Geography has a decisive impact on the food you eat in your country. The cuisine of the Philippines, due to its insularity, is primarily seafood. But not only. Many stereotypes and legends have accumulated about it over the years. It’s time to check if she is as bad with her as others write and say …
Is Philippine cuisine just boring?
Where are the dishes stunning with taste, and what is more, the glow of extremely vivid colors? Of course in Asia. Everywhere are well-known dishes from China or India, pad thai is also a sensation in Poland. But has anyone heard of Filipino cuisine? Probably only the greatest connoisseurs and gourmets can say anything about it. Search engines after entering the phrase “Filipino cuisine
n “will send you to entries offensive and slandering rustic dishes. Apparently it is boring, the mass of rice, seafood, awaiting ordered meals forever, and most of them can not even be put into the mouth without gag reflexes. It is so terrible? Hmmm … This is a highly debatable matter.
Maybe the chefs there did not study at Ramsay’s and did not compete in the TV show for the title of the best, but the vast majority of them have a hand in hand and from the ingredients given to them by nature can do wonders. On the other hand, knowing what kind of country the Philippines is, are we going there to eat in expensive restaurants, or maybe to try the local flavors? I will leave the answer to each of you …
Colors of Philippine cuisine
It is difficult to find specific roots in Filipino cuisine, there are a lot of ekle in it
ktyzmu. The naked eye shows that it has evolved over several centuries from its Malay-Polynesian beginnings to its present shape. Tera
with this extremely diverse cuisine with many influences – you can find Latin and Mediterranean flavors (Spanish colonization period) as well as American, Chinese and various influences from different parts of Asia.
As it happens on the Asian continent, also the Philippines rice stand in every form, although r
various types of pasta, which are most often served in a pre-fried form – this is called pancit .
The most commonly used types of meat in flipin cuisine are chicken, pork, beef and fish – and each of them will find their fans on individual islands. The popularity of fish and seafood is the result of the Philippines’ location on the archipelago. Often, tilapia, catfish ( hito ), milk fish, or bangus , fish from the Epinephelinae family ( lap-lap ), shrimp land on the table hippo), king prawns (sugpo), swordfish, mussels (talaba), mussels (tahong), large and small crabs ( alimango and alimasag , respectively), tuna, cod , squid and cuttlefish (known under the common name pusit ). Seaweed, snails and eels are also popular (and tasty) here.
The most common way to prepare fish is to salt it, fry it in a pan or deep fat and serve it in a simple meal with rice and vegetables. It can also be cooked in sour tomato or tamarind broth, prepared with vegetables in a dish with a familiar name, sinigang , soul 
on low heat in vinegar with pepper in the dish < strong> paksiw or roasted over hot coal or wood. Many taste sensations can be expected from smoked and sun-dried fish.
Among the dishes there is also rich paelle and cocido (a dish of meat, vegetables and chickpeas). Popular dishes include lechón (a whole pig roasted for special and special occasions), longganisa (Filipino sausage), tapa ( smoked beef), abodo (chicken and / or pork stewed in garlic, soy sauce, vinegar or cooked to dry), kaldereta (goat meat in tomato stew), < strong> mechado (beef or pork cooked in tomato sauce), pochero (beef in bananas and tomato sauce), afritada (pork or beef stewed on a slow fire in tomato sauce with vegetables).
Sounds good right now, doesn’t it? Almost like in a Spanish eatery or “Chinese”. The Filipino menu will also include dishes that arouse at least anxiety and curiosity, since they are not found on our tables. These include kare-kare (ox tail and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce), crispy pata (deep fried pig leg) or hamonado (sweet pork in pineapple sauce).
The Philippines can easily be described as the kingdom of dips and sauces . Fried food is often dipped in vinegar, soy sauce, juice squeezed from kalamansi (a type of Filipino lime), or a combination of all these sauces. Patis (fish sauce) can be mixed with kalamansi as a sauce in which most seafood is dipped. Fish paste ( bagoong ), the famous shrimp paste ( alamang ) and crushed ginger root (luya) are spices often added to dishes both during the cooking process and when serving them.
Maybe Filipinos are not masters in confectionery and other sweets, but their national dessert, or halo halo, is a real masterpiece and a feast of flavors. Just imagine: crushed ice, jellies in several flavors, slices banana, pieces of coconut, beans, leche flan (local caramel pudding) and finally purple (!) sweet potato flavored ice cream (ube). You get it in a fairly high cup, and you have to mix everything before eating – the name of the dessert becomes understandable at this point, because “halo” means as much as “mix” .
Filipino freak cuisine is full
Of course, the accusations against Filipino cuisine are not unfounded. Chefs and waiters on the watch are unlikely to know each other, street food probably would not pass sanepid control, and some combinations of flavors are really strange. However, this is the country – full of contrasts, where people sometimes have to deal with immense poverty, and yet, with very simple ingredients, they can sometimes prepare – and share – real delicacies. The Philippines have developed street food culture to incredible proportions. We have grills, food trucks and small pubs at every step, from which a delightful (sometimes less) smell arises, encouraging us to taste the served dishes. Sometimes weird. Very.
One of them is ballut . “ Probably the most disgusting and hated world dish” (if you find something worse – let me know), and yet the Philippine cuisine considers it a delicacy. Balut is so-called transitional dish, because it is an egg-meat duck egg (less often a chicken), inside which you will find a fully formed bird embryo. Yes – you can grimace – it is eaten whole, with bones, beak … Although the dish comes from the Philippines, it is also popular in other parts of Asia. Most often it differs only in the incubation period of the egg. The longest incubation process is preferred by the Vietnamese, who are 21-day-old embryos most suited. We can give you a photo – you can always look at Uncle Google.
Another crazy dish – if you can call it that at all – is momma , which is a delicacy of the Filipino highlanders. It is a rice-tobacco chewing substance that leaves characteristic, red spots after spitting out – you can read more about it on the blog nafilipinach.com . The reading is really addictive …
To conclude – you can complain that the Philippines cuisine is full of rice, seafood, strange flavors and late orders. Of course, but this is the mentality of those people and you have to appreciate the fact that they want to share their wealth, flavors and colors with others. Will you? You will try it. You won’t like it? It’s hard – it doesn’t have to. But don’t write that something is hideous. You didn’t like it, but for the other it can be a feast for the senses.
mp
P.S. All those who succumbed to the temptation to judge and harmful stereotypes, I refer to the Philippine “must eat” or at least “must try”: menu No. 1 and No. 2. TASTY!
Leave a Reply