Philippine Cuisine
Philippines has a very colourful history, intriguing and enchanting, a unique blend of 400 years of eastern and western gastronomy. This exotic country offers delectable and tempting food to pamper people all over the world to the fullest. Filipinos are well known for their flavoursome cuisine, to them food is important as it is an integral part of local art and culture.
Philippine cuisine is a fascinating mélange of Malay, Spanish and Chinese cultures marked by typical sour and salty flavours. Unlike its Asian counterparts that use hot chillies generously in their dishes, Philippine cuisine has been marked as bland and mild, making it suitable for people with sensitive taste buds.
Filipinos love fish and indulge themselves in all types and sizes of fish from the Sea. Vegetables like potatoes, carrots, Taro (gabi), Cassava (woody shrub), purple and sweet yam, and seafood like Tilapia, milkfish, shrimp, mackerel and crabs are also eaten. The abundant use of salt, vinegar and garlic distinguishes the cuisine from the rest. The food is seasoned by the rich selection of special herbs and spices. Some main ingredients of Philippine cuisine are Toyo (soy sauce), Patis (fish sauce), fruits like coconut, corn flour, mushrooms, ginger, pandan leaf (screw pine), Tanglad (lemon grass) and bananas.
Classic Philippine Meal
Typical Filipino dishes have rice usually with a side dish. Coconut is used liberally in creating exotic dishes and some mouth watering desserts. Seafood is best appreciated when in a vinaigrette (kilawin) matrix, grilled (ihaw or inihaw), or sometimes stuffed with onions wrapped in banana leaf.
Filipinos traditionally eat three main meals a day. This includes Agahan (breakfast), Tanghalían (lunch), and Hapúnan (dinner), plus an afternoon snack called Meriénda (another variant is minandál or minindál). Dishes range from a simple meal of seafoods, pork, vegetable and rice, to Paellas or Cocidos. Popular dishes include Lechón, Chorizo, Tapa, adobo, Kaldereta, Kare-Kare, crispy Pata, Sinigang, Pancit, and Lumpia.
Breakfast
Rice is the dominant staple of Philippines. It is often served for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is used for numerous appetisers, entrees and dessert. Usually for breakfast, there is the typical rice or fried rice (garlic rice) and the usual breakfast dish of Tapas (dried beef), Tocino (cured meat) and fried fish. In some parts breakfast usually starts with one or two pieces of local bread called pandesal, followed by the main breakfast of rice.
Lunch & Dinner
Filipinos are also very fond of fried and grilled foods. These are seasoned with spices before cooking, making it very delicious and appetising. Filipino food is characterised by a dish called Sinigang (Philippine soup) in which meat (fish, beef or pork) is slightly boiled in sour stock of tamarind, vegetables and fish sauce. One of the most famous dishes (which is also the national dish) is the “Adobo” which can be either chicken meat or pork, or can even be both, cooked with soy sauce and vinegar. It is a very well known dish in the Philippines and people from around the world enjoy the taste of this local dish.
Lunch for Filipinos is like a feast. They enjoy the special Sinigang, Adobo and Kare-Kare, other dishes cooked in coconut milk called Guinatan. Simple meals include a dish of rice and fish. The rich ones include Paellas and Cocidos. Some of the well known dishes include whole roasted pig (Lechon), omelet (Torta), native sausage(Longanisa), bread rolls (Pan de Sal), oxtail or pieces of beef and tripe cooked in peanut sauce (kare-kare), mixed cold fruit dessert (halo-halo) etc.
For dinner, there is the typical seafood cuisine, since the country has an abundant supply and lots to choose from. Cooked in a variety of ways, sea food is often broiled or grilled to prepare Paella. Seaweed is also used to prepare exotic salads that complete the meal.
Dessert
Coconut is great for creating mouthwatering desserts like Bibingka (puddings made of ground rice, sugar and coconut milk, baked in a clay oven, topped with fresh, salted duck eggs) and Macapuno (thick dessert jam). At certain events, the Filipinos cook rice cake dishes that are served as desserts. Galapong is the rice flour for the production of the batter to make Kakanin (rice cakes). Sugar is added to the basic recipe of flour, yeast and salt which gives it an almost cake like taste.
Other Popular Dishes
In many places, you will find Tosiliog, Longsilog, Bangsilog, Daingsilog. These are fried eggs (itlog) served with Tocino (Filipino ham) or Longanisa (garlic pork sausage) Bangus (milk fish) or Daing(dried fish). All are popular for breakfast.
Philippine mangoes are the best in the world. They are bright yellow and very sweet.
Trivia
- Ampalaya, or bitter gourd is a favourite Filipino food. In the Philippines, Ampalaya is an alternative medicine to help alleviate various ailments.
- It is believed that more than half the dishes prepared in this country can be traced to Spain. The Spaniards introduced tomatoes and garlic along with the techniques of sauteing them with onions in olive oil.