Filipinos, especially country folk, rise early. Rural folk eat their main meal at midday, while city dwellers emphasize the evening meal. The diet of poor families is usually rice, fish, vegetables, interspersed with starchy snacks. At fiesta time, all families try to eat meat. Since few provincial households own a refrigerator, ingredients are customarily either fresh or salted.
Housewives go to the market daily to buy their immediate requirements.
Leftovers rarely remain after a meal. Extra food is eaten by servants, helpers, and hangers-on, and scraps go to the dog or pig. Cooks provide condiments, flavorings, and dipping sauces to be used at the diner's discretion. Food is eaten with a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other, knives are seldom used. Rural Filipinos prefer to use their hands.