HISTORY MAGAZINE by Triszka Fresto

What does it take for a Filipino to be a Filipino?

FILIPINO FOOD “STAPLE”

What is your favourite cuisine? We all know that food is a basic necessity for every individual
living on earth and is staple in every culture. Filipino food is not as well-known as other Asian
cuisine but it is slowly starting to be recognized by others countries. It is getting recognized due
to Filipinos who starts their own restaurant business in the country as well as a famous Filipino
fast food chain like, Jollibee, that is franchising abroad.

A few of the most popular Filipino dishes are sinigang, adobo, lumpia, pancit, dinuguan, kare-
kare, sisig, kaldereta, etc. – but the most famous food is the halo-halo and balut. Halo-halo is a
cold dessert that consist of shaved ice, evaporated milk, variety of beans and jellies, some fruits
– like banana, coconut and jackfruit and is usually topped with a scoop or two of purple yam ice
cream. This dessert is very popular and much likely to be enjoyed by Filipinos because they need
a cold dessert to cool down with from the very warm weather of the tropical country. The dessert
is not only widely enjoyed by Filipinos but as well as other foreigners because this is usually
introduced to them when they want to eat something “Filipino”.

Meanwhile, there is a popular food called balut and it is a big hit to the foreigners. The balut is
considered a delicacy of the Philippines, it is a duck embryo that is boiled and eaten out from the
shell. The egg is cracked open at the hallow part of the egg, there is some soup in it that is eaten
first together with some vinegar and salt. Then when the egg is all peeled, the duck will be visible
and eating it makes the whole journey of eating the balut an exotic adventure.

Filipinos practice a tradition of gatherings and fiestas where loads of food are served for the
visitors and the food mentioned above are commonly served at the called parties. There would
be a tradition of “boodle fight” where different dishes are placed on top of a banana leaves and
the people would eat the food with their bare hands. Another, is that a fiesta wouldn’t really be
a fiesta is a lechon is not served – lechon, a whole roasted pig.

These foods make us who we are, a Filipino, that’s why we must learn about these dishes whether
we like it or if we don’t and we must learn how to appreciate them. These events are greatly
enjoyed together with family and friends because the Filipinos extremely values their loved ones.

FILIPINO BY HEART
Who are the Filipinos? Our native ancestors are the Malays but to these days, the Filipinos of the
generation are not “pure blooded” anymore because we have other ancestry bloods.

So, a lot of local Filipinos wants to pursue careers outside of the country, so does that mean that
they do not like the Philippines? The answer will come from those individual who actually thought
of those ideas. I, myself can’t determine whether they actually don’t like being in our country or
just because there are bigger opportunities abroad that can make them earn more money that
they could in their home country. But that does not define them as not Filipinos just because just
because they are not in the country. What I surely know is that there are a lot of foreigners that
calls themselves Filipinos whether by citizenship, marriage, etc… and I am not talking about the
half bloods.

So what makes them Filipino? It is because they, the foreigners, do like it here in the Philippines
and they appreciate its beauty in by spending time in the country? Well, that could be one of the
reason. These people could have actually fallen in love with a Filipino then practiced the culture
together with them or they could have live in the country together and spent their lives in the
Philippines. Other scenarios could be that a foreigner planned a vacation to the country and fell
in love with its beauty. I would not only consider the beauty of the Philippines to be the one that
the foreigners would fall in love with but they appreciate other qualities the country possesses
or of the locals. Each and every country has its negative traits so that means so does the
Philippines but they rather view its positive traits. The foreigners love the country and the people
the locals are hospitable, kind, generous and most of all, they speak English. Also, it is cheap to
stay in the Philippines, so these custom attracts other nationalities to stay in the country because
it beautiful, affordable and easy for them to communicate with other. So then they tend to stay
in the country and through the time, they would consider themselves Filipinos and it will be
coming from their pleasing experiences surrounding them.

Thus, if a foreigner considers themselves Filipinos, then we must be proud too and not neglect
our race and be proud of our nationality. A Filipino will be considered a Filipino if they believe
that they are one aside from any circumstances and they should be proud of it.