Brain Contour

I am watching right now an episode on the Travel Channel entitled “Dining with Death: Plants and Nuts.” It features poisonous plants and nuts being consumed in countries like Japan, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. The part about the Philippines was shot in Batangas where the deadly hyacinth bean or called the Philippine “Bataw” thrive.

I really never thought that Bataw is full of toxins due to the presence of cyanogenic glucoside, a compound that produces cyanide. I had tasted this deadly hyacinth bean before during a trip to the north and it tasted really good.

Fried food is part and parcel of an Asian cuisine. Red or white meat, fish – finding a dish that is oil-fried on the table is no surprise by any means. In my country, lard, a type of oil coming from pork, is vehemently adored. Oh boy, the moment our neighbor starts frying dried salted fish deep in lard, I wonder if he’s going to wake up the dead. Dried salted fish, or bulad (boo-lad), even in its raw state, smells terribly unspeakable. What more if you fry and combine it with the reek of burning lard! For foreign nostrils, it sure is out of this world. While it spells heaven for almost all Filipinos, it is extreme hell for those not immune to the aroma.