Cuisine of the Philippines

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Philippine cuisine has evolved over several centuries, influenced by Malay, Mexican, Spanish, Chinese, Indian and American cooking.

Filipinos traditionally eat three main meals a day - almusal (breakfast), tanghalian (lunch), and hapunan (dinner) plus an afternoon snack called merienda.

Dishes range from a simple meal of fried fish and rice to rich paellas and cocidos. Popular dishes include lechón (whole roasted pig), longanisa (native sausage), tapa (beef jerky), torta (omelette), adobo (chicken and/or pork braised in garlic, soy sauce, and vinegar), kaldereta (goat in tomato stew), mechado (beef or pork cooked in tomato sauce, pochero (beef in bananas and tomato sauce), afritada (chicken cooked in tomato sauce and vegetables), kare-kare (oxtail and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce), crispy pata (deep-fried pig legs), hamonado (pork sweetened in pineapple sauce), sinigang(pork, fish, or shrimp in tamarind stew), pancit (stir-fried noodles), lumpia (fresh or fried spring rolls).

Contents 1 History and influences 2 Staples 3 Cooking methods 4 Breakfast 5 Merienda 6 Pulutan 7 A typical meal 7.1 Fiestas 8 Regional specialties 9 Popular Filipino dishes 10 Exotic dishes 11 Filipino drinks and cocktails 12 Other food 13 See also 14 References 15 External links

[edit] History and influences

Malays during the pre-Hispanic era in the Philippines prepared food by boiling, steaming, or roasting. They had a variety of sources in their diet. This ranged from the usual livestock such as carabao (water buffaloes), cows(?), chickens and pigs to seafood from different kinds of fish, shrimps, prawns, crustaceans and shellfish. There are a few places in the country where the broad range in their diet extended to monitor lizards, dogs and locusts. Malays have been cultivating rice, an Asian staple since 3200 B.C.^[1]. Pre-Hispanic trade with China, India, the Middle-East and the rest of Southeast Asia introduced a number of staples into Filipino cuisine most notably toyo (soy sauce) and patis (fish sauce), as well as the method of stir-frying and making savory soup bases.

The arrival of Spanish and Mexican settlers brought with them chili peppers, tomato sauces, corn and method of sauteeing with garlic and onions called quisado finding their way into Philippine cuisine. Local adaptations of Spanish dishes then became common such as paella into its Filipino version of arroz valenciana, Chorizo into its local version of longganisa, escabeche and adobo [this is connected to the Spanish dish adobado] remain popular to this day.

During the nineteenth century, Chinese food became a staple of the pansiterias or noodle shops around the country, although they were marketed with Spanish names. "Comida China" (Chinese food) includes arroz caldo (rice and chicken gruel) and morisqueta tostada (an obsolete term for sinangag or fried rice).

Since 1900 when American colonial rule began, Philippine cuisine has been influenced by American, French, Italian, and Japanese cuisines and culinary procedures.^[2] Today, Philippine cuisine continues to evolve as new techniques and styles of cooking finds their way into one of the most active melting pots of Asia.

See also: Filipino Chinese cuisine

[edit] Staples

As with most Asian countries, the staple food in the Philippines is rice. It is most often boiled and served during most main meals. Leftover rice is often fried with garlic and onions to make sinangag (fried rice), which is then served as breakfast staple together with fried eggs and tapa (beef jerky), tocino (sweetened cured meat), longanisa (local sausages) or bacon. Rice is often flavored by the diner with sauces or soup from the main dishes. In some regions, rice is mixed with salt, condensed milk, cocoa, or coffee. Rice flour is used in making sweets, cakes and other pastries. Other staples derived from crops include corn and bread.

Food is often served with dipping sauces. Fried food is often dipped in vinegar, soy sauce, juice squeezed from kalamansi (Philippine lemon), or a combination of all. Fish sauce may be mixed with kalamansi as dipping sauce for most seafood.

Fish sauce, fish paste (bagoong), shrimp paste (alamang) and crushed ginger root (luya) are condiments that are also often added to dishes during the cooking process or when served.

Native fruits are often used in cooking as well. Coconuts, coconut milk, coconut meat, tomato, tomato sauce, and bananas are usually added into meals.

Abundant harvest of root crops occurs all year round. Potatoes, carrots, taro (gabi), cassava (kamoteng kahoy), purple yam (ube), and sweet yam (kamote) are examples. Kamote and a certain type of banana called saba can be chopped, dusted with brown sugar, fried and skewered, yielding kamote-cue and banana-cue which are popular caramelized snacks.

Staples derived from meat include chicken, pork, beef, and fish. Seafood is popular as a result of the bodies of water surrounding the archipelago. Popular catches include Tilapia, milkfish (bangus), grouper (lapu-lapu), shrimp (hipon), prawns (sugpo), mackerel (galunggong), swordfish, oysters (talaba), mussels (tahong), clams (tulya), large and small crabs (alimango and alimasag respectively), game fish, gindara, tuna, cod, blue marlin, and squid/cuttlefish (both called pusit). Equally popular catches include seaweeds, abalone and eel.

The most common way of serving fish is having it salted, deep fried, and eaten as a simple meal with rice and vegetables. It may also be cooked in sour broth, tomatoes, tamarind, and vegetables to make sinigang or simmered in vinegar and peppers to make paksiw or roasted over hot charcoal to make inihaw. Other preparations include escabeche (sweet and sour) or relleno (deboned and stuffed). Fish may also be preserved by processing it into tinapa (smoked), and daing (sun-dried).

[edit] Cooking methods

The Tagalog words for popular cooking methods are listed below:

• "Inadobo" - cooked in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic
• "Guisado" - sauteed with garlic, onions and tomatoes
• "Prito" - fried or deep fried
• "Inihaw" - grilled over coals
• "Nilaga" - boiled, sometimes with onions and black peppers
• "Kinilaw" or "Kilawin" - a method of preparing fish wherein raw fish is marinated in vinegar until the fish naturally cooks
• "Sinigang" - boiled with a tamarind base
• "Pinaksiw" - cooked in vinegar and ginger
• "Ginataan" - cooked with coconut milk

[edit] Breakfast

Traditional breakfast usually includes the following:

• Pan de sal - is derived from Spanish words for "bread of salt". Contrary to its name, it contains relatively little salt is a sweet bread roll which can be spread with butter, jam, marmalade, peanut butter or kesong puti.

• Kesong puti - is a soft fresh cheese made from carabao's milk.

• Champorado - is a type of rice porridge flavored with chocolate. It is not to be confused with Mexican champurrado which is a hot chocolate drink.

• Sinangag - is fried garlic rice, served with a choice or two from other meat dishes.

• Tapa - is local beef jerky, served with fried eggs and sinangag.

• Longganisa - is a local chorizo or sausage, served with fried eggs and sinangag.

• Tocino - is sweetened meat, served with fried eggs and sinangag.

• Daing na Bangus - means salted and dried milkfish. It is often served with sinangag and fried eggs as well as sliced tomatoes, vinegar or achara.

• Itlog na Pula - are salted duck eggs usually served with tomatoes, onions, and sinangag.

• Kape barako - is strong brewed coffee from the mountains of Batangas.
• Silogs - are meat as a main ingredient to be served with sinangág (fried rice) and itlog (egg).

The three most commonly seen silogs are

• tapsilog having tapa as the meat ingredient;
• tocilog having tocino as the meat ingredient;
• longsilog having longganisa as a meat ingredient.

Other silogs are sometimes seen, including

• hotsilog, with a hot dog;
• bangsilog, with bangus (milkfish);
• dangsilog, with danggit (rabbitfish);
• spamsilog, with spam;
• adosilog, with adobo;
• chosilog, with chorizo;
• chiksilog, with chicken;
• cornsilog, with canned corned beef;
• litsilog, with lechon.

[edit] Merienda

Merienda is a snack taken in the afternoons. It is similar in concept to afternoon tea. Filipinos have a number of options to take with their traditional kape (coffee).

Breads like pan de sal, ensaymada, (buttery sweet rolls with cheese), and empanada (ground chicken-filled bread rolls) are served. Also, rice cakes (kakanin) like kutsinta, sapin-sapin, palitaw, biko, suman, bibingka, and pitsi-pitsi are served. Other sweets such as hopia (pastries similar to mooncakes filled with sweet bean paste, sometimes flavored) and bibingka (sweet hot rice cakes with salted eggs and cheese on top) are also favorites. Savory dishes such as pancit canton (stir-fried noodles), palabok (rice noodles with a shrimp-based sauce), puto (steamed rice flour cakes), and dinuguan (a spicy stew made with pork blood) can also be served during merienda.

In recent years, snack served in between breakfast and lunch has been common during special occasions such as day long symposiums and workshops. However, this does not qualify as traditional merienda as the term officially applies to afternoon snacks as traditionally practiced by Filipinos.

[edit] Pulutan

Pulutan is a word which means "finger food". It originally served as a snack accompanied with liquor or beer but has found their way into Philippine cuisine as appetizers.

• Adidas - are chicken feet grilled or sautéed.

• Chicharon - are pork rinds salted, fried, then dried.

• Chicharong Bituka or Chibab - are crispy pig's intestines that have been deep fried.

• Chicharong Bulaklak or Chilak - is similar to chicharong bituka. Bulaklak translates to flower which aptly describes the appearance of the dish made from the deep fried mesenteries (the blood vessel-rich membranes that attach numerous organs to the body cavity) of pig intestines.

• Chicken Skin or Chink - is crispy chicken skin deep fried.

• Barbecue Isaw - are chicken or pig intestines marinated, skewered, then grilled.

• Barbecue Tenga - are pig ears marinated, skewered, then grilled.

• Betamax - is hardened, grilled, skewered, then sautéed with chicken blood.

• Mani - are fried peanuts salted or spiced; it is sometimes flavored with garlic.

• Pork Barbecue - is a satay marinated in a special blend.

• Sisig - are minced pig's cheeks, ears, livers, snouts, and brains cooked with onions, chillies, and spices then served sizzling on a hot plate.

• Tokwa't Baboy - is fried tofu with boiled pork by-products (usually either pork ears and other innards) then dipped in a garlic-flavored soy sauce or vinegar dip.

[edit] A typical meal

Filipino cuisine is distinguished by its bold combination of sweet, sour, salty and spicy taste. While other Asian cuisines (e.g. Cantonese) may be known for a more subtle delivery and presentation of food, Filipino palates prefer a sudden influx of flavor. It can be said that it is more flamboyant, as Filipino cuisine is often delivered in a single presentation, giving the participant a simultaneous visual feast, an aromatic bouquet, and a gustatory appetizer.

Snacking is normal, and it is possible that a Filipino could have eaten five meals in a day. Dinner, while still the main meal, is usually eaten in smaller quantities compared to other countries. Breakfast or lunch is usually the heftiest of all meals.

Main dishes include sinigang (pork, fish, or shrimp in tamarind stew and vegetables), bulalo (beef stew with vegetables), kare-kare (oxtail and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce), crispy pata (deep fried hog hoofs), mechado (pork cooked in tomato sauce), pochero (beef or pork cooked in tomato sauce with bananas and vegetables), kaldereta (beef or goat cooked in tomato sauce), fried or grilled chicken/porkchops/fish/squid/cuttlefish. Dinner may be accompanied by stir-fried vegetables, atchara (shredded and pickled papaya), bagoong or alamang. Most popular desserts include leche flan, nata de coco (coconut jello) or gulaman (jello).

Some dishes will rely on vinegar for flavoring. Adobo is popular not solely for its splendid flavor, but also for its ability to remain fresh for days, and even improves its flavor with a day or two of storage. Tinapa is a smoke-cured fish while Tuyo, daing, and dangit are corned sun-dried fishes popular for its ability not to spoil for weeks even without refrigeration.

Food is eaten with a spoon and fork. Filipinos use their spoons to cut through meat instead of knives used in other western cultures. Another traditional way of eating is with the hands especially when meals consist mostly of dry dishes like inihaw or prito. The diner takes a bite at the dish and simultaneously stuff his mouth with rice pressed skillfully into a ball with his fingers. In some areas of the Philippines, diners are able to form balls of rice even if it is soaking in broth. This practice, known as kamayan, is rarely seen in urbanized areas. However, Filipinos tend to feel the spirit of kamayan when eating amidst nature during out of town trips, beach vacations, and town fiestas. ^[3]

[edit] Fiestas

A few Filipino women band together and tirelessly prepare more sophisticated dishes at festive occasions. Tables are often laden with expensive and labor-intensive treats requiring hours of preparation. Lechón, a whole roasted suckling pig, takes centerstage. Other sophisticated dishes prepared include hamonado (honey-cured beef, pork or chicken), relleno (stuffed chicken or milkfish), mechado, afritada, kaldereta, pochero, paella, arroz valenciana, and pancit canton. The table may also be decorated with various sweets and pastries such as leche flan, ube, sapin-sapin, sorbetes (ice cream), and gulaman (jello).

Christmas Eve, known as Noche Buena, is the most important feast. During this evening, the star of the table is the Christmas Ham and Queso de Bola. Supermarkets are laden with this treats during the season and serve as popular giveaways by Filipino companies in addition to red wine or pastries.

[edit] Regional specialties

The Philippine islands are home to various ethnic groups resulting in varied regional cuisine.

Ilocanos from the rugged Ilocos region boast of a diet heavy in boiled or steamed vegetables and freshwater fish, but they are particularly fond of dishes flavored with bagoong, fermented fish that is often used instead of salt. Ilocanos often season boiled vegetables with bagoong monamon (fermented anchovy paste) to produce pinakbet. Local specialties include the soft white larvae of ants and "jumping salad" of tiny live shrimp.

The Igorots prefer roasted meats, particularly carabao's meat, goat's meat, and venison.

Laguna is known for buko pie (coconut pie) and panutsa (molasses clustered peanuts)

Cainta in Rizal, province east of Manila, is known for its Filipino rice cakes and puddings.

Pampanga is the culinary center of the Philippines. Among the treats produced in Pampanga are longganisa (original sweet and spicy sausages), kalderetang kambing (savory goat stew), and tocino (sweetened-cured pork). Kapampangan cuisine makes use of every regional produce available to the native cook, combining pork cheeks and offal to make sisig. Kare-kare is also known to have been originated from Pampanga.

Batangas is home to Taal Lake, a body of water that surrounds Taal Volcano. The lake is home to 75 species of freshwater fish. And of these, the maliputo and tawilis are two of the world's rarest. Maliputos and tawilises are delicious native delicacies. Batangas is also known for its special coffee, kapeng barako.

Cebu is popular for lechón, sweets (like dried mangoes), mango, and caramel tarts.^{[citation needed]}

Iloilo is popular for La Paz batchoy, pancit molo, dinuguan, puto, and biskotso.^{[citation needed]}

Bulacan is popular for chicharon (pork rinds) and pastries like puto, kutsinta, and many more...^{[citation needed]}

Further south, dishes are filled with the scents of Southeast Asia: coconut milk, turmeric, coriander, lemon grass, ginger, and chilies — an ingredient not present in other regional cuisine (except in the Bicol Region whose use of chilies is more liberal compared to others). Since southern regions are predominantly Islamic, pork dishes are hardly present. Popular crops such as cassava root, sweet potatoes (kamote), and yams are grown.

[edit] Popular Filipino dishes

Desserts and Snacks

• Balut - are essentially boiled pre-hatched ducklings. These fertilized duck eggs are allowed to develop until the embryo reaches a pre-determined size to be boiled.
• Bibingka - is a hot rice cake topped with a spread of butter, slices of kesong puti (white cheese), itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs), and sometimes grated coconut. See also Wiktionary.
• Biko - are glutinous rice sweets creamed with sugar, butter, and coconut milk.
• Binatog - are corn kernels with shredded coconut.
• Halo-halo - is a dessert composed of shaved ice, milk, coconut sport, purple yam pudding, caramel custard, sweetened plantains, and jackfruit. See also Wiktionary.
• Kutsinta - is brown rice cake.
• Leche Flan - is caramel custard made with eggs and milk.
• Mamon - is a buttery sweet sponge cake that is softer than butter cake.
• Nata de coco - is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food product produced by the bacterial fermentation of coconut water.
• Palitaw - are rice patties with sesame seeds, sugar, and coconut.
• Pitsi-pitsi - are cassava patties with cheese or coconut.
• Penoy - are hard boiled duck eggs.
• Puto - are sweet steamed rice muffins.
• Sapin-sapin - are three-layered tricolored sweets made with rice flour, purple yam, and coconut milk.
• Sorbetes is similar to ice cream but made primarily with coconut milk instead of a dairy products. It is considered by many as "dirty ice cream."
• Suman - is a sticky rice or cassava sticks wrapped in banana or palm leaves. They are then dipped in sugar and sometimes eaten with ripe mangoes.
• Taho - is a warm snack made of soft beancurd (the taho itself), dark syrup, and tapioca balls. Cold (dark syrup) flavored (chocolate/strawberry/etc.) taho is now available.

Wet dishes

• Stews
  • Adobo - consists of pork and/or chicken stewed in a broth of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and peppercorns, a favorite dish among many.
  • Afritada - is made of pork or beef and vegetables simmered in tomato sauce.
  • Dinengdeng - consists of malunggay leafs and bittermelon similar presentation to pinakbet.
  • Dinuguan - is a stew made from pig blood, entrails, and meat.
  • Kaldereta - is beef or goat simmered in vinegar and tomato sauce.
  • Kare-kare - also known as "peanut stew," is boiled oxtail and/or ox tripe in a peanut-based stew of mixed vegetables, served with alamang (fermented shrimp paste).
  • Mechado - is pork cooked in tomato sauce, minced garlic, and onions.
  • Pinakbet - are vegetables stewed with bagoong.
  • Pochero - is beef and banana simmered in tomato sauce.
• Soups
  • Binacol - is warm chicken soup with coconut meat.
  • La Paz Batchoy - is a noodle soup garnished with pork innards, crushed pork cracklings, chopped vegetables, and topped with a raw egg.
  • Sinigang - is a tamarind-soured soup typically made with pork, beef, or seafood.
  • Tinola - is traditional chicken ginger soup cooked with whole chicken pieces, green papaya with chili, spinach, or malunggay leaves.
  • Sotanghon - is the Filipino version of chicken noodle soup, consisting of vermicelli noodles, chicken, and sometimes mushrooms.
• Porridges
  • Arroz caldo - also called lugaw, is a Spanish inspired rice porridge cooked with chicken and ginger, garnished with spring onions.
  • Goto - is rice porridge with ox tripe.
• Salads
  • Kinilaw - is raw fish cooked only by steeping in local vinegar, sometimes with coconut milk, onions, spices and other local ingredients. It is comparable to ceviche.
• Noodles
  • Pancit - is a dish primarily consisting of noodles, vegetables, and a bit of meat or shrimp with variations primarily distinguished by the type of noodles used.
• Rice casserole
  • Arroz Valenciana - is a Filipino version of the Spanish paella.

Oily dishes

• Fried
  • Crispy Pata - are pork knuckles (pata) marinated then deep fried until crispy golden brown. However, the knuckles are a small portion, thus it is the whole leg of pork that is usually served.
  • Lumpia - are fried spring rolls filled with cooked ground beef and vegetables.
  • Lumpiang shanghai - are tiny fried spring rolls filled with minced pork and shrimp and served with sweet and sour sauce.
  • Ukoy - are shrimp and squash fritters.
• Sausages
  • Longanisa - are sweet or spicy homemade sausages.
• Steak
  • Bistek - also known as Philippine Beef Steak, is thinly sliced beef marinated in soya sauce and kalamansi.
• Grilled
  • Tocino - is sweetened cured meat. The meat either chicken or pork is marinated and aged for a number of days then grilled.

Street Foods

• Betamax - is roasted dried chicken blood served as little cubes. The origin of the name is quite funny because of its squared shape and black color, which is identical in appearance to a miniaturized electronic Betamax tape.
• Fishballs/Squidballs - are skewered in bamboo sticks and sauces are then dripped over them. It is commonly sold frozen in stores and typically peddled by hawkers.
• Isaw - is seasoned hog and/or chicken intestines.
• Kwek-kwek - are boiled quail eggs dipped in batter then deep fried, a popular delicacy.
• Tokneneng - are boiled chicken eggs dipped in batter usually marked with food coloring. It is a bigger version of the kwek-kwek.

Celebratory Food

• Lechón - is whole roasted suckling pig. Sometimes, either a piglet (lechonillo) or cattle calf (lechong baka) is baked instead. See also Wiktionary.
• Puto Bumbong - are purpled-colored sweets cooked in bamboo tubes that are placed on a special steamer. When cooked, they are removed from the tubes, topped with butter, and sprinkled with sugar and niyog (grated coconut). They are then wrapped in banana leaves until they are ready to be eaten. See also Wiktionary.
• Lumpiang sariwa - are fresh spring rolls, served with a sweet sauce.

Side dishes

• Itlog na Pula - are salty duck eggs that have been cured in brine or mixture of clay-and-salt for couple of weeks and then are hard boiled. Their shells are often dyed with red food coloring to distinguish them from chicken eggs before they are sold over the shelves.

Cheezes

• Kesong puti - is a soft white cheese made from carabao's milk.

[edit] Exotic dishes

• Balut - is a partially-developed duck embryo boiled then served in its shell.
• Camaro - are field crickets cooked in soy sauce, salt, and vinegar. It is popular in Pampanga.
• Papaitan - is goat inards stew.
• Dog meat - is especially popular in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
• Pinikpikan chicken - is chicken which has been beaten-to-death while alive. Cooks do this to tenderize the meat and to infuse it with blood. It is then burned in fire to remove its feathers then boiled with salt and pork. [1][2][3] The act of beating the chicken while done in preparation of the dish apparently violates the Philippine Animal Welfare Act 1998.^[4]

Also see: Igorot Food Exotica

[edit] Filipino drinks and cocktails

The climate of the Philippines is characterized by having relatively high temperature, high humidity and abundant rainfall. This is a reason why chilled drinks are popular.

Alcoholic

• Brandy
• Brandy-Iced Tea Powder - is a popular cocktail and a part of several cocktails of liqueurs and juice powders.
• Brandy-Grape Juice Powder
• Cervesa - is a translation for beer.
• Gin-Bulag - literally translates to "gin-blind." It is said that consuming copious amounts will make one blind.
• Gin-Pineapple Juice Powder
• Gin-Pomelo Juice Powder - contains a certain type of citrus popular to its pink color.
• Lambanog - is a type of hard liquor made from distilled coconut extract.
• Tuba (or toddy) - is a type of hard liquor made from fresh drippings extracted from a cut young stem of palm. The cutting of the palm stem is done by a mananguete — a person whose profession involves climbing palm trees and extracting the "tuba" to supply to customers later in the day — and is usually done early in the morning. The morning accumulated palm juice or drippings from a cut stem is then harvested by noon then brought to buyers then prepared for consumption. Sometimes this is being done twice a day so that there are two harvests of tuba in a day — first at noon-time and later in the late-afternoon. Normally, tuba has to be consumed right after the mananguete brings it over or it becomes too sour to be consumed as a drink so that any remaining unconsumed tuba in the day is being stored in jars for several days to become vinegar.

Shakes

• Fresh Mango Shake - consists of ripe mangoes blended with milk, ice, and sugar.
• Fruit Shakes - are similar to milkshakes but only contain fruit or flavoring (like chocolate malt drink powder or chocolate cookies or unusual flavors like durian), milk (except in some fruits), crushed ice, water and sugar.
• Green Mango Shake - consists of green mangoes blended with syrup.
• Kamias Shake - consists of kamias, a tropical sour fruit, that is blended with sugar, white syrup, and crushed ice.
• Palamig or Samalamig - pearl shakes or cold powder respectively - are flavored shakes with large tapioca pearls (sago) and syrup that come in a wide assortment of flavors including mango, ube, halo-halo, corn, pandan, buko, etc.

Soft Drinks

• Gulaman at Sago - is a flavored iced-drink with agar gelatin and sago balls/pearls.
• Fresh Buko Juice - is a fresh drink where the coconut is penetrated to allow straw into the membrane allowing a person to drink its juice.
• Kalamansi Juice - consists of Philippine limes, particularly the kalamansi itself, that are squeezed and sweetened with honey, syrup or sugar.
• Other Tropical Fruit Drinks - includes dalandan (green mandarin), suha (pomelo), piña (pineapple), banana, and guyabano (soursop).

Teas

• Pandan Iced Tea - is tea made with pandan leaves and lemon grass.
• Salabat - sometimes called ginger tea, is a hot drink brewed from ginger root.

Coffees

• Kape Barako - is a premium coffee from the cool mountains of Batangas.

[edit] Other food

The Philippines doesn't only possess its traditional cuisine. Popular worldwide cuisine and restaurant chains are also available around the archipelago. Furthermore, the Chinese populace (especially in Manila) is famous for establishing Chinese districts, in which predominantly Chinese and Chinese fusion food can be found. These are especially prevalent in urban areas where large influxes of expatriates are located.

[edit] See also

• Filipino cuisine
• Culture of the Philippines
• List of Philippine snack food

[edit] References