The Filipinos are a gregarious and sociable people who love to party, and the
food is often at the center of their many celebrations. Filipino food combines
Eastern and Western ideas and is strongly influenced by Chinese, Spanish and
American traditions.
Original Fusion Food
While it defies any singular characterization, Filipino food is sometimes
identified by the way it fuses Asian and European ingredients.
For example, in the robust and popular Pork Menudo dish, some
recipes have it blending tomato sauce with soy sauce, while others have it
combining cheese and bay leaf with soy sauce.
Still, as with all other Southeast Asian cuisines, we often find local
Southeast Asian ingredients like chilies, coconuts, shrimp paste, lemongrass
and fish sauce or patis present in Filipino cooking.
Chinese traders, who have been going to the Philippines since the 11th
century, brought with them not only their silks and ceramics from the Middle
Kingdom for purposes of commerce but also Chinese cooking traditions like
stir-frying and steaming. The Filipino pancit has its roots in noodle soup
dishes from China, the lumpia finds its origins in Chinese spring rolls, while
the siaopao and siaomai are similar to the popular Chinese dim sum dishes of
steamed buns and dumplings.
Colonization
Later, in the 16th century when the Spanish colonized the Philippines and
introduced Catholicism to the masses, they also exposed Filipino cuisine to new
flavors, including olive oil, paprika, saffron, cheese, ham and cured sausages.
The Spanish paella or fried rice, for example, has come to be
a festive dish in the Philippines and has been locally adapted to include many
of the abundant seafood such as shrimps, crabs, squid and fish, with which the
Philippines is blessed.
In 1889, the Philippines became a colony of the United States, which
bequeathed it the widespread use of the English language as well as convenience
cooking -- pressure cooking, freezing, pre-cooking, sandwiches, salads,
hamburgers and fried chicken, which have all come to form part of the arsenal
of the Filipino cook.
Island Food
The Philippines is made up of 7,107 islands; with a few more appearing when
the tide is low. With so much water everywhere, it is no wonder that seafood is
the main source of protein in the Filipino diet.
The country is divided into seven major regions and features a wide variety
of regional fare. It’s not easy to put one’s finger on what might constitute a
Filipino “national” dish, but several that could lay claim to that distinction
include the:
Adobo which is chicken and pork stewed in vinegar and soy sauce,
garlic, peppercorns and bay leaf,
Bistek or beef and onion rings in soy
sauce and
lumpia or spring rolls.
One feature that is unique to the Filipino dining is the sawsawan, dipping
sauces that are served with every meal and which can turn simply prepared
roasted or steamed meals into bursts of flavors that follow one’s own taste
buds. Common condiments like fish sauce, dark soy sauce, native vinegar and
cream-style shrimp paste are mixed with herbs including ginger, garlic, chili
peppers, peppercorns, onions, tomatoes, cilantro and kalamansi lime to bring
the flavors up a few notches. Just as in the other Southeast Asian countries, a typical Filipino meal
often consists of white rice eaten with a variety of dishes, all of which taste
better when consumed together with family and friends.
