Food & Culture of the Philippines

Vegetables, rice and seafood are staples in Filipino dishes.

Philippine food and culture have distinct mixes of Eastern and Western influences. With more than 300 years of Spanish rule, there are many Philippine foods coming from Spanish origin, which soon became distinct Filipino dishes with the native ingredients. These include the puchero, caldereta, arroz caldo, relleno, mechado, adobo and leche flan. Trading with other Asian countries, like the Chinese and Indians, introduced lumpia, dumplings, fried rice, pansit, siopao and curry. The American occupation introduced steaks and other Western foods.

Geography, Topography and Industry

With its suitable climate and location, the presence of rice and seafood in Philippine cuisine is apparent. Rice is the staple food as its growth is favorable to the country's tropical climate and rich farming soil. Most lands under cultivation yields vital subsistence crops including green beans, corn, string beans and camote (sweet potatoes). Fruits are abundant all year round. Popular tropical fruits include mangoes, coconuts, bananas, papayas and calamansi (similar to lemons and limes). With the country being surrounded by bodies of water, seafood products are often seen in many dishes. There is also an abundance of coconuts in the country. Most parts of the coconut tree and its fruits are utilized for a variety of food, medicine and other native products like furnitures, bags and home decor.

Philippine Cuisine

Unlike its surrounding Asian countries that liberally use hot chilies in their dishes, the Philippine cuisine is often labeled as bland and mild, but is accompanied by complementing sauces and spices placed by the people on their own plates. Common condiments found all over the country include patis (fermented fish sauce), soy sauce, native vinegar and bagoong (cream-style shrimp paste).
Filipinos also show distinct preferences for sour and salty flavors like with the popular soup called sinigang (a lightly boiled sour stock made out of tamarind, guava or calamansi, and mixed with fish or meat and vegetables).

Filipino Meals

A typical Filipino diet consists of at most six meals a day; breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda (afternoon snacks), dinner, and possibly a midnight snack before going to sleep. The major meals are breakfast, lunch and dinner, and are typically a combination of rice and viands/entrees.
Traditionally, whether it is a typical family dinner or a big celebration with hundreds or thousands of guests, meals are often served family-style or in buffets where guests serve themselves. It is customary to use a spoon and a fork at every meal. Occasionally, Filipinos may choose to use banana leaves as plates and use their hands instead, especially when in a tropical beach setting or at a feast.

Kitchens

A typical Filipino house, regardless of economic status, has two kitchens. There is a "dirty" open-air kitchen for food preparation and for cooking food to serve in a large crowd, mainly during feasts and other celebrations. It is also used for cooking dishes that cause smoke and odor so that the interior of the house is not affected. Most large-scale cookware is also stored in the "dirty" kitchen. The "clean" kitchen, which is near the dining area, is used for the regular cooking of most family meals, for frying and other basic cooking methods. This is also where the basic food utensils are stored.

Special Occasions and Celebrations

Food served during special occasions and celebrations is very important in the Philippine culture. It is customary that the host invites the guests first to recieve their plates, spoons and forks, and line up for the buffet. It is common to see a lechon (suckling pig roasted until the skin forms a hard brown crust), adobo (pork or chicken cooked in vinegar and soy sauce), lumpia (Filipino-style spring roll), menudo (pork and vegetables cooked in tomato sauce), giniling (ground pork and vegetables cooked in tomato sauce), pansit (noodles with meat and vegetables), relyenong bangus (grilled milkfish stuffed with vegetables) and Filipino-style spaghetti (pasta with sweet sauce made of tomato sauce, ground meat and other herbs and spices, then topped with cheese). Desserts usually include bibingka and other kakanin (rice cake and other rice delicacies), fruit salad (tropical fruits mixed with condensed milk) or buko salad (fruit salad with coconut meat), gelatin (gelo) and leche flan (caramel custard).

References

• Marimari: Filipino Food
• Asia Recipe: Philippine Culture
• Asian Info: Filipino Food
• Every Culture: The Philippines
• Kwintessential: Philippines - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette