Food, glorious (Filipino) Food

Whenever my mother flies in from Manila for a visit, I'm like a kid in a candy store -- she always surprises me with a treat from home. This time she's brought some of my all-time favorite Pinoy snacks. Yup, this is my Holy Trinity of Pinoy Snacks (well, ok, if you added Clover Chips and Orange Swits then I'd call it my Fab Five).

First, there's M.Y. San SkyFlakes, the ultimate buttery cracker for spreading with butter, jam or Cheez Whiz (Ritz Crackers? Sorry, they ain't got nothin' on Skyflakes).

Then there's Goldilocks polvoron. They call these "Manila Shortbread cookies" over here so that non-Filipinos have some idea of what they're eating --- but polvoron is nothing like shortbread. For one thing, the ingredients aren't baked, they are toasted. And shortbread doesn't crumble into powder as soon as you stick it into your mouth.

And for the glorious finale, ChocNut, the sweet, creamy, cheap Filipino version of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. It really doesn't seem to have much chocolate in it so it tastes more like peanut butter, but once you get used to the taste, it's addictive. This was one of the treats we looked forward to getting in birthday party goody bags, one of the treats we spent our allowance on at sari-sari stores and street vendors. It doesn't get more classic than this.

I know, I know, you can probably get these at any Filipino or Asian grocery store; in fact, there's a Goldilocks bakery less than 5 miles away from our home, so I can get polvoron any time I want. But I can't get it out of my head that the ones straight from Manila taste different. Maybe they make the polvoron with cheapy butter in Manila. Maybe they have to make it with less butter over here, so that when they list the calories and saturated fat it doesn't send people into shock. Maybe the ChocNut taste has deteriorated after all the extra time it takes to be flown in to the US, stored and distributed to stores for hungry Filipino expats to consume. Maybe it's all in my head. Maybe it's just because I know these are the real deals, the genuine foods of my Filipino childhood. I guess the memories that come with these snacks just make them taste that much better.

What are your favorite Pinoy snacks? Come on, let's have a virtual pig-out!

Bonggamom is thankful that the San Francisco Bay Area is Choc full of ChocNut, Skyflakes and other Filipino snacks so she doesn't have to wait for a relative to fly in from Manila to get her fix. She blogs about life in Silicon Valley over at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog , Finding Bonggamom and her new review blog, Bonggamom Finds.