The Philippines is also known as the Pearl of the Orient Seas. Chinese, Spanish, American, Japanese, and Malay influences have uniquely moulded Philippine culture and cuisine to its distinct category. The traditional Filipino ways of cooking have been combined with Western and Asian ways which make Filipino dishes aesthetically different and attuned to either Western or Asian tastes. But more so, Philippine meals are simple and quick to do. The foreign influences have more or less improved the ingredients and the manner of cooking.
Hence, you can imagine the myriad tastes of Filipinos. Because of the foreign invaders that have stayed in the Philippines years ago, Filipinos have developed to integrate and revise popularly foreign dishes to fit the tastes of the common people. For example, the Spaniards have introduced paella, morcon, relleno and the like. But of course, in the Philippines, ingredients have been localized and the taste has been suited for Filipino tastes.
nothing better to keep your tummy happy
Chinese influences include pancit or noodles and siopao among others. Unlike the country’s Asian neighbours, the Filipinos do not share the love for chili-loving dishes. Perhaps a few cities have a knack of making spicy dishes, but majority prefer the sweet-salty taste of most Filipino dishes with some vinegar-y sourness.Most notably, preparing Filipino meals is quick, easy and simple. A wok or a simple frying pan can effortlessly make most dishes with flair. It is because most Philippine dishes are usually stewed or sautéed. In terms of naming food dishes, one can understand immediately how or what the mentioned food is all about. For example, pritong hipon—it literally means, “fried shrimp.”
For more Filipino food translations, here are excerpts from http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/Food.html:
Prito means fried; gisa, ginisa or gisado means sautéed.
Ihaw or inihaw means grilled or broiled.
Adobo is to sauté in vinegar and garlic.
Paksiw means to stew in sour fruit or vinegar, ginataan is anything cooked in coconut milk (gata).
Sinigang is like bouillabaisse, but thinner in consistency, and used fish, prawns or meat with vegetable. It is usually made sour by adding some acidic fruit like tamarind or small green kamias.
Additionally, many Filipinos love to flavour their food with various dipping sauces, locally termed as “sawsawan”. These come in the form of bagoong, soy sauce, vinegar, patis, chili sauce with accompaniments of kalamansi juice, minced garlic or onions onto the vinegar-patis combination. Some locals would also love to accompany their food with pickled shredded papaya, popularly known as achara.
grilled salmon with green mango achara
The typical Filipino day comprises of three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Snack time in the afternoons is termed merienda. Since most Filipino meals come heavy with white rice as staple food combined with a few viands, merienda becomes a light treat for sweets. Native Philippine delicacies like binignit, bibingka or rice cakes, and ginataan are popular choices among locals.
