Of Filipino Junk Food

There are only a few snacks that make me giddy like kid and Filipino snacks are one of them. I adore Filipino junk food. They're just nothing like the ordinary potato chip and candy. They also don't get enough love on the internet. You get tons of recipes for many kakanin (rice cakes), but no one ever describes the junk foods. Poor junk food. Here's a few of my favorites:

Hopia, Banana Chips and Chichacorn 

Let's start with the salty snack. Chichacorn (or kornik, as I like to call it) is essentially Filipino pop corn. I'm quite sure that it was named after chicharon, which is deep fried crunchy pork rinds. Notice how they replaced the "-ron" part with a "-corn". It's deep fried corn kernels that is very crunchy with just enough of a salty kick. Traditionally, it's default "plain" flavor is a nice garlic flavor, but this modern twist that I have had a very mild barbecue flavor. I personally prefer the "plain" garlic flavor, but this barbecue chichacorn is actually not so bad. Chichacorn is probably as bad for my sodium levels as potato chips, but I still love them. Hey, it's not like I have them everyday, right?

Our next junk food are banana chips. Sweet and crunchy, it's absolutely perfect for the sweet toothed. They're banana that have been dessicated and fried in coconut oil with sugar. The sugar forms a perfect caramel around the banana. Yummy!

Finally, we have Hopia, which is a little snack that came to the Philippines from China. It's a little cake-like thingy with a flaky outer layer with a sweet or savory center. I have the monggo (mung beans) flavored one, so it was quite sweet. I love it. I also love the ube (purple yam) flavored ones, but I definitely don't like the savory ones like the pork flavored ones. Oh reader, I wish you could have some.

There are so many other junk foods that are just unique to the Philippines. Many of them don't get the attention they deserve. If you ever find yourself in the Philippines, try to have taste of them. Give them the love the they don't get on the interwebs.