My favourite dish from the Philippines is ginataang langka, a simple dish whose flavour never ceases to

make me smile. It is made from unripe jackfruit, which is a fruit I had never seen prior to my travels to
the Philippines in 2009. The dense creaminess of the jackfruit is complemented by cool coconut milk,
and the whole thing is cooked with tomatoes, chilies, and ginger.

I stayed with a family from the Bicol province of the Philippines on a trip there. They joked that their
region was the only one in the country that made spicy dishes so as to reflect their “strong
personalities.” They taught me how to make ginataang langka, and though I spent many months
travelling around the country, it remains the food I miss the most.

But the Philippines does not have a culinary reputation the way that Vietnam or Thailand do, and many
travellers I met remembered the Philippines’ beautiful landscapes and beaches, and its friendly people,
rather than its food. It would be a mistake, however, to forget about the country’s culinary offerings.

Filipino Dishes: The Original Fusion Food

While the other pieces in my “Origins of Foods We Love” series feature specific dishes, this one will
spotlight an entire country’s food. That’s because the influences on Filipino food as we know it today
spans both time and place. The Philippines comprises more than 7,107 islands tucked between the
South China Sea and the Philippine Sea; its location placed the Philippines within the path of migration
and trade for thousands and thousands of years. And with migrating humans come new ingredients,
dishes, and traditions.

Filipino food is a mixture of sweet, salty, and sour flavours. Rice figures heavily — this is Southeast Asia,
after all! — and coconut is of utmost importance, with all parts of the coconut (including the sap and
leaves) used in cooking and preparation.

The Filipino foods we eat today are a direct fusion of indigenous ingredients, flavours, and outside
influence. With such a wide geography and rich indigenous history, each area of the Philippines reflects
these influences in local variations of popular dishes.