Aaron Speaks his Mind on Food.

Meet Aaron Rippin, an 11-year-old from Burlington, MA and the brother of our well beloved Nathan Rippin. Today, I conducted an interview with Aaron about many things. For now, though, I've decided to share with you one of our topics we discussed: Food. This kid will speak for hours on end if you give him a subject. He's got an opinion about everything and he's not afraid to share it with you. 

"I am speaking my mind!" Aaron exclaims, as he hits his fist on the
conference table at the Governor's mansion.

Milk & Cheese 

Spreadable Cheez Whiz,
yummy on Pan De Sal

Aaron: I tried the milk, like the one that says Hollie on it. Yeah I tried it. It tasted like regular milk to me. Well, I didn't try a lot of it. I only got like half a cup of it 'cause I only got the last of it, so I didn't really try that much, I only got half 'a cup of it. Like a cup and a half or a half.

Aaron: I don't understand why people in the Philippines are obssesed with cheese products. Didn't you see that everywhere you went, there was cheese icecream and Cheez Whiz. Yeah, like the Felizardos also went to the Philippines, and when I went to sleepover at their house after Lowell (Folk Festival), I saw a bunch of Cheez Whiz and then I asked, why do you have so much Cheez Whiz? And then Tita K was like, "Oh we love the Cheese whiz" and I said, "O-kay."

Worms in My Food

Aaron: Well I had the adobo and pancit, but I didn't really try anything else, because I didn't know what anything was.

Sierra: Why didn't you try it since you were in the Philippines?

Dulong or Silver Fish. A popular dish from Batangas
and Laguna. Aaron thought the freshwater fish
that makes up this delectable dish were worms! 

Aaron: 'cause it looked WEIRD and the lady from that house that's really old, she said that there were worms in most of it...YEAH. She said that there were worms in the food!

Sierra: I think that was only her food though. That was just a certain dish.

Aaron: Well I didn't want to try anything because all I was thinking about was the worms in the food...

Sierra: Oh, Aaron...Did you think they were actually worms? Did you believe her?

Aaron: Well I, Well I thought they might actually be worms because sometimes, they're like fresh...umm...a chance that some of them have worms in them because they don't really like check every single piece, so I was like hmmm....should I eat this? It might have worms in it - I kept thinking like that. I KEPT THINKING ABOUT THOSE WORMS.

On McDonalds

Philippine McDonald's Menu. Meals come with either rice or spaghetti.

Aaron: The Philippine McDonalds, they have a chicken McDough. They have chicken there, but in America, they don't have chicken.

Sierra: Chicken?

Aaron: Yeah! The actual chicken thighs.

Sierra: Oh--

Aaron: Not like the patty but an actual piece of fried chicken. And also, they don't...and they don't have spaghetti. Yeah, the spaghetti in the Philippines is really sweet because they add lots of sugar in it. They put Italian seasoning in it but they put lots of sugar in it and banana ketchup.

Sierra: So it's not your traditional tomato sauce--

Aaron: YEAH. Banana Ketchup, which is yummy.

Aaron: Also a Ham De Sal, which is not a really good play on words...It makes kinda a weird pun.

Sierra: Why?

Aaron: Because it would have been better if "HAM" was actually "HAN." Then it would have been better pun.

Sierra: But then you know it's actually made out of ham.

Aaron: YEAH, but it's still a weird pun....Like in America, they don't have puns there. They just add Mc in front of everything.

Sierra: Mc?

Aaron: YEAH, like McDouble, McChicken, McFlurry.  They don't play on words. They just say like a chicken McDough..like um...um...like...fish McFries, Chicken McNuggets. It's WEIRD....Why do they add Mc in front of everything? In the Philippines, they play on words, but in America, they put Mc in front of EVERYTHING.