WHAT IS FILIPINO FOOD?
The cooking style, methods and ingredients associated with Philippine cuisine have evolved from its Malayo-Polynesian origins. The Philippines is at a crossroads of shipping lanes. As a result, many cultures have influenced its cuisine. It can be considered as a melting pot of mixed cuisines with many Hispanic, Chinese, American, and other Asian influences adapted to indigenous ingredients and the local palate.
During the pre-Hispanic era in the Philippines, foods were prepared mainly by boiling, steaming, or roasting. The foods ranged from the usual livestock such as cow, water buffalo, pig and chicken to various kinds of fish and seafood. Filipinos have been cultivating rice since 3200 BC when Austronesian ancestors from the southern China Yunnan Plateau and Taiwan settled in what is now the Philippines.
Trade with Hokkien China in the Philippines prospered prior to the arrival of the European nations, going back as early as the Song dynasty (960–1279 BC) with porcelain, ceramics, and silk being traded for spices and trapang in Luzon. This early cultural contact with China introduced a number of staple foods into Philippine cuisine, most notably soy sauce, tofu, beans sprouts, pickled mustard greens, white radish, bamboo shoots, chinese celery, water chestnuts, lemongrass and fish sauce. Common cooking methods were also introduced such as stir frying, deep frying and making savory soup bases. Many of these food items and dishes retained their original Hokkien names, such as pancit and lumpia. Filipinos incorporated the new Chinese cooking methods but added their own indigenous ingredients. As a result, pancit is not complete without a twist of calamansi and lumpia is served with a dipping sauce of vinegar and crushed garlic.
Malaysian spice traders brought seasonings from the Spice Islands and introduced satay.
Spanish colonization from 1521 to 1898 brought with it a new cuisine. Food historians claim that 80% of Filipino dishes are of Spanish origin. Along with the Spanish influence came Mexican flavors. The Spanish introduced dishes from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as North, Central and South America: olive oil, wine, European seasonings, peppers, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and the method of sautéing with garlic, onions and tomatoes. Even today, many Filipino dishes are based on garlic, onion and tomatoes, remnants of a Spanish influence.
Spanish (and Mexican) dishes were eventually incorporated into Philippine cuisine with the more complex dishes usually being prepared for special occasions. Since Spanish food emphasized meat and dairy products, which were considered luxury items, Spanish fare was considered upper class, fiesta cuisine, while Chinese food was considered everyday cuisine. Many Spanish-derived dishes show up on the table only at Christmas, New Year or fiesta like relleno, mechado, pochero, leche flan. Some dishes such as arroz a la valenciana remain largely the same in the Philippine context. Some have been adapted or have come to take on a slightly or significantly different meaning. Arroz a la cubana served in the Philippines usually includes ground beef picadillo. Philippine longganisa, despite its name, is more akin to chorizo than Spanish longaniza. Morcon is likely to refer to a beef roulade dish not the bulbous specialty Spanish sausage.
The marriage of Chinese and Spanish cuisines became eminent during the rise of the panciterias in the 19th century. Pansit, congee or arroz caldo, fried rice, lumpia longganisa and chopsuey became staples of these panciterias. Adobo is also a by-product of both Spanish and Chinese influence. In Spanish cuisine, adobo refers to a pickling sauce made from olive oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, paprika, thyme, bay leaf and salt. The Filipinos embraced their favorite flavors (vinegar, garlic and bay leaf), included peppercorns and nodding to the Chinese influence, added soy sauce. They adapted it to be a stewing sauce for chicken and pork, but maintained its Spanish moniker. Once again, the Filipino palate affirmed itself.
From 1898 to 1946, American influences added yet another dimension to the Filipino food culture – speed and convenience. Within a generation, not only did Filipinos speak English, they became consumers of American products - prepackaged foods, canned goods and fast foods.
Today, the Philippine cuisine continues to evolve as new ingredients and cooking techniques, styles and methods find their way into the country. A fusion of different dishes from earlier traders, Asian immigrants and former colonizers and the Filipinos’ love for cooking resulted into a unique Philippine cuisine – a melting pot of eastern and western cuisine and a gastronomic delight that has been savored for centuries.
References:
Fernandez, Doreen. "Culture Ingested: On the Indigenization of Philippine Food." 2010.
Fernandez, Doreen."What is Filipino Food." 2009.
The cooking style, methods and ingredients associated with Philippine cuisine have evolved from its Malayo-Polynesian origins. The Philippines is at a crossroads of shipping lanes. As a result, many cultures have influenced its cuisine. It can be considered as a melting pot of mixed cuisines with many Hispanic, Chinese, American, and other Asian influences adapted to indigenous ingredients and the local palate.
During the pre-Hispanic era in the Philippines, foods were prepared mainly by boiling, steaming, or roasting. The foods ranged from the usual livestock such as cow, water buffalo, pig and chicken to various kinds of fish and seafood. Filipinos have been cultivating rice since 3200 BC when Austronesian ancestors from the southern China Yunnan Plateau and Taiwan settled in what is now the Philippines.
Trade with Hokkien China in the Philippines prospered prior to the arrival of the European nations, going back as early as the Song dynasty (960–1279 BC) with porcelain, ceramics, and silk being traded for spices and trapang in Luzon. This early cultural contact with China introduced a number of staple foods into Philippine cuisine, most notably soy sauce, tofu, beans sprouts, pickled mustard greens, white radish, bamboo shoots, chinese celery, water chestnuts, lemongrass and fish sauce. Common cooking methods were also introduced such as stir frying, deep frying and making savory soup bases. Many of these food items and dishes retained their original Hokkien names, such as pancit and lumpia. Filipinos incorporated the new Chinese cooking methods but added their own indigenous ingredients. As a result, pancit is not complete without a twist of calamansi and lumpia is served with a dipping sauce of vinegar and crushed garlic.
Malaysian spice traders brought seasonings from the Spice Islands and introduced satay.
Spanish colonization from 1521 to 1898 brought with it a new cuisine. Food historians claim that 80% of Filipino dishes are of Spanish origin. Along with the Spanish influence came Mexican flavors. The Spanish introduced dishes from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as North, Central and South America: olive oil, wine, European seasonings, peppers, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and the method of sautéing with garlic, onions and tomatoes. Even today, many Filipino dishes are based on garlic, onion and tomatoes, remnants of a Spanish influence.
Spanish (and Mexican) dishes were eventually incorporated into Philippine cuisine with the more complex dishes usually being prepared for special occasions. Since Spanish food emphasized meat and dairy products, which were considered luxury items, Spanish fare was considered upper class, fiesta cuisine, while Chinese food was considered everyday cuisine. Many Spanish-derived dishes show up on the table only at Christmas, New Year or fiesta like relleno, mechado, pochero, leche flan. Some dishes such as arroz a la valenciana remain largely the same in the Philippine context. Some have been adapted or have come to take on a slightly or significantly different meaning. Arroz a la cubana served in the Philippines usually includes ground beef picadillo. Philippine longganisa, despite its name, is more akin to chorizo than Spanish longaniza. Morcon is likely to refer to a beef roulade dish not the bulbous specialty Spanish sausage.
The marriage of Chinese and Spanish cuisines became eminent during the rise of the panciterias in the 19th century. Pansit, congee or arroz caldo, fried rice, lumpia longganisa and chopsuey became staples of these panciterias. Adobo is also a by-product of both Spanish and Chinese influence. In Spanish cuisine, adobo refers to a pickling sauce made from olive oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, paprika, thyme, bay leaf and salt. The Filipinos embraced their favorite flavors (vinegar, garlic and bay leaf), included peppercorns and nodding to the Chinese influence, added soy sauce. They adapted it to be a stewing sauce for chicken and pork, but maintained its Spanish moniker. Once again, the Filipino palate affirmed itself.
From 1898 to 1946, American influences added yet another dimension to the Filipino food culture – speed and convenience. Within a generation, not only did Filipinos speak English, they became consumers of American products - prepackaged foods, canned goods and fast foods.
Today, the Philippine cuisine continues to evolve as new ingredients and cooking techniques, styles and methods find their way into the country. A fusion of different dishes from earlier traders, Asian immigrants and former colonizers and the Filipinos’ love for cooking resulted into a unique Philippine cuisine – a melting pot of eastern and western cuisine and a gastronomic delight that has been savored for centuries.
References:
Fernandez, Doreen. "Culture Ingested: On the Indigenization of Philippine Food." 2010.
Fernandez, Doreen."What is Filipino Food." 2009.
“I had said to some people, ‘If there was a great chef executing Filipino food at a high level,
everyone else would line up behind them,’ ” Zimmern says.
everyone else would line up behind them,’ ” Zimmern says.
Food
At long last, Filipino food arrives. What took it so long?
Excerpts from A Washington Post article written by Tim Carman April 21, 2015
Nearly three years ago, before most Americans could pronounce sinigang, let alone find a place to enjoy the sour soup, Andrew Zimmern predicted Filipino cuisine would soon become the darling of diners who collect restaurant experiences like seashells on the beach. If you survey the dining landscape today, you might wonder whether the “Bizarre Foods” host moonlights as a soothsayer.
From Los Angeles to New York, Filipino cooking has expanded well beyond its no-frills “point-point” eateries (the suburban outlets where diners point to steam-table dishes they want) to more refined restaurants that cater to diners who want wine, not soda, with their meals. D.C. area chefs and restaurateurs, in particular, have taken an interest in Filipino food. Three full-service restaurants, including a fine-dining room overseen by a James Beard Award nominee, now specialize wholly or in part in the cuisine; three more are on the way.
Zimmern is not surprised, nor is he particularly impressed with his prophecy skills. As a globe-trotting food hunter, Zimmern has a rare vantage point from which he can monitor world cuisines. He knows what food is bubbling just below the mainstream. Chefs tell him about it. He may even see them tinkering with dishes to achieve that delicate balance of authenticity and American marketability.
What has made Filipino cooking different from other Asian cuisines, which found acceptance much earlier in mainstream American dining rooms?
One obstacle: ‘hiya’
Knee-jerk pundits like to point fingers at balut and dinuguan, but these two are just fall-guy dishes: The former is a fertilized duck-egg embryo, something of a cross between an aphrodisiac and a drunken dare, and the latter is a stew of pork and offal simmered in vinegar and pig blood. But neither represents the breadth, depth and deliciousness of Filipino food any more than fried duck tongues and sliced pig ears represent the entirety of Chinese cooking. Filipino dishes, after all, not only draw inspiration from Spanish, Chinese and Malay cuisines but also channel spice, sourness and pungency, three of the trendiest flavors in American dining.
Knee-jerk pundits like to point fingers at balut and dinuguan, but these two are just fall-guy dishes: The former is a fertilized duck-egg embryo, something of a cross between an aphrodisiac and a drunken dare, and the latter is a stew of pork and offal simmered in vinegar and pig blood. But neither represents the breadth, depth and deliciousness of Filipino food any more than fried duck tongues and sliced pig ears represent the entirety of Chinese cooking. Filipino dishes, after all, not only draw inspiration from Spanish, Chinese and Malay cuisines but also channel spice, sourness and pungency, three of the trendiest flavors in American dining.
More thoughtful analysts note that as a U.S. colony in the first half of the 20th century, the Philippines assimilated countless American traits, including our primary language. Along with Tagalog, English is an official language in the Philippines. When Filipinos immigrate to the United States, then, their English-language skills allow them to blend into American work and social life without the need to cluster around “Manila towns,” similar to the Chinatowns so common to U.S. cities. Unlike Vietnamese or Chinese, they haven’t needed to open a restaurant as a way to cater to their own community, which often eats at home, or to generate income.
But that ability to disappear into American society has come with a cost, notes Nicole Ponseca, co-owner of Maharlika, a modern Filipino restaurant, and its gastropub sister, Jeepney. Filipino immigrants have struggled to have much impact on mainstream U.S. culture, especially around food and drink. The problem is compounded, Ponseca adds, by a well-documented trait: It’s called “hiya” (pronounced “hee-yah” in Tagalog), and the word translates into English as “shame” or “dishonor.” Some Filipino immigrants in America have felt a sense of hiya around their food, with its duck embryos, pig’s blood, shrimp paste and other potentially hard-to-swallow ingredients.
“Filipinos would feel like that — that no one would like” the food, Meshelle Armstrong continues. “So they won’t do it.” And by “do it,” she means Filipinos have felt little desire to invest the time, cash and energy into building their own restaurants, assuming they’ll just be rejected.
Adds Genevieve Villamora, co-owner of Bad Saint, a homey Filipino restaurant coming this spring to Columbia Heights: “When you’re a kid and your friends are grossed out by your lunch, or when you go to the office and see a sign on the microwave telling you not to heat your stinky food there, that’s when hiya can kick in,” she e-mails.
‘A gateway restaurant’
Her efforts paid off. Starting in early 2011, Ponseca and her partners hosted migratory pop-ups that eventually morphed into a hip Filipino restaurant in the East Village. Maharlika would pull no punches. It would serve pig ears and snout, oxtail stew flavored with peanut butter, grilled chicken feet and other Filipino staples, all sold under their Tagalog names. The New York Times offered qualified praise. The actual content of the review, of course, meant less than the fact that a mainstream newspaper paid attention to a Filipino restaurant.
Inspiration is easy; execution is not. Restaurateurs such as Pimentel, the Armstrongs and Patrice Cleary of Purple Patch, a new Filipino American spot in Mount Pleasant, have to find a way to prepare and present Pinoy food to American diners. The cuisine presents challenges: It tends to be meat-centric, making it inaccessible to vegetarians. It tends to rely on pungent flavors, like the fermented baby shrimp paste known as bagoong, which can make grown men flee a kitchen. And it tends to feature home-style cooking, with dishes served family-style without courses, which can undercut the standard operating procedures of restaurants.
Then there’s the challenge of finding a qualified chef. It’s one thing to prep a batch of chicken adobo for the steam table at a point-point joint; it’s another to develop a plated version of the vinegar-marinated chicken that can be prepared fresh for every diner who desires it. Even the most experienced home cook could have trouble keeping up with the orders, let alone managing a line of hardscrabble kitchen jockeys.
Finding the soul of a cuisine
“We’re staying true to the soul and the essential flavors of Filipino cuisine,” Tom Cunanan, chef at Bad Saint.
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