Meat market.

If I was hungry and I found myself in that popular department store in Makati, I would likely end up in the food court and buying from a local vegetarian food store.

I don't think I could stand being vegetarian but I enjoy vegetarian food, even the cheap ones. Especially the cheap ones.

There's something very liberating about eating in cheap-ass places (not to mention that one needs to liberate only a small amount of money), provided one checks if the place's sanitation is relatively okay. At the very least, one need not pretend to be a cultured and sophisticated eater. One could enjoy food not for any lofty special quality other than it satisfying one's hunger immediately and fully.

So. Inexpensive vegetarian food store. They serve rice to look like lotus buds which I think looks charming. And more often than not, I'll get myself kare-kare; not because the dish is particularly good (it's not), but because I love veggie-bagoong so much.

I already made my order and was in line to pay for my food. The guy before me was still deciding what to buy. He pointed to a dish and asked what it was.

"Asado," the girl at the counter replied.

"Is it beef asado?" the man asked.

"No, sir."

He asked for other dishes and what meat was used in them. The girl patiently explained, "They're all vegetable, sir."

The guy had a girl companion who probably did not hear their exchange. She asked if they have fish.

I thought about reminding them that they were in a vegetarian store but decided against it. I'll let natural selection do its work on them instead.

I remembered one instance Daryl and I were waiting for our orders in this food store that specializes in roast chicken. A young woman behind us was asked by the store personnel which side-dish she wanted.

"Carbonara," she answered, pointing to a fettuccine dish.

"Ma'am, you mean tuna fettuccine?" the counter girl asked.

"No," the other girl answered, "carbonara."

"Tuna fettuccine," the counter girl corrected her.

"Don't you have carbonara?" the young woman said, both perplexed and slightly irritated.

Poor girl. I guess she didn't realize that all the side-dishes were labelled. And that just because a pasta dish uses fettuccine and white sauce, it's not necessarily carbonara.