apparently, we can buy wholewheat fettucine in the philippines now. SAN REMO (a moderately-priced italian brand) sells it for about P185/kg. why anyone would pay that much for noodles that, by nature, should taste like boiled cardboard is beyond me. of course, social climber that i am, i bought a kilo.

the ultimate luxury pancit i’ve seen at the supermarkets, tho, is this beautiful BLACK spaghetti from italy, made with squid ink. i forgot the brand, but it’s going at P290/kg. of course, social climber that i am, i bought a kilo, even if squid ink is so cheap in manila.

obviously, i have no plans of eating any of this. dunno about you guys, but my social climber taste-buds never got to like boiled cardboard. and while i love squid, i simply find the italian squid ink pasta too expensive to eat (and too beautiful, too. like overly fat pencil refills).

so i’ve displayed them on my kitchen shelves, together with two kilos of rare first-cut Ifugao ceremonial “tinawon” rice (sourced directly from the tribe itself); two kilos of vacuum-sealed export grade organic upland brown rice, and a kilo of rare black-violet glutinous rice that ilocanos roast into ceremonial Basi.

there’s something powerful about all these token amounts of luxury carbs for diabetics like me during a food crisis. i find them as loaded and as potent as paintings, or sculpture. much cheaper, too, per cubic inch, hahaha!