The thing with Siomai tag Tres
I studied at a university in Cebu, Philippines. It was located between Cebu City and Talisay City. I went there for a good four years and thankfully graduated in 2015. As a broke student who consumes food with no regard, I always go to the cheapest yet tastiest food available.
Options were good in our cafeteria. One of the vendors used to sell this killer fried chicken. It was incredibly crispy, juicy, and flavorful. I’m saying this not in comparison to other types of cafeteria food, but it’s good in comparison to fast-food and home-made types of fried chicken. That’s when you know it’s some good chicken! We also had steamed rice, burgers, and other foods you would typically see in a Filipino private school canteen.
A typical scene near the rear gate of my school
But there are times that I’ll be craving for siomai being sold on siomai carts outside the school. It’s cheap, and has a secret sauce that usually comprises chili oil, soy sauce, and other ingredients that puts you in an eating trance for a good thirty minutes; although, with questionable origins. It’s mostly made out of pork meat, but word on the street is that it’s made of something else. I heard from a college friend of mine that it’s made of finely minced cardboard marinated with different types of sauces to make it taste like meat. Others say it’s made out of cat. None of these rumors have been proven to be true. Still, people patronize the vendors and enjoy their siomai. This is typically best eaten with puso or hanging rice, and soda. My personal choice for this occasion would be Sparkle.
Each siomai only costs a measly three PHP (that’s around 0.062 in USD), which I would say is affordable for students such as myself back then. With a daily allowance of 200–250 pesos a day, I can definitely be able to eat more than ten! But that is when things get a little blurry.
You’re hungry. You’re with your friends. Then you have five pieces of siomai, and four pieces of puso. After that, you’re still not that full. School was tough, and you want to binge a little bit to de-stress. So what do you do? Add more. And some more. Then by the time you finish it all and ask for the amount you’ve eaten, it’ll rack up to almost half of your daily allowance!
I’ve tried to count and calculate while I eat. You want to make sure you don’t overindulge. You might not even order soda sometimes. But when you have that beautiful piece of siomai, glistening with chili oil, ready to be penetrated with your toothpick, or sometimes even craned by your plastic covered hands, I tell you; keeping track of it is a fool’s dream. All you have to do is to submit to the siomai, and accept whatever payment it takes, even if you have to borrow money from your other broke classmates.
