You may have caught the viral internet commercial where actors portraying the Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and US President Barack Obama are having a Filipino dinner. Not only is the commercial a witty endorsement for an anti-dyspepsia drug, it is also a reflection on the Filipino culture of food, particularly as a way to show hospitality by serving the best of the country’s cuisine. If there’s anything that Filipinos gained from its centuries of occupation from foreigners, is in its rich variety of food. From crunchy appetizers to tasty desserts, from filling street snacks to multiple main courses, Philippine cuisine takes its cues from Spanish, American, Malay, and Chinese influences and adds a little island flavor to each dish, such as the use of coconut, tamarind, native lime, and purple yam. Its popular dishes stem from the peasantry, which will maximize the sustenance from each livestock by eating the entire animal, from cooking all the organs to boiling the bones into soup stock. (watch video below)

Courtesy of obamainmanila

In contrast to European meals which courses are served separately, Filipino meals tend to be served all at once, and each plate is expected to balance 3 or 4 viands while making room for a scoop or two of rice. This blending of separate dishes reflects on each dish itself, which is commonly a blend of different ingredients.

The national dish is arguably adobo, which is chicken or pork chunks (or even squid) that is slow-cooked in a mix of vinegar, soy sauce, and flavorings like basil leaves, cloves of garlic, and peppercorn. There are more variants of adobo than dialects in the Philippines, which each region boastfully touting their version as the only way to prepare the ingredients.

A noodle dish brings out the chinese heritage among Filipinos. The ubiquitous pancit is vermicelli cooked in stock and loaded with vegetable garnish, shrimp, chicken bits and pork slices.  And don’t miss out on the seafood such as lapu-lapu (grouper), bangus (milkfish) and tilapia. The lapu-lapu is especially cooked best by grilling and favored with calamansi. To wash it all down, why not try calamansi juice, where native lime is squeezed into cold water and sweetened with sugar.

Special dinners are enough cause to order one-of-a-kind dishes, which may not take toll on your wallet, but will take toll on your arteries. Crispy pata, or deep-fried pig’s knuckles, is one such cholesterol-inducing viand. Another dish for special occasion is kare-kare, a stew made from oxtail, beef, tripe and an assortment of vegetables, immersed in peanut sauce. And if there is drinking after dinner, sizzling sisig is a favorite, which is a pig’s head and liver chopped up, placed on a hot plate, and flavored with hot sauce and seasoning.

If you have space in your stomach for dessert, halo-halo is a good choice, made of crushed ice, sugar, evaporated milk, and several toppings like tapioca balls, gelatin, yam pudding, creme brulee, and nato de coco is popular during the summertime. A lighter after-dinner tidbit is ginataang mais, which is corn in coconut milk. For hot drinks, kapeng barako is a notable beverage, a local and potent type of coffee that is sure to keep you awake long afterwards.

Finally, street snacks is a good way to satiate hunger pangs while on the move. Nothing beats a plate of isaw, fried or grilled innards from chicken or pork. Tokneneng is simply boiled chicken egg dipped in an orange batter and fried while kwek-kwek uses quail eggs, instead. Banana-ques and kamote-ques are also traditional treats, where bananas and yam slices are covered in brown sugar, fried, and skewered with bamboo sticks. You can find these street vendors near churches, schools, parks, and major road intersections.

To get yourself some truly delectable dishes, drop by the nearest town fiesta and join in the feast.  Lechon de leche, a suckling pig stuffed with pandan leaves and roasted till the skin turns crackling red, is a fiesta staple, placed prominently in the dining hall and carved expertly to separate the scrumptious crackling skin (the cheeks are the best) from the juicy roasted flesh, with some liver sauce as condiment. Rice cakes like puto are also part of the merriment.

Whew! That’s a lot of Filipino food to enjoy. Visitors may need that anti-dyspepsia medicine, after all.

Posted in Food, Philippines

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Food, Philippines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.