Kwek, kwek, kwek! If that sounds like a duck, you're right. But it's also the name of that newest street delicacy "kwek-kwek" that's taking this part of the country by storm.
Take an egg -- a duck egg, a chicken egg, it doesn't matter. Dip it in a mixture of flour, salt and pepper, deep-fry it and serve it with fresh, diced cucumber and seaweeds. Presto! You have "kwek-kwek", a street quick-food delicacy that's giving fastfood giants McDonald's and Jollibee's a run for their money.
"I like it, I enjoy it. I buy two to three eggs and that's my complete supper for tonite," says Mildred Suarez, 22, a working student from a local university here at corner Bonifacio-Bolton streets which has the most number of "kwek-kwek" stall vendors in this southern city.
Now it doesn't matter if its "balut" or "penoy" (duck) eggs or just plain chicken eggs -- for most vendors here, it costs the same -- seven pesos each.
"I like it when it's hot and crispy," says mechanic Miguel Amarillo, 27, as he stabs one egg with a small pointed bamboo stick, dip the egg in spicy vinegar and gobble it up little by little along with small pieces of diced cucumber and green seaweeds.
But Mina Feliciano, 24, a bank employee, who also frequents the same street corner to feast on this quick-food craze, doesn't mind adding a peso or two for a "balut" or "penoy" or "kwek-kwek" instead of plain chicken egg.
"It has a more exotic taste if you take the real duck's egg and dip it in vinegar," she says, fingering pieces of seaweeds and diced cucumber to her mouth, washing off some of her wet magenta lipstick with a quick gulp of an ice-cold Coke.
"Kwek-kwek" street vendors can now be found in almost all major Philippine cities--in Manila, Quezon City, Makati, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, General Santos, etc. -- they're almost everywhere now.
Most of these enterprising vendors are concentrated near schools and universities, especially with a big student population whose appetite for very cheap food doesn't match the size of their wallets.
Faced by sky-high prices of fast-food giants, students and workers are now flocking to the cheapest quick-food they can find on the streets-fresh fruits sold at five pesos a bag, fried squids cooked Japanese style at 10 pesos each, fried sugared bananas or fried sweet potatoes at only 4 pesos each, and of course, their biggest favorite - "kwek-kwek".
Micro-entrepreneurs -- that fancy name given to small street vendors, are raking it in this newest streetside enterprise, part of the Philippines's underground economy whose emerging growth is hard to nail down in figures and statistics.
Norma Samson-Lee, 46, a retired employee, sells an average of 50 to 70 chicken and duck eggs a day, just enough to keep their little business going and sending two of her children to school. They're happy and would call it a day if they make about a thousand pesos a day from sales of "kwek-kwek", buko juice, soft drinks.
There are about seven or nine of them in this little corner, some with mobile stalls, all competing for the hungry stomachs of home-bound students, office employees and workers who don't have enough money to buy a complete dinner to pass the night.
In Davao City alone, 100 to 200 of these small, mobile "kwek-kwek" vendors can be operating in a single day, concentrated mostly in heavily-populated schools and universities here.chicken "kwek-kwek".
"As long as nobody messes up 'kwek-kwek' with a brand name or packaging, 'kwek-kwek' will remain cheap at seven pesos each," says Marcelo Lastimoso, 29, a post-graduate student of a local university majoring in marketing management.
How and when "kwek-kwek" will lose its appeal, nobody knows yet at this point. Right now, all that matters is that the sky-rocketing prices of fast-food chains are driving people to the streets where they can still find a cheap refuge for their hungry stomachs in something that we hardly care about today -- eggs.
Source: Philippine News Agency
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=9039.0
