Philippine Food
The Spanish came, so did the Japanese.
The Americans said “Hi!” and the the Chinese said “buy!” while the Arabs
said “Salaam.”
Yep, they all have come, gone, and settled down in the Philippines. So,
what have they left? Siesta time from the Spanish…check. Trading from
the Chinese…noted. The Americans traded Spam and pudding while the
Japanese, well, we’ve got lots of interesting historical sites now.
Kidding aside, the Philippine culture has always been described as
“diverse” due to the many different influences by foreign settlers and
occupation during it’s younger years. The same description may also be
used to describe another important part of Filipino culture: the
cuisine.
When it comes to eating Filipino food, most tourists are pleasantly
surprised to see how fast they can develop a taste for Filipino food.
Neither too hot, nor spicy, the native dishes often come with an array
of condiments both foreign and local for the diner’s use.
Generally speaking, much of Filipino cuisine are dishes adapted from the
settlers then continually refined and “taste-tested” to suit Filipino
tastes. Some recognizable as spawns of foreign cuisine, some, dishes
inspired by resourceful minds, while some are meant to be eaten with
eyes closed for the foreign tourist.
Let me give you a tour of things you can expect to see on the local
menu:
Appetizers
Ginataang Kuhol – Ever eaten snails? Kuhol (escargot to the
French) are fresh water snails cooked in coconut cream and gabi leaves.
To eat this dish, you’re going to have to need a toothpick to poke and
draw out the luscious flesh inside the snail shell.
Ginataang Kuhol
Kilawin – Kilawin is the process of putting raw fish, shrimp, or
oysters into a vinegar dip with onions, ginger, pepper and other spices.
Tangy, yet very tasty.
Mangga at Bagoong- sliced green mangoes served with sautéed
shrimp paste.
Gambas – sizzling shrimp on a hot plate with tomato sauce, garlic
and chillies
Chicharon – deep-fried, lightly salted pork rinds. Best eaten
with vinegar mixed with garlic and chillies.
For your Main Dish: The Usual Favorites
Lechong Baboy--The Lechon (roasted pig) is a constant favorite
among the fiesta loving Pinoys. It is basically a huge and succulent pig
stuck on a bamboo spit roasted over an open fire. The crisp skin is the
favorite part of most Pinoys so don’t be surprised to see them rushing
to be first in line to get the choicest and largest portions of the
skin.
Lechong Baboy and other Delicacies
Kare-kare -- Derived from Spanish dishes, the Kare kare
(pronounced as kareh kareh) consists of ox tripe and meat cooked in a
peanut sauce served with vegetables and bagoong (sauteed shrimp paste.)
Sinigang -- A method of cooking that Filipinos claim to be an
“original,” “Sinigang” refers to the process of cooking either pork,
fish, shrimps or beef in tamarind broth. Other variants of this is the
“sinigang sa bayabas” (guava soup) or “sinigang sa miso” (tofu soup
usually used for fish.) All variants are characterized by a slightly
sour taste. Sinigang is usually served with “patis” (fish sauce.)
Adobo -- Chicken meat and pork cooked in an infusion of soy
sauce, vinegar, herbs and spices. It keeps well, it may be eaten with
bread or rice or simply be taken on its own as a snack
Bulalo – Joints of beef and beef shank soup boiled for hours and
mixed with ginger, chopped corn on the cob, and other greens. Usually
comes with patis (fish sauce and native lemon, calamansi.) Don’t be
surprised to see your Pinoy friends trying to coax the bone marrow out
of the bone. It’s considered a local delicacy.
Laing – Wilted taro leaves cooked in coconut cream, coconut milk,
and shrimps.
Bicol Express – Sounds like a train doesn’t it? Well, you’d feel
like one on fire after you get a taste of this kicker from the Bicol
province. Chopped up chilies cooked in coconut milk that could pack a
whopper like you’d never believe.
Dishes for gustatory adventurers
Pinapaitan - Goat or deer innards boiled in a broth
seasoned with goat bile, pepper and ginger. Served as soup, Pinapaitan
could be a dish listed under “Acquired Tastes.”
Balut – Fertilized duck egg. Boiled and eaten with salt, the
balut has that “Fear Factor” element for all tourists in the country.
Duck embryos in different stages of maturity (feathered or not), a lot
of foreign guests have difficulty chewing on half formed ducklings.
Balut
Soup Number Five – bull testicle soup. Also believed to be a
powerful aphrodisiac.
Dinuguan – Pork meat and innards cooked in a hearty pork blood
stew. Best eaten with rice flour cakes called puto. Most visitors
to the country kind of find it hard to eat black food. One good tip
would be, just close your eyes.
Durian/Marang – “Smells like hell yet tastes like heaven.” Oh
yeah the bread fruit can be pretty notorious for its stinky smell but
also famous for its rich, creamy taste…once you get over the smell that
is.
Snacks and Desserts
The Philippines is well known for its delicious rice cake called the
bibingka (rice cakes cooked with eggs, salted eggs, milk, and
cheese,) suman (sticky rice puddings served with coconut and
sugar) and the biko (sticky sweet rice cakes.)
Being a tropical island, most desserts are based on fruits to be found
in the Philippines: ripe mangoes with sago palm, ripe bananas cooked in
caramel and served with vanilla ice cream , leche flan (flan made
with egg whites and milk with caramel syrup. Something like Crème
Brulee.) and the king of all treats, the halo-halo (literally
“mix-mix”) made out of mixed beans and fruits served in a tall glass
topped with shaved ice, purple yam, leche flan bits, purple yam ice
cream, milk and sugar.
 
Halo-Halo
Bunches of Suman
Half the fun of visiting any place is trying out the food. So why stick
to foods you can get at home when you can try food that hold so much
promise of a thousand gustatory delights?
Be brave, be bold, and indulge!
Visit the Beautiful Philippine
Islands today! A great vacation for the entire
family... |
