Sad songs make me cry

The sad song about onions seems to never end.

The latest news from authorities that onion prices will remain high for at least the first six months of this year due to late or no harvest and late or inadequate importation is certainly not good news.

This absence – and consequently high prices – of onions is bringing tears to my eyes and, I am sure, the eyes of most homemakers who try to stretch their food budget to come up with nutritious and delicious food for their family.

It may sound funny or trivial but the quality of taste has certainly been affected by the lack of onions for panggisa. We have all this time taken the onion for granted; it has always been there in a basket in the kitchen, ready to flavor whatever it is we will be cooking for lunch or dinner.

And it isn’t just onions that has become so expensive. Most vegetables have greatly increased in price, although prices have gone down a bit after the Christmas holidays. Fish and other seafood are still expensive, as are pork and chicken (nevermind beef, which we have long deleted from our menu).

All these high prices have forced ordinary homemakers like myself to be creative in food preparation, which could be a good thing if I were to look at it as a silver lining.

This situation is like a really bad telenovela where the kontrabidas – the bad guys a.k.a. high prices and shortages – are never killed or defeated. GDP growth and all that mumbo-jumbo mean nothing to me when each time I go to the market or the supermarket I get less and less for the same amount of money. When will this sad song end and we can sing a happy tune? – Angela Sta. Maria, Makati City