Some would like to call Filipino food as, “one of the world’s earliest fusion c

Some would like to call Filipino food as, “one of the world’s earliest fusion cuisines,” and while that may be true up to a certain point, it may also be an oversimplification. Most Filipino dishes began with their creators making use of whatever ingredients they could find (usually within a 1-2 mile radius) and creating a dish from those ingredients. With the Philippines being one of the world’s largest archipelagos, Filipino cuisine is highly local and regional. This not only means that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of individually different dishes but also there are some Filipino dishes served throughout the country, but often have different preparations and even names. Influences of Filipino Food Philippine cuisine has several foreign influences that have successfully melded with local, indigenous cuisine. Indigenous Filipino food is heavily influenced by Chinese cuisine, brought along by the various traders and later on, Chinese immigrants mainly from Fujian region of China and the Cantonese. Filipino food is also heavily influenced by the cuisine of its different colonizers like the Spanish, who ruled the Philippines for 300 years, the Americans, who ruled the Philippines for a number of decades, the Japanese, who ruled a few years during World War II, and the British for a couple of years (bringing along Indian workers with them). There are also Mexican influences as workers and traders from the galleon trades brought ingredients and dishes to Philippine shores. Plus, there are native food from the country’s Islamic regions, which were influenced by the neighboring Southeast Asian countries. By virtue of it being local, regional, seasonal and being influenced by a number of different foreign cuisines, cataloging Filipino dishes is a little bit of a challenge, especially for foreigners. This also means that it is difficult to truly define Filipino food in just a few sentences but there are some basics to give you a clearer picture. Most Filipino dishes are named for cooking techniques and not specific ingredients or dishes. For example, the dish adobo refers to the technique of stewing in vinegar with peppercorns and bay leaf. This means saying adobo could mean a host of different dishes. When ordering, it’s better to be more specific like chicken pork adobo or adobong pusit (squid adobo). 2. Unlike the rest of Southeast Asia, Filipino food is rarely spicy. Instead, most Filipino dishes are a combination of salty, sour, sweet and bitter. Most of the spicy dishes are found in just 2 main regions, the province of Bicol and in the Muslim areas of Mindanao 3. Among the flavors, sourness is the most prevalent in Filipino food. Filipinos draw sour flavors from 3 main sources, fruits, leaves and fermentation. 4. The Philippines has one of the most varied selections of vinegar in the world. Varieties include coconut sap, pineapple, sugar cane, palm, and banana among others. 5. The cuisine is best enjoyed with rice. Filipinos enjoy each and every meal with one form of rice or another, even snacks and breakfast. 6. Filipinos could eat as much as 5-7 times a day. Early breakfast, breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and pulutan (small bites while drinking beer or hard liquor). 7. Filipino cuisine encourages the use of sawsawan or dipping sauces. This is usually a combination of calamansi (Philippine lime), soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce, onions, garlic and chilies. 8. Traditionally, Filipino food is best enjoyed using hands in place of utensils. This practice is called kamayan. 9. Filipino cuisine employs some unique condiments, including banana catsup, bagoong or guinamos and buro. Banana catsup was developed in light of the unavailability of tomatoes and is used to enhance a lot of fried dishes. Bagoong is fermented shrimp or fish paste and its strong pungent flavors are used to complement some of the milder tasting dishes like grilled squid or Kare Kare (ox tail peanut stew). Buro, meanwhile, is rice fermented with shrimp or fish and is a great complement to fried fish or raw greens like mustard leaves. 10. Food is such a big part of Filipino culture that you are usually greeted with, “Kumain ka na ba?” (Have you eaten?) and regardless of your answer, the host will usually still bring you food, especially if you visit someone’s home. Visayas Dishes Some of the tastiest and most iconic Filipino dishes can be found in Visayas. When you think of lechon or roasted whole pig, Cebu's lechon comes to mind as the best in the country. The majority of destinations in Visayas are islands or are located near coastlines, that's why fresh seafood in this island region is also a must-try. Check out the most iconic dishes in this part of the Philippines: Lechon A celebration dish, lechon is found on almost every feast and party in the Philippines. Lechon refers to the method of cooking meat on a spit over an open flame, so it can refer to a whole pig or just the belly, calf, goat or even chicken. The most common version enjoyed by Filipinos remains to be Lechon Baboy or whole roast pig. While a lot of countries do whole roast pigs, Filipino masters called “Lechoneros”, have mastered the art of cooking them. Mastering both hand turning the spit and moving the charcoal constantly throughout the cooking process, they are able to achieve an even, smooth browning of the skin, giving it a beautiful caramel colored sheen and keeping it crunchy (even 8 hours after they are cooked) while the meat inside is moist and tender. There are many regions that boast of making delicious lechon but the lechons from Cebu are enjoying the most publicity now, and with good reason. Whole pigs have heaping amounts of lemongrass, onions and garlic sewn into the belly with sea salt rubbed all over the pig, making it a fragrant and flavorful dish that does not need any sauce. If one absolutely has to insist, it can be enjoyed with a spicy vinegar dipping sauce. Chef’s Tip: Outside of the pig, many regions in Visayas (and Mindanao) do Lechon Karnero (whole roasted lamb) which is also best enjoyed without sauce. Batchoy Batchoy is one of the Philippines’ most popular noodle soup dishes that features egg noodles, beef and pork meat, liver, marrow and intestines, in a pork and beef broth with a hint of guinamos (shrimp paste). As if that’s not rich enough, fried garlic and chicharon (fried pork rinds) are added. The broth is an exercise in rich umami flavors with the tender meat adding substance to the freshly made egg noodles. Naturally, the best place to try batchoy is in its birthplace, Iloilo, particularly in La Paz. Chef’s Tip: Batchoy is best enjoyed with puto (steamed rice flour bread) or breads like Pan de Sal or Pan de Leche. Inasal The most popular version of Inasal is chicken marinated in ginger, vinegar and lemongrass, skewered and then grilled over open flame. As they are grilled, they are brushed with oil flavored with garlic and annatto seed. With inasal places, you can enjoy not only the traditional meat of paa (thigh and leg) or petso (breast and wing), but also the other parts including the baticolon (gizzard), corazon (heart), atay (liver) and isol (butt). The vinegar ginger marinade infuses the chicken with lots of flavor and the smokiness that is imparted by the charcoal flame make this dish more flavorful than normal grilled chicken. Bacolod is the ultimate place for inasal lovers as they even have a row of inasal restaurants affectionately called, “Manukan Country.” (chicken country). Chef’s Tip: Inasal is best enjoyed by making a sawsawan (dipping sauce) which can be a combination of soy sauce, vinegar, chilies, calamansi and minced garlic. SuToKil SuToKil is actually not just one dish but three dishes that are usually enjoyed together. “Su” or “Sugba” refers to grilled and it’s usually a grilled whole fish or other seafood like scallops or shrimps. “To” or “Tola/Tinola” refers to a ginger soup, in this case a ginger and fish soup, and “Kil” or “Kilawin/Kinilaw” refers to raw seafood marinated in vinegar and citrus. Together, they give the diner 3 different ways to enjoy fresh seafood, giving them 3 vastly different textures and flavor profiles. Numerous places in Cebu still specialize in serving only SuToKil. Chef’s Tip: While places specializing in SuToKil are a little bit harder to find now, most places serving Filipino food in the Visayas region, especially those near the water, would have all three dishes that can be ordered separately. Mindanao Dishes Another island region in the Philippines blessed with access to the freshest seafood is Mindanao. Because of its close proximity to other Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, dishes in Mindanao are also influenced by their cuisine. Here are some must-try dishes when you're in Mindanao: Inihaw na Panga Inihaw na panga refers to grilled tuna collars and it has become a staple in Mindanao, particularly in Davao, where most Filipino grill restaurants have it on the menu. uploads/Societe et culture/ influences-of-filipino-food-philippines.pdf

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