The Pilgrim's Pots and Pans

Comments from the previous post made me realise that eating fruits with plain rice must have been a common practice a generation or two ago. I don’t know many people who still do. In our family it died with my grandmother. This habit is one of the things I did not appreciate her teaching me as a child, palatably speaking. I suppose it’s just like eating ripe mangoes with suman but still… you know! Lola ate fruits, almost any kind – mangoes, guavas, chicos, pineapples, watermelon – with a cup of rice and a little salt or baguc (bagoong). Mind you, this was dessert for her. My brother and I complained to our mother when she came home that Lola would make us eat rice with our fruits. Mom would amusedly tell us to just let Lola know we ate a good amount of rice with our fish or meat and vegetables then have our fruits as we pleased. Apparently, mom was with us on this, so were her siblings. Lola was outnumbered.

Toni mentioned her grandmother ate her fruits with rice too. Joey says similarly, her lola’s fruits were on the plate that they practically mixed with the rice. Over in Kuala Lumpur, I read that Babe’s grandmother taught her to eat durian with hot white plain rice but it was just durian, no other fruit. Now I’d like to hear from you:

1. Does anyone in your family eat their fruits with plain rice?
2. If yes, how long ago was this?
3. From which part of the Philippines /world did this fruit habit come from? (If you can trace it.)

I suspect this is a Filipino, if not a Southeast Asian trait but who knows? If you would ever be so kind, if you are so inclined, would you ask others about this too? This is not a formal survey (obviously, Karen you silly girl!) but the morbidly curious obsessive-compulsive nerd that I am would like to know.

Thank you! Now, would you be so kind? Answers need not be limited by the questions. I would love to hear your stories. It would be a refreshing change from my rambling, no?