Some would like to call Filipino food as, “one of the world’s earliest fusion cuisines,” and

while that may be true up to a certain point, it may also be an oversimplification.

Most Filipino dishes began with their creators making use of whatever ingredients they
could find (usually within a 1-2 mile radius) and creating a dish from those ingredients.

With the Philippines being one of the world’s largest archipelagos, Filipino cuisine is

highly local and regional.

This not only means that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of individually different
dishes but also there are some Filipino dishes served throughout the country, but often
have different preparations and even names.

Influences of Filipino Food

Philippine cuisine has several foreign influences that have successfully melded with
local, indigenous cuisine.

Indigenous Filipino food is heavily influenced by Chinese cuisine, brought along by the
various traders and later on, Chinese immigrants mainly from Fujian region of China
and the Cantonese.

Filipino food is also heavily influenced by the cuisine of its different colonizers like the
Spanish, who ruled the Philippines for 300 years, the Americans, who ruled the
Philippines for a number of decades, the Japanese, who ruled a few years during World
War II, and the British for a couple of years (bringing along Indian workers with them).

There are also Mexican influences as workers and traders from the galleon trades
brought ingredients and dishes to Philippine shores. Plus, there are native food from the
country’s Islamic regions, which were influenced by the neighboring Southeast Asian
countries.

By virtue of it being local, regional, seasonal and being influenced by a number of

different foreign cuisines, cataloging Filipino dishes is a little bit of a challenge,
especially for foreigners.

This also means that it is difficult to truly define Filipino food in just a few sentences but
there are some basics to give you a clearer picture.
Most Filipino dishes are named for cooking techniques and not specific ingredients or
dishes. For example, the dish adobo refers to the technique of stewing in vinegar with
peppercorns and bay leaf.

This means saying adobo could mean a host of different dishes. When ordering, it’s
better to be more specific like chicken pork adobo or adobong pusit (squid adobo).

2. Unlike the rest of Southeast Asia, Filipino food is rarely spicy. Instead, most Filipino
dishes are a combination of salty, sour, sweet and bitter. Most of the spicy dishes are
found in just 2 main regions, the province of Bicol and in the Muslim areas of Mindanao

3. Among the flavors, sourness is the most prevalent in Filipino food. Filipinos draw sour
flavors from 3 main sources, fruits, leaves and fermentation.

4. The Philippines has one of the most varied selections of vinegar in the world.
Varieties include coconut sap, pineapple, sugar cane, palm, and banana among others.

5. The cuisine is best enjoyed with rice. Filipinos enjoy each and every meal with one
form of rice or another, even snacks and breakfast.
6. Filipinos could eat as much as 5-7 times a day. Early breakfast, breakfast, morning
snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and pulutan (small bites while drinking beer or
hard liquor).

7. Filipino cuisine encourages the use of sawsawan or dipping sauces. This is usually a
combination of calamansi (Philippine lime), soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce, onions,
garlic and chilies.

8. Traditionally, Filipino food is best enjoyed using hands in place of utensils. This
practice is called kamayan.

9. Filipino cuisine employs some unique condiments, including banana

catsup, bagoong or guinamos and buro. Banana catsup was developed in light of the
unavailability of tomatoes and is used to enhance a lot of fried dishes.

Bagoong is fermented shrimp or fish paste and its strong pungent flavors are used to
complement some of the milder tasting dishes like grilled squid or Kare Kare (ox tail
peanut stew).

Buro, meanwhile, is rice fermented with shrimp or fish and is a great complement to
fried fish or raw greens like mustard leaves.

10. Food is such a big part of Filipino culture that you are usually greeted with, “Kumain
ka na ba?” (Have you eaten?) and regardless of your answer, the host will usually still
bring you food, especially if you visit someone’s home.

Visayas Dishes
Some of the tastiest and most iconic Filipino dishes can be found in Visayas. When you
think of lechon or roasted whole pig, Cebu's lechon comes to mind as the best in the
country. 

The majority of destinations in Visayas are islands or are located near coastlines, that's
why fresh seafood in this island region is also a must-try. Check out the most iconic
dishes in this part of the Philippines: 
Lechon
A celebration dish, lechon is found on almost every feast and party in the Philippines.
Lechon refers to the method of cooking meat on a spit over an open flame, so it can
refer to a whole pig or just the belly, calf, goat or even chicken.

The most common version enjoyed by Filipinos remains to be Lechon Baboy or whole
roast pig. While a lot of countries do whole roast pigs, Filipino masters called
“Lechoneros”, have mastered the art of cooking them.

Mastering both hand turning the spit and moving the charcoal constantly throughout the
cooking process, they are able to achieve an even, smooth browning of the skin, giving
it a beautiful caramel colored sheen and keeping it crunchy (even 8 hours after they are
cooked) while the meat inside is moist and tender.

There are many regions that boast of making delicious lechon but the lechons from
Cebu are enjoying the most publicity now, and with good reason.

Whole pigs have heaping amounts of lemongrass, onions and garlic sewn into the belly
with sea salt rubbed all over the pig, making it a fragrant and flavorful dish that does not
need any sauce. If one absolutely has to insist, it can be enjoyed with a spicy vinegar
dipping sauce.

Chef’s Tip: Outside of the pig, many regions in Visayas (and Mindanao) do Lechon
Karnero (whole roasted lamb) which is also best enjoyed without sauce.

Batchoy

Batchoy is one of the Philippines’ most popular noodle soup dishes that features egg
noodles, beef and pork meat, liver, marrow and intestines, in a pork and beef broth with
a hint of guinamos (shrimp paste). As if that’s not rich enough, fried garlic and chicharon
(fried pork rinds) are added.

The broth is an exercise in rich umami flavors with the tender meat adding substance to
the freshly made egg noodles. Naturally, the best place to try batchoy is in its
birthplace, Iloilo, particularly in La Paz.

Chef’s Tip: Batchoy is best enjoyed with puto (steamed rice flour bread) or breads like
Pan de Sal or Pan de Leche.
Inasal
The most popular version of Inasal is chicken marinated in ginger, vinegar and
lemongrass, skewered and then grilled over open flame. As they are grilled, they are
brushed with oil flavored with garlic and annatto seed.

With inasal places, you can enjoy not only the traditional meat of paa (thigh and leg) or
petso (breast and wing), but also the other parts including the baticolon (gizzard),
corazon (heart), atay (liver) and isol (butt).

The vinegar ginger marinade infuses the chicken with lots of flavor and the smokiness
that is imparted by the charcoal flame make this dish more flavorful than normal grilled
chicken.

Bacolod is the ultimate place for inasal lovers as they even have a row of inasal
restaurants affectionately called, “Manukan Country.” (chicken country).

Chef’s Tip: Inasal is best enjoyed by making a sawsawan (dipping sauce) which can be
a combination of soy sauce, vinegar, chilies, calamansi and minced garlic.

SuToKil

SuToKil is actually not just one dish but three dishes that are usually enjoyed together.
“Su” or “Sugba” refers to grilled and it’s usually a grilled whole fish or other seafood like
scallops or shrimps.

“To” or “Tola/Tinola” refers to a ginger soup, in this case a ginger and fish soup, and
“Kil” or “Kilawin/Kinilaw” refers to raw seafood marinated in vinegar and citrus.

Together, they give the diner 3 different ways to enjoy fresh seafood, giving them 3
vastly different textures and flavor profiles. Numerous places in Cebu still specialize in
serving only SuToKil.

Chef’s Tip: While places specializing in SuToKil are a little bit harder to find now, most
places serving Filipino food in the Visayas region, especially those near the water,
would have all three dishes that can be ordered separately.
Mindanao Dishes
Another island region in the Philippines blessed with access to the freshest seafood is
Mindanao. Because of its close proximity to other Southeast Asian countries like
Malaysia and Indonesia, dishes in Mindanao are also influenced by their cuisine.

Here are some must-try dishes when you're in Mindanao: 

Inihaw na Panga
Inihaw na panga refers to grilled tuna collars and it has become a staple in Mindanao,
particularly in Davao, where most Filipino grill restaurants have it on the menu. While a
lot of the Philippine tuna meat is sold internationally, a lot of the collars remain in the
country and locals have taken quite a liking to them.

Grilled simply with maybe just a splash of calamansi and a touch of salt. The meat from
the tuna collar is much more flavorful and moist than regular tuna meat and the
additional smokiness from charcoal flame makes the meat even more delicious.

Chef’s Tip: Panga is best enjoyed with a cold local beer and lively conversation.

Piyanggang Manok

Although a little harder to find, chicken stewed with blackened coconut meat and a
condiment called palapa (ginger, chilies and sakurab) until tender and then grilled, is
worth the adventure.

Intense flavors from the chilies and ginger penetrate the chicken while the burnt coconut
surprisingly helps bring out the natural sweetness of the chicken.

Chef’s Tip: This is an indigenous Filipino dish that is mostly enjoyed by the numerous
Muslim tribes in Mindanao but there are now restaurants in Metro Davao, Zamboanga
and even Quiapo in Manila that serve this.

Sinuglaw

One of the most curious pairings in Filipino cuisine, Sinuglaw is a combination

of grilled pork (sinugba) and raw marinated fish (Kinilaw). The smokiness of
the grilled pork belly combines well with the sour vinegar marinade of the fish,
cutting into the pork’s richness.
The dish, which is widely enjoyed in Davao, also has interesting textures from
the cooked pork, raw fish and vegetables like raw cucumbers and radishes.
Chef’s Tip: The addition of sea salt makes the flavors pop up even more and
it adds more texture.
Barbecue
Unlike its American counterpart, barbecue in the Philippines is meat, usually
marinated pork or chicken, skewered on sticks and grilled over charcoal.
While marinades may differ depending on the chef, it usually consists of
lemon lime soda, soy sauce, banana catsup and calamansi. The same
marinade is also used to baste the meat as they are cooking.
Served in night markets in provinces like Davao and Tagum, it is one of those
dishes that would be sweet, salty, sour, spicy and bitter all at the same time,
making it easily one of the favorite dishes of many.
Chef’s Tip: Barbecue is best enjoyed with atcharang papaya (pickled raw
papaya) to cut into the richness of the meat.
Discover Filipino Cuisine for Yourself
Filipino food’s regionality, seasonality and locality make it a subject that can’t
be explained in a few examples and sentences, hence its latent mystery, but
that is part of its charm.

There are gems to find in every trips and experiences in the

Philippines and the list above, while already impressive, is just a mere
appetizer to get people started.
Filipino food is the perfect complement to the Philippines’ majestic views and
the Filipino people’s graciousness as hosts. While it may be impossible to try
every version of adobo, kilawin or batchoy, it is the most fun journey to try.
Go on a food adventure around the Philippines. Explore Philippines
culinary tours and activities that you can add to your itinerary and taste
authentic Filipino food!
Other interesting articles
https://guidetothephilippines.ph/articles/history-culture/philippines-food-guide

Detailed Guide to Local Cuisine of the Philippines

By Sharwin Tee