The Philippines is the second largest archipelago next to Indonesia. It is a tropical country where people enjoy a healthful climate with only wet and dry seasons all year round with 7,000 islands. Thanks to its rain forests, an immense assortment of tropical fruits such as bananas, pineapples, durian, papayas, watermelon and the well-known mangoes can be harvested by season. This mix of fruits carves Philippines as a fruit basket especially one of its islands, Mindanao. Filipino culture is as mix as it gets as influences of Filipino foods expands as time goes by. The modern Filipino foods menu reflects culinary tastes of China, Japan, India, Spain and USA. Needless to say, Philippines has evolved a unique melting pot of cultural diversity where East meets West.
Philippine recipes are products from influences of Chinese, Malay, Spanish, Mexican, American and Indian. Filipinos are known to have a hearty appetite and just love to eat. In fact, a typical Filipino eats three meals a day and two snacks in between. Filipino country folks eat a breakfast while some eat a second breakfast around 1030am then a mid-afternoon snack. The folks living in rural areas have their main meal at mid day while city folks emphasize the evening meal. Thus, it is no surprise that Filipinos have a wide array of food recipes that comes with a cup or more of hot and steamy rice. An unusual feature of Filipino food is the combination of major meat ingredients such as chicken and pork adobo or pork and fish chopsuey.
Rice
Rice comprise the main bulk of a Filipino food or diet, be it breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s usually boiled until the grains become fluffy. A normal meal of a Filipino family consists of moulds of rice together with a dish of meat and/or vegetables. Filipinos are quite creative when it comes to leftover food especially when it comes to rice. The previous night’s rice can be fried with garlic or made into Shanghai rice. Filipinos don’t mind the simplicity of such fare as long as the rice is acceptable and not too sticky or not too dry – just right, complete with the always present dipping sauces.
Hospitality
Food is the basis of their social life that Filipinos often asks a stranger to “come and eat”. They’re known to be naturally hospitable and sociable. Even strangers who happen to pass by Filipinos who are eating are then invited to “come sit and eat with us”. It’s acceptable to say you had already eaten. It’s better not to accept the first invitation as to wait if they do insist. This is a unique Filipino way of gauging whether the invitation is sincerely extended or not. If they press on further and insist you come and eat with them, it shows they have prepared food enough for everyone especially during special occasions like fiestas.
Filipino Cooking Methods
Filipino food is one of mixed and varied origins of Chinese, Malay and Spanish however their cooking methods are simple. There are five cooking methods that comprise the pillar of Filipino cooking namely boiling (nilaga), grilling (ihaw), roasting, steaming (halabos) and frying (prito). The modern day cooking calls for these cooking methods quite convenient for Filipinos. It was not until when Spanish came to the Philippines that the method of sautéing (guisado) was” Filipinized” and adapted into the Filipino kitchen which adds to the basic methods of Filipino food and how they’re cooked.
Filipinos indeed love to cook as much as they love to eat. In fact, it is obviously seen in their unique and creative yet delicious known to be cherished not only by Filipinos but also other visitors of different nationalities.
