Ecological Art: Spot Landscaping
Living with Nature Center
San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Dr Abe V Rotor
Saturday, August 15, 2026
Ecological Art: Spot Landscaping (Article in Progress)
A touch of Philippine culinary arts*
A touch of Philippine culinary arts*
Dr Abe V Rotor
Diningding - an indigenous Philippine recipe - a complete one-dish
meal, rich and balanced in ingredients and nutrition, a healthy diet.
Top, clockwise: A tray of lumpia, squid rings, chicken nuggets, and
green pea salad; papait (beef-entrails with cud-enzyme), Ilocano
signature recipe; ground beef topped with fresh eggs; fried salmon.
Philippine fruits: papaya, santol, calamansi, karamay, saba banana,
pineapple; right, pichi-pichi, a variety of rice cake (puto, kuchinta)
Barbecue and fish in alum foil, marshmallow on stick - campfire style.
Author and family are house guests of their kababayan and
neighbors in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, now residing in Brisbane.
Outdoor barbecue adds quaintness to a get-together of former
co-workers in the Philippines before they moved in to Brisbane,
the author's daughter and her family among them,~
* Culinary arts is a broad term that refers to the preparation, cooking, plating, presentation, and service of food. It applies to meals and their components – like appetizers, side dishes, and main courses.
Friday, August 14, 2026
Onion Leek
Onion Leek
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
avrotor.blogspot.com 18th Year 5215 Posts/Lessons
"Banish the onion from the kitchen and the pleasure flies with it." - Elizabeth Robins Pennell
Native onion grown in pot provides ready fresh onion leek for a number of recipes like fried eggs, soup, omelet, kilawin, porridge (lugaw), arroz caldo.
This is one way to encourage kids to have a daily supplement of vegetables. Vary the use of leek in their diet. Onion leek is rich in vitamin K, A, C and B6, manganese, folate, iron, fiber, magnesium, molybdenum, copper, calcium, and potassium. It also contains thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin, and antibiotic substances like Allicin and Alliin - from Allium, the genus of onion (A. cepa), garlic (A. sativum), kutchay (A tuberosum), and the original leek (A. ampeloprasum). Leeks generally have also high calorie value, and fair amounts of protein and fat. It is no wonder onion is the most important vegetable in the world.
Grow leek where there is sufficient sunlight, preferably on an elevated place. It's easy to grow leek from shallot (Sibuyas Tagalog) and from bulb onions (Granex or Creole). Staggered planting assures continuous supply of leek for the family - and for neighbors too.
A pot of onion leek makes a unique gift to friends who love to cook, those in their senior years, and those convalescing. Don't forget to add a little ribbon and a personal message. Make this as project in school and community. ~
Squash Flower Vegetable
Squash Flower Vegetable
Dr Abe V Rotor
Squash Flower nutrition value
One cup of squash blossoms has five calories. It also has one gram of carbohydrates and less than one gram of protein, just to give you the picture. Squash blossoms are high in calcium and iron and especially high in Vitamins C and A.
Ginisang Bulaklak ng Kalabasa
Acknowledgement: Overseas Pilipino Cooking Internet
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Usapang Bayan: Self-Administered Test on FOOD
Usapang Bayan August 14, 2026
Self-Administered Test on FOOD
True or False
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." — Virginia Woolf
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
avrotor.blogspot.com 18th Year 5215 Posts/Lessons
1.The impending food shortage is global, affecting not only rice eating nations but other nations as well that are depending on other cereals like wheat. T
2. Global Warming is a culprit to food shortage because of the man-induced erratic behavior of our climate, worsened by increasing frequency and intensity of force majeure. T
3. Aquaculture is man’s ultimate frontier of production, because the conventional production areas have already reached their limit. T
4. Chemical pesticides and fertilizers have improved productivity of farmlands as well as enhanced sustainable production. F
5. Lowland ricefields during the monsoon season make a contiguous lake that is a an abode to many edible species of freshwater fish, crustaceans, mollusk and amphibians. T
6. Palay-isdahan means converting spent fishponds to rice production since rice is an aquatic plant. F
7. Rice can be grown commercially in the highlands, saline areas, hillsides, uplands, acidic and alkaline soils. F
8. Decrease in food production is also a result of increasing price of fuel, so that when price of food goes up, increase in fuel cost follows. T
9. Tragedy of the Commons means that common people recklessly compete among themselves for survival and pursuit of modern living, on limited resources, instead of pursing collective and mutual objective. T
10. The sea is limitless in resources considering that more than 70% of the earth’s surface is water. F
11. For this matter (referring to the previous statement), the world’s population can safely increase further without fear of shortage in food and other needs. It is only a matter of improved technology and effective policies and program to avert this consequence. F
12. To prevent crust (tutung), shut off the stove for a minute after it has reached boiling point – then turn on the heat until the rice is well cooked. T
13. Vitamins and minerals are concentrated in the vegetable, not in its rind or skin. Thus you have to peel kalabasa, pipino, talong, patola and the like. F
14. Food management at home was a subject required in the elementary a generation ago which was then called Home Economics. T
15. Converting mangrove swamps into fishponds is a solution to food crisis because fishponds produce more food that what the mangrove swamps contribute to the natural supply of food. F
16. The sea is nearly 4 km deep, and up to 12 km at its deepest – which means that fishing has barely scratched the surface of the sea, thus there is no felt danger of depletion of resources. F
17. Seaweed farming is popular in these places in the Philippines: Danahon Reef (between Cebu and Bohol), and Zamboanga and Tawi-tawi. T
2. Global Warming is a culprit to food shortage because of the man-induced erratic behavior of our climate, worsened by increasing frequency and intensity of force majeure. T
3. Aquaculture is man’s ultimate frontier of production, because the conventional production areas have already reached their limit. T
4. Chemical pesticides and fertilizers have improved productivity of farmlands as well as enhanced sustainable production. F
5. Lowland ricefields during the monsoon season make a contiguous lake that is a an abode to many edible species of freshwater fish, crustaceans, mollusk and amphibians. T
6. Palay-isdahan means converting spent fishponds to rice production since rice is an aquatic plant. F
7. Rice can be grown commercially in the highlands, saline areas, hillsides, uplands, acidic and alkaline soils. F
8. Decrease in food production is also a result of increasing price of fuel, so that when price of food goes up, increase in fuel cost follows. T
9. Tragedy of the Commons means that common people recklessly compete among themselves for survival and pursuit of modern living, on limited resources, instead of pursing collective and mutual objective. T
10. The sea is limitless in resources considering that more than 70% of the earth’s surface is water. F
11. For this matter (referring to the previous statement), the world’s population can safely increase further without fear of shortage in food and other needs. It is only a matter of improved technology and effective policies and program to avert this consequence. F
12. To prevent crust (tutung), shut off the stove for a minute after it has reached boiling point – then turn on the heat until the rice is well cooked. T
13. Vitamins and minerals are concentrated in the vegetable, not in its rind or skin. Thus you have to peel kalabasa, pipino, talong, patola and the like. F
14. Food management at home was a subject required in the elementary a generation ago which was then called Home Economics. T
15. Converting mangrove swamps into fishponds is a solution to food crisis because fishponds produce more food that what the mangrove swamps contribute to the natural supply of food. F
16. The sea is nearly 4 km deep, and up to 12 km at its deepest – which means that fishing has barely scratched the surface of the sea, thus there is no felt danger of depletion of resources. F
17. Seaweed farming is popular in these places in the Philippines: Danahon Reef (between Cebu and Bohol), and Zamboanga and Tawi-tawi. T
"Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It's about honesty. It's about identity." - Louise Fresco
18. Our country exports millions of dollars worth of Caulerpa which is the source of carageenan used as food conditioning like in ice cream. F
19. The most popular seaweed sold in Metro Manila is Nori used in making Japanese Maki. This is commercially grown in the Philippines. F
20. You save on food if you have no pets. This is a policy of China to limit pets in order to save on food. T
21. GM rice* or golden rice contains yellow pigment of daffodils which is rich in Vitamin A. Vitamin A is needed by the body but an overdose of it may be deleterious to health such as allergy. T
19. The most popular seaweed sold in Metro Manila is Nori used in making Japanese Maki. This is commercially grown in the Philippines. F
20. You save on food if you have no pets. This is a policy of China to limit pets in order to save on food. T
21. GM rice* or golden rice contains yellow pigment of daffodils which is rich in Vitamin A. Vitamin A is needed by the body but an overdose of it may be deleterious to health such as allergy. T
22. World Bank (WB-IMF) warns of social unrest where food shortage cannot be contained on time by solutions acceptable by the masses. T
23. Revolutions start with hungry stomach as history can attest. French Revolution, Russian, Chinese, to mention some. These support Marxist philosophy of justifying socialism over aristocracy and capitalism. T
24. What economists insist as the road to good life is economic development, and any country that remains underdeveloped will never have a taste of it. F
25. There is limit to growth; it cannot be a perfect progression. This is shown in a graph with an S curve. T
-----------------
Author's Note: ASSIGNMENT Do some research and state the underlying reason/s behind each item, whether it is True or False. Share your work in school and community.
*GMRice is the first case of “biopharming” – implanting food supplement, drug or medicine in food plants to act as food and medicine at the same time. This is a controversial issue. Can you do some research on this subject, too?
Acknowledgement with gratitude: Internet images and quotes
Past lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid DZRB 738 KHz AM 8 to 9 evening, Mon to Friday
Live Healthier and Longer with Natural Food
Live Healthier and Longer with Natural Food
Eat foods grown under natural conditions, rather than those grown and processed with the use of chemicals. And no Frankenfood (GMO), please.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Vegetarian's barbecue - all naturally grown.
It is not enough that we produce food. We must produce food that ensure good health, reduce risks to diseases and ailments, and prolong life. We must produce food that also insures the health of our environment and the stability of the ecological system.
While science and technology continue to explore new ways to increase food supply with genetic engineering, people are yearning for organic food – or naturally grown food.
Here are issues raised by the proponents of organic farming.
1. Many ailments and abnormalities are traced to the food we take. Cancer for instance, is often related to carcinogenic substances. High uric acid leads to kidney trouble. High cholesterol and high sugar levels are associated with high blood pressure and diabetes. Aflatoxin causes cirrhosis of the liver. Ulcers are food-related, as are many allergies.
2. Proper nutrition and balanced diet can be attained by eating the right kind and amount of natural food without fortification with vitamins and minerals, and other forms of altering food value. Thus there is no need to process food unless it is really necessary. Fresh foods – vegetables, fish, and the like – are still the best. And why modify the genetic composition of crops and animals? Leave that to nature. Nature knows best.
3. Taking excess foods rich in animal fat and protein, and foods high in calories foods has predisposed many people to overweight conditions. Gaining unnecessary weight leads obesity now an epidemic sweeping many countries today particularly in cities where there is a proliferation of fast foods and junk foods. Or simply there is too much of the “good life” – excess in food and pleasure. In the US today one out of five Americans is an obese.
4. There are natural substances that keep our body always alert to fend off stress due to overwork and diseases. They are known as probiotics. We get probiotics from fruits and vegetables. We also get them from seaweeds, mushrooms, yoghurt, algae such as Chlorella, and cyanobacteria such as Spirulina. And there are many more sources that occur in nature. We are beginning to realize that eating foods rich in probiotics and antibiotics (substances that directly kill germs) makes us healthier and live longer.
These are the rules set by the advocates of natural farming.
1. It is always better to eat foods grown under natural conditions than those developed with the use of chemicals.
This statement can be captured with one term "natural food". All over the world this is a label found in food grown without chemicals. People are afraid of becoming ill because of chemicals introduced into the food. There are banned pesticides still in used such as methyl parathion, endosulfan, DDT, BHC, among others. These are also harmful to all living organisms and to the environment.
2. People are avoiding harmful residues of antibiotics and pesticides.
Poultry, hogs and cattle are given high levels of antibiotics to safeguard the animals from diseases. As a result the antibiotics are passed on to the consumers. Unless we are ill, the body does not need supplemental antibiotics. We have adequate natural sources. Every time we eat commercial eggs, chicken, pork chop, steak, and the like, we are taking in antibiotics which accumulate in our body, shutting off our immune systems, punishing our kidney and liver. To many people, antibiotics cause allergic reactions.
3. People are getting scared of food contaminated by radiation. Nuclear reactors are being built in many countries as a fallback to fossil fuel. After the Chernobyl nuclear plant meltdown in Russia, and that of the Three-Miles Island nuclear plant in the US, people have become wary about the consequences of fallout. A trace of radiation can be absorbed by grass in the pasture, finds its way to milk, then to infants. Radiation can remain active for hundreds of years. People are still dying today in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, more than fifty years since the bombing of the two cities with the first atomic bomb.
4. Be aware of the deleterious effects of toxic metals, such as lead, mercury and cadmium. These find their way through the food chain and ultimately reach humans. They escape to the air and enter our lungs, as in the case of dusts from old paints. Since they are in soluble compounds, they are easily absorbed by plants and animals. Kangkong for example absorbs lead. Tuna has high mercury in its tissues and liver. Cadmium from batteries is absorbed by crops.
The simpler your food is cooked, the better.
5. People are becoming more conscious of the nutritional value of food rather than its packaging and presentation.
More and more people are shunning away from junk foods, in spite of their attractive packaging. Soft drinks have taken the backseat, courtesy of fruit juices and mineral water. People have even learned that different plant varieties have different levels of food value. Beans grown on naturally fertile soil have higher calorie and protein content than those grown on poor soil, or with chemical fertilizers. This is also true with animals. Animals raised with proper nutrition give meat, milk and eggs with higher protein, minerals notwithstanding.
6. Freshness is the primordial rule in choosing a perishable food.
There is no substitute to freshness. While freshness is a function of efficient handling and marketing, the farmer must enhance farm-to-market freshness. By keeping his standing plants healthy, his produce will stay longer on the shelf life. Products that are free from pest and diseases also stay fresher and longer. Too much water or fertilizer reduces shelf life of the commodity.
Eat fresh fruits - avoid processed ones.
7. Food processing must be efficient and safe.
Food processing, such as drying, milling and manufacturing is key to higher profits. Whenever feasible, food must reach the table fresh. But processing is designed to lengthen the shelf life of perishable commodities. There are products that require processing before they are used. These food items include vanilla, coffee, cacao, wine and vinegar, soya, fish sauce and the like. Profits generated through processing are value-added to production.
8. Food must be free from pest and diseases.
By all means, food must be free from insects and pathogens. There are cases of food poisoning as a result of food deterioration, or contamination. Take salmonella and E. coli. Khapra beetle in grains may even cause death to animals. Weevils hasten the deterioration of the food.
9. Food preservation must ensure quality, and above all, safety.
Be aware of the fish that is stiff, yet looks fresh. It is easy to detect the odor of formalin. Salitre is harmful, so with vetsin or MSG (Monosodium glutamate). Too much salt (sodium) is not good to the body. Some puto makers add lye or sodium hydroxide to aid coagulation of the starch. We wary of sampalok candies enticingly made red with shoe dye. The same diluted dye is used with ube manufacture to make it look like the real violet-colored tuber.
Watch out. the utensils you are using may contain lead, mercury, plastic compounds, aluminum oxide and other harmful substances.
10. Beware of Frankenfood - Food derived from GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Many countries warn of the potential dangers of genetically modified food and food products. This move is not only to safeguard health, but also the environment. Genetically modified plants and animals – as well as bacteria, protists and even viruses – are now a threat to the natural gene pool, giving rise to a new kind of pollution - genetic pollution. Once a gene pool of a certain species is contaminated with a GMO genetic material Genetic pollution cannot be eliminated, even in subsequent generations. Thus, it also disturbs natural evolution.
Next time you go to market, remember these guidelines. Why not convert that idle lot to raise food that is safe to your health and the environment? That little corner could be the start of a new green revolution.~
Food processing, such as drying, milling and manufacturing is key to higher profits. Whenever feasible, food must reach the table fresh. But processing is designed to lengthen the shelf life of perishable commodities. There are products that require processing before they are used. These food items include vanilla, coffee, cacao, wine and vinegar, soya, fish sauce and the like. Profits generated through processing are value-added to production.
8. Food must be free from pest and diseases.
By all means, food must be free from insects and pathogens. There are cases of food poisoning as a result of food deterioration, or contamination. Take salmonella and E. coli. Khapra beetle in grains may even cause death to animals. Weevils hasten the deterioration of the food.
9. Food preservation must ensure quality, and above all, safety.
Be aware of the fish that is stiff, yet looks fresh. It is easy to detect the odor of formalin. Salitre is harmful, so with vetsin or MSG (Monosodium glutamate). Too much salt (sodium) is not good to the body. Some puto makers add lye or sodium hydroxide to aid coagulation of the starch. We wary of sampalok candies enticingly made red with shoe dye. The same diluted dye is used with ube manufacture to make it look like the real violet-colored tuber.
10. Beware of Frankenfood - Food derived from GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Many countries warn of the potential dangers of genetically modified food and food products. This move is not only to safeguard health, but also the environment. Genetically modified plants and animals – as well as bacteria, protists and even viruses – are now a threat to the natural gene pool, giving rise to a new kind of pollution - genetic pollution. Once a gene pool of a certain species is contaminated with a GMO genetic material Genetic pollution cannot be eliminated, even in subsequent generations. Thus, it also disturbs natural evolution.
Next time you go to market, remember these guidelines. Why not convert that idle lot to raise food that is safe to your health and the environment? That little corner could be the start of a new green revolution.~
Caulerpa or lato is now cultivated in fishponds where
conditions can be controlled, unlike in the open sea.
Green mussel or tahong absorbs toxic metals like lead
in polluted water. It is also dangerous to eat tahong
during red tide period. It may cause paralytic poisoning.
Stem Cell Burger, anyone?
Stem Cell Burger, anyone?
Dr Abe V Rotor
"Food can be grown in test tube, from stem cells of endless source: animal, plant, monera, protist – and human - stem cell burger, anyone?" -avr
Burger made from stem cells in the laboratory,it could be beef, pork, chicken, fish,and in many different combinations no singlerecipe can define, menus in array.Stem cells are universal to all living things,plants the simplest, animals complex,human ultimate, ethico-moral notwithstanding,but who can stop science, progress?Simple as seed germinating into stem and root,as zygote differentiating into tissues,to organs, to systems, on to a complete being;from organelles to uni-celled protists.Analogy from simple to complex shows Natureat work, transferring life in patterns,key to evolution's continuity and diversity -needless of human intervention.Disobedience from the tree of knowledge persists,discovery by invention or serendipity;man saw how a seed grows, an embryo forms,in vivo, in vitro, Eureka!If in test tube life grows, and tissue culturereplicates the mother, henceforth growstem cells harvested from the bone marrow,adipose, amniotic, umbilical -Would a mold make a bone, a heart, an eye,kidney? Or simpler, in situ - pronto!it's bio-automation, two centuries after Ford;burgers in millions, nay in billions.Who cares about laboratory grown burgersto a hungry world, to teeming cities,to slum dwellers, to affluence and fancy?to defect from the bandwagon?
Pavlov after all makes no exception, more soin consumerism, and Darwin’ssurvival in fitness, and on the expense of others -true from ancient to postmodern.For why should man eat the bacteria in BT corn?the arctic flounder in tomato?daffodil in rice, human hormone in cow’s milk?bio-pharmed plants, Frankenfood?Because he has accepted coffeeless coffee,sugarless sugar, fatless fat;sulfite, chromate, monosodium glutamate,irradiation, moieties and clones.And now stem cell burgers, and other productsfrom lab meat - today’s Green Revolution –so why farm the land, raise cattle on the ranch,hunt down the endangered species?When food can be grown in test tube,from stem cells of endless source:animal, plant, moneran, protist – and human -stem cell burger, anyone?
Laboratory grown hamburger Internet
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