Ep. 40 Filipino Christmas food traditions

Hello, and welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing Podcast, the podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing your work. My name is John Jonas, and this is episode 40, Filipino Christmas Food Traditions. So one of the things that everyone looks forward to at the Christmas season is the food, not me. So my wife has always told me this, that I do not have a relationship with food. Food's not an emotional thing for me. For me, it's just to fuel my body. Like, I know I have to eat, because if I don't eat, then I lose my energy. But for most people, yeah, food's like this really big. Yes, I want food to taste good, but I don't like eating Brussels sprouts. They're gross. But I still eat them because I know that they're gonna fuel my body. I don't eat sugar either, and I don't ever have a cheat day. If something isn't good for me, then why cheat? So I'm not normal, and I get that I don't have a relationship with food. It's not. It's not. It's not important to me. And I know that most of you, it is important to you, and you have a relationship. It's not something I turn to when stuff is hard, but I think most people do. So it was interesting to me when I got this email back from Julia when talked about the Filipino foods that they eat at Christmas time. So here's a list that they're gonna eat. She says, yes, you can get these foods year round, but they taste better during the holidays. At least that's what she thinks. So. So, number one, and if you're watching this on YouTube, hopefully you're gonna see some pictures of these things. Otherwise, you just have to take the descriptions of them. The queso de bola, this literally translates a cheese ball. And usually it's made of edom, cheddar, and processed cheese and then covered with red wax. You open it just before the midnight feasts and serve it with ham and bread and fruits. The next thing that they love is ham. And the most popular one served during the holidays is pork ham with pineapple glaze. The glaze is what's made, what makes it extra special when you use the leftover ham and cheese from the queso de bola sandwiches. Next. And I just. I really don't know how to pronounce these things, but I'm trying my best. Castanas wok roasted chestnuts that are sold everywhere during Christmas, and they are best eaten when it's still warm and sweet again. Hopefully you're seeing a picture of this on YouTube again, I have no idea. Puto Bonbong. These are cylindrical purple rice cakes steamed in bamboo tubes, usually served on a banana leaf and topped with margarine, shaved coconut, brown sugar. They get it fresh and hot after midnight mass. It pairs really well with papang Barako, a strong coffee. I can't even do this. I'm reading what Julia wrote here and it's just not working for me. I'm going to skip a couple of these because she has a whole bunch of these and you can see pictures if you're on YouTube. But this one is bibinka, another type of rice cake, and she says, I actually got a Quesad Ebola early, hoping to avoid the Christmas rush. But sadly my daughter found it and she's already eaten half of it. She needs to get another one. Hopefully this one will last her through the new year. So those are some Christmas food traditions that go on in the Philippines. Just so you know, as this is coming out around Christmas time, now's not a great time to hire someone in the Philippines. If you're going to hire. If you're thinking of hiring, wait until the new year. You'll be able to dedicate more attention to it. And they really want the time off between Christmas and New Year's. And so them accepting a job right then is really difficult. They're going to hesitate. So you can do it now. Just be aware of the issues with it and you're better off just hiring in the new year.