy that I fainted right then and there after meal! And I discovered, I am allergic to MSG.

MSG, or also known as Monosodium Glutamate . 

What is MSG really? What are side effects to your body when you take in MSG in your food?  How do you know when you have ingested MSG?

I have found a very good website, http://www.truthinlabeling.org, that discusses about this food additive – what is it, what is it made of, and everything you need to know about it.  Let me quote them:

            “Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate and MSG, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid, a naturally occurring non-essential amino acid.”

            “It is used as a food additive and is commonly marketed as a flavour enhancer. It has the HS code 29224220 and the E number E621^[1]. Trade names of monosodium glutamate include Ajinomoto, Vetsin, Accent and Tasting Powder. It was once made predominantly from wheat gluten, but is now made mostly from bacterial fermentation; it is acceptable for coeliacs following a gluten-free diet.^{[2][3][4][5]”}

One thing I have realized here in Manila is that most of the restaurants use MSG in their cooking. I have thought that my food was free of MSG because I do not use this Knorr Seasoning, or Vetsin (which the helper then used to add to our meals that caused me extreme headache!). I thought I was safe. But I was not aware that our food seasoning has added MSG but not labeled as such and disguised in various ways and added to frozen foods, spice mixes, canned and dry soups, salad dressings and meat or fish-based products. In some countries, like the Philippines, it is used as a table-top seasoning.

TO BE CONTINUED: WANT IT OR BIN IT...?

Food in Manila...Part 1

Upon my return to Manila, Philiipines, not only was I scared of so many stories of unresolved crimes everywhere, the danger we all know about - theft, kidnapping, carnapping, being mugged even at broad daylight,   taking cabs especially at night, and more. And what I feared too was the weather being too hot; too humid, especially  during summer as it becomes really unbearable-at least for me. Moreover, I was away for years, did not keep in touch with old mates, my family relocated to the US, and, found myself all alone.Then on my first day, I got ill with this unimaginable painful headache. I checked into the ER.

 I thought it was the extreme heat and pollution. Or the stress of it all. Little did I know that the culprit was...the food I ate!

Apparently, a former helper added something to her cooking. Something that is commonly used still in this country despite the danger it poses especially to people who are allergic to it, or hypersensitive to it. I nevr had this for years in the UK because I do not think this food additive is even allowed to be used over there for cooking. Nor ever had it again after my trip in Singapore sometime in early 2000 when I got so dizzy that I fainted right then and there after meal! And I discovered, I am allergic to MSG.

MSG, or also known as Monosodium Glutamate . 

My thoughts on this....: "Online Dating...in Manila, Anyone...?" Part Two

My thoughts on this....: "Online Dating...in Manila, Anyone...?" Part Two

six262

I would like to tell everyone that I have a lot of stuff for SALE - from really cool, fashionable to classic leather boots, coats, tops, denims, even kid's clothes, my son's brand new original PSP 3000 in Piano Black, Blue, and Darth Vader white, including his PS2 and 100 games (sigh...), accessories, toiletries - all I shipped from London. I guess after the typhoon "Ondoy" where I lost really expensive furniture, gadgets and electronics, even some designer bags and shoes, I realised that there is no point in storing because we cannot hold on to them forever!

Yes,in one day, everything goes! Gone!

I used to have a collection of pretty, expensive clothes, shoes and bags, but when I relocated to London, I left most of them here, and when I returned, many of them were gone, or put up for a garage sale by my family...uhmmm...and, then, I moved around a lot when I returned - from one house to another (but that is another story)...and, maybe thought I should have just the basic. After I never really used most of them because my lifestyle, and my life changed when I returned to Manila - again that is another blog post.

Suffice it to say, I am selling! I am selling! Please check my Facebook site six262 for pictures (there are a lot but cannot post all of them).

Feel free to contact me, and I can show some of them to you.