Marinating meat for your Filipino barbecue is easy.

Skewering them with a bamboo stick is not.

Grilling them is harder.

I am now thinking this is going to be a long post just like the extensive and intensive How to cook Caldereta process that I made months ago but I should remind myself to not tire anyone (including myself) because of the need to be precise and concise. Let’s just kill it quickly like what we do when we slaughter our animals.

But before we proceed, let’s take a detour to a previous post I made almost 2 years ago, and to the most visited one here at myfilipinokitchen, click me.

Go on read it. It’s fun. I even feel like i’m more fun 2 years ago than now after reading that again. Me and myself still have the same ingredients but… did I just say me and myself? Alrighty then!

Let’s use pork barbecue as a reference for all the other meats and innards that we will be doing in the future.

The Marinade for our Pork Barbecue on Bamboo Skewers:

half a kilo of meat

1 medium sized spanish onion, cut into long strips

6 cloves of garlic, crushed but not chopped

1 stalk of lemongrass, smashed

2 chili peppers, take off the seeds if the people you’re feeding are afraid of heat

2 leaves of basil, torn like your heart when your first love left you

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

almost a tablespoon of rock salt

almost a tablespoon of finely grounded or milled pepper, if you have white pepper, use it

juice of half of a medium lemon of of. Try saying it again – of! In Filipino that’s p for f and ep por fee. If you get what I  mean.

5 tablespoons of banana ketchup, if you can’t find any, find the sweetest ketchup within 10 postcodes around you

This post is now as long as my… patience. Of course, I consider this long. This is like an hour of reading already. Let’s show a picture to distract you. Here are the ingredients without ketchup:

Now let’s prepare your Filipino barbecue meat. I assure you this is street food worthy after this post you can set-up a stall in the street and start selling street food. What i’m not sure of is if anyone will buy from you. Cheeky bugger!

Things to remember when buying pork.

1. Since you are cooking this at home and you are feeding the people that deserve your love, you need to get the best pork ever. What I mean is, do not buy pork that is cut-up already or pork that is on a discount, you don’t know where those came from. Those maybe are rabbits. Or worse… i’ll leave that to your imagination.

2. You need to buy the tenderest part of the pork. That means you buy the loin or the scotch fillet (uppermost meat of the pig’s bum, trimmed). In the Philippines, if you buy the actual street food meat, it would either be the pig’s leg or shoulder or worse it will be excess fats and cuts, but since – let me stress this again – you are cooking for the people that love you, get the loin or the scotch fillet. Pay for it.

3. If you bought the scotch fillet, you need to choose the best. The best ones have thick streaks of fat in it. If you bought pork crotch, I mean pork scotch fillets and it doesn’t have streaks of fat in it, you’ve been duped.

4. If you decided to get the loin, get some belly fat so you can alternate it with your loin cuts.

5. Get a cut that is no more than half an inch thick. Or cut for no more than half an inch thick. I feel stupid.

Why all the fuss? Well, we want to grill the pork in high heat and in the quickest time. If it’s not tender, then you’re better off chewing gum. If there is too little fat, not only that it has less flavor, it will also be very dry after exposing it in the grill, you’re better off chewing a gum stripped of all its juice.

Now spread a baking/kitchen/manila/news paper on your work area. And spread your cuts accross. Cover it with as much baking/kitchen/manila/news paper. Get a kitchen mallet or a rolling pin or a strong thick jar or bottle. Pound the meat until half as thin. And do not ask why we did not cut it thinner instead. Have you seen those stiff barbecue meats as if they got shocked after cooking? Yep, we don’t like that. That’s why we pound it madame sir. Cut the meat into 1 inch squares. And always cut your meat against the grain.

Mix all the marinade ingredients with your meat.

Hello? Are you still with me? This is not your classroom nor your office, you can’t sleep here.

Let’s cut the class. Next time we’ll talk about how to skewer your meat for your pork barbecue.

If arrived in this post too late, click here for that “next time” that I was talking about.

So currently, i’m researching Philippine Miso – how they make it in the Philippines and how different is it from the Japanese Miso. I’m not finished yet because I cannot find enough local information in the internet about it. It just goes to show that Philippines is not really that adulterated by the internet but I don’t know if it is a good thing or not. If you are abroad though wanting to know more local information is quite a challenge. I might even end up with no information at all.

What I love about researching in the internet, and so much unlike in the library, is you stumble on really silly stuff. I consider them perks in the journey where only a few people take – history of Filipino food. It even seems that Filipinos are more interested with foreign food than their own. But I digress, I’ve already discussed it in this article if you click here. Going back to the perks, below is one really silly automated translation from English to Filipino on how to make Miso. If you can’t understand Filipino, skip to the scanned letter further down. If you understand Filipino, good luck, you might not understand anything at all. Pray before you continue reading:

Ang miso-proseso ng paggawa tumatagal ng isang maliit na pasensya, ngunit ito ay napaka-simple at nangangailangan ng ilang mga ingredients. Miso ay may malakas na mga benepisyo at kalusugan ay may kahit na nahanap upang mabawasan ang panganib ng dibdib kanser sa mga kababaihan na ubusin ito ng madalas. Nagtagal kayo ay paggawa ng iyong sariling Miso na sopas!

Ito ay kung ano ang kailangan mo:

4 tasa tuyo beans

5 tasa Koji (bigas inoculated sa spores ng Aspergillus oryzae) availabe sa mga lokal na asian market

1 tasa dagat asin

2 tbsp unpasteurized buto miso (din availabe sa mga lokal na asian market o pamilihin tindahan)

1. Sumipsip 4 tasa ng tuyo beans magdamag. Ayon sa kaugalian soybeans ay ginagamit, ngunit ang iba’t-ibang ay isang ganap na katanggap-tanggap, kabilang ang chickpeas, black beans, split mga gisantes, lentils, itim na mga mata mga gisantes, atbp Pagkatapos sila ay babad na babad, lutuin ang beans hanggang sila ay malambot at madaling crush (tungkol sa 1 1 / 2 oras). Siguraduhin na hindi mo paso ang beans!

2. Kapag ang beans ay tapos na, siguraduhin na malinis ang lahat ng iyong mga kagamitan lubusan. Pook ng isang collander higit sa isang walang laman palayok at patuyuin ang beans. I-save ang bean likido, at itago ito sakop upang panatilihin ito mainit.

3. Mash beans sa nais na kinis, gamit ang isang patatas masher, ricer, butil kiskisan, pagkain processor – anumang mga kasangkapan ikaw ay may. Susunod na, kumuha ng tungkol sa 3 tasa ng reserved likido bean (pero mainit na tubig ay gawin mo kung accidently ito poured down ang alisan ng tubig) at ihalo ito sa asin at kalahati ng miso. Matapos na mized mabuti, idagdag ang Koji. Panghuli idagdag ang halo sa mashed beans at ihalo hanggang ang pagkakayari ay pare-pareho. Kung ito tila makapal kaysa sa mso mo ay, magdagdag ng ilang mga karagdagang likido bean. Ito ang iyong Miso!

4. Sunod, asin sa ilalim at gilid ibabaw ng iyong mga daluyan ng fermenting (sa anumang plastic lalagyan na may pagpapalapat talukap ng mata). Ang mga ideya ay upang magkaroon ng mas mataas na asin nilalaman at ang mga gilid na kung saan contaminating bakterya ay maaaring ma-access ang miso. Pack ang miso mahigpit sa lalagyan, ang pagkuha ng pag-aalaga sa pockets patalsikin hangin. Smooth sa itaas na may spatula o kutsara, at sabog ng patong ng asin sa ibabaw ito.

5. Takpan ang miso sa isang talukap ng mata. Kung ang mga talukap ng mata ikaw ay hindi mapapasukan ng hangin, gamitin ang isang malaking plato na may isang liko ilalim. Ilagay ang mga bloke, libro, o ilang iba pang mabigat na maghintay sa itaas ng talukap ng mata. Sa wakas, takip ang buong lalagyan na may isang tela o plastic upang panatilihin ang alikabok at / o iba pang mga particle. Lable miso ang malinaw, na may isang petsa. Ito ay mahalaga lalo na kung mayroon kang maramihang mga batch.

6. Naghihintay para sa Miso

Ty ang ilan sa mga fall / taglamig miso matapos ang unang tag-init ng pagbuburo. Repack ito nang mabuti, nang basta-basta pagbuburo ang bagong top layer. Pagkatapos ay subukan ito sa isang taon mamaya, kahit na sa isang taon matapos na. Miso mananatiling mabuti para sa isang mahabang panahon, at ito ay lasa mellows at develops sa paglipas ng panahon. Miso ay tulad ng alak!

7. Isang Paalala sa Decanting

Kapag binuksan mo ang isang palayok ng miso na kung saan ay fermenting para sa isang pares ng mga taon, ang top layer ay maaaring lubos na off-patong. Ito ay ganap na normal. Sinagap na lang ito off, at ihagis ito sa iyong pag-aabono.

Isang Paalala sa Pagluluto Sa Miso

Miso ay buhay, at kumukulo ito ay pumatay ito. Kapag ang pagluluto sa miso pagkatapos, lutuin ang iyong sotck at lamang bago mag-alay patayin ang init, kumuha nang isang maliit na mainit na likido sa labas, ihalo ito sa miso, ibalik ito sa sopas at kalikutin!

You can jump to your death now.

That article appeared in searchgrid.org… thanks for the happy confusion. On the other end of the table is what Filipinos call Carabao English. Below is a letter which has been circulating in the internet for ages. It always cracks me up so I want to share it. Fasten your seatbelts:

Did the Americans really bring a huge influence on Filipino food? What about the Japanese? Did we even get anything from them.

I wasn’t supposed to tackle this until next week’s full feature of Japanese influences on Filipino Food but this website can’t stop itself from coming. Well maybe if it gets used to a having lot of articles coming in early for a supposed to be later fulfillment, premature posts can be avoided. Yes, that’s me just adding more words in this sort of “Oh! You came!” article.

On the last few posts here in the website, I think it is clear by now that the Philippines’ war, surrender, being a commonwealth state,  accommodation, adulation, idolization,and a few other things to and with the United States of the Exciting Uncle Sam, paved way to only a handful of homemade recipes such as:

Salad 1, 2, and half of number 3 salad.

A lot of food and fruits in cans.

More ways to preserve food that an “aware” human being “with a lot of options” would not even opt to lick. Yes, I heard lot of people say, especially the ones from Minnesota USA, that earlier versions of Spam (not the junk that you receive electronically everyday) came from by-products of processed meat (yes, I am not talking about that junk that you… wait, alrighty then). But, if you don’t believe what some people in Minnesota say, and you very much agree with the rest of Hawaii, hey, you will make anything out of Spam and toss it straight into your cornhole.

Fastfood that we won’t even discuss until maybe August this year (it is not that important and that clown is scary).

Hmmm… what else? Is that it?

If you have anything in mind, please do not stop yourself from dropping comments below.

Now this leaves me scared and empty because if the Americans did not even leave us with anything essential, how much more the Japanese who were happy to lay waste metaphorically and literally in that dreaded timeline of Philippine History?

Well let me think. Japayukis? Nope, I think that boomed around the late 80′s. Sushi or Sashimi? Not even. If you are not in the major cities in the Philippines, the only way that you’ll eat raw fish is if it is Kinilaw. Yakitoris? I would like to believe so but Japanese Chicken Skewers or Yakitori does not employ ketchup for the sauce. I’m afraid that almost all of our skewered meat is in heat and red of ketchup.

What else?

Did the Japanese and the Americans talk to themselves and agreed that they wouldn’t extend any of their culinary veins to those they have oppressed?

I have a weird question which I should have discussed when I started this article:

What if the Spaghetti that we have right now is actually the only thing that the Americans and the Japanese gave to us? Take a look at this very  Spaghetti discussion.

What say you now?

Let me tell about what we do here in myfilipinokitchen in case you are a new visitor or you have been visiting this website for any particular reason. The aim of the website is to push Filipino food awareness in the world’s brain. Okay, that maybe a bit too much and crazy but yeah, we promote Filipino food to the world. I have been saying a lot of times already that Filipino food is not that famous yet. And we would like it to be. Although myfilipinokitchen is not a fancy schmancy famous website, we continue to push on. Because we believe that we have work to do. And we don’t get paid for it even, goodness. I myself am hoping for that one article, that one write-up, that thing, that will ooze from our brains, that will affect not only Filipinos but everyone in the world to have interest in Filipino food… then I think we can push Filipino food awareness  in the world’s brain. Not that crazy now is it? Which makes me go back to a certain article that some British journalist wrote 10 years ago.

If there is one article that answers questions like – “What consists a Filipino’s diet? What do Filipinos usually eat? What is the relationship of a Filipino towards food?  What are Filipinos like?” – it is Matthew Sutherland’s – A Matter of Taste. Here, have a read:

A Matter of Taste

by Matthew Sutherland

I HAVE NOW BEEN in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well-assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation which I have yet to take, and that’s to eat balut. The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will be no turning back.

Balut, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors — usually after dark, presumably so you can’t see how gross it is. It’s meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can’t imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially-formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others prefer just to drink the so-called ’soup’, the vile,pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus…excuse me, I have to go and throw up now. I’ll be back in a minute.

Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People here just love to eat. They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, pica-pica,pulutan, dinner, and no-one-saw-me-take-that-cookie-from-the-fridge-so-it-doesn’t-count.

The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop.

You’re never far from food in the Philippines. If you doubt this, next time you’re driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food — and I don’t mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fishballs, or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it’s less than one minute.

Here are some other things I’ve noticed about food in the Philippines. Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice even breakfast. In the UK, I could go a whole year without eating rice.

Second, it’s impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn’t the same without gambas or beef tapa.

Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on. And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in sauce with a knife.

One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to share their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go: “Sir! Kain tayo!” (“Let’s eat!”).

This confused me, until I realized that they didn’t actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, “No thanks, I just ate.” But the principle is sound — if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier. I think that’s great. In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further. Many Filipinos use “Have you eaten yet?” (“Kumain ka na?”) as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.

Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked in coconut milk; anything kinilaw; and anything adobo. And it’s hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterholic frenzy of a good old-fashioned lechon de leche feast. Dig a pit,light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm… you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful. I also share one key Pinoy trait — a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it!

It’s the weird food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig’s blood soup “dinuguan”); bull’s testicle soup (the strangely-named “soup number five” – I dread to think what numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, bagoong, and its equally stinky sister, patis.

Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA, which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces. Then there’s the small matter of the blue ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating blue food; the ubiquitous ube leaves me cold. And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that kalderetang kambing could well be kalderetang aso…

The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food humor. Here’s a typical Pinoy food joke: “I’m on a seafood diet.” What’s a seafood diet?” ” When I see food, I eat it!” Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals — the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like Adidas” (chickens’ feet); “kurbata” (either just chicken’s neck, or “neck and thigh” as in “neck-tie”); “Walkman” (pigs ears); “PAL” (chicken wings); “helmet” (chicken heads); “IUD” (chicken intestines), and “Betamax” (video-cassette-like blocks of animal blood). Yum, yum. Bon appetit.

If you have any clue who in the freaking world Matthew Sutherland is please let me know because this guy just summed up if not everything at least the substance of what is it about a Filipino, a Filipino’s diet and the Filipinos’ relationship to food.

I would like to stop only on the part where he talks about food but the following below is just a funny revelation, I can’t help myself but to share it to you.

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches”– (Proverbs 22:1)

WHEN I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.

The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. Fifty-five-year-olds colleague put it. Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.

Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call “door-bell names“.

These are nicknames that sound like -well, doorbells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping. None of these doorbell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear.

Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied, “because my brother is called Bong”. Faultless logic. Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where I come from “dong” is a slang word for well; perhaps “talong” is the best Tagalog equivalent.

Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the “squared” symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.

Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy.

More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy).

Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) orflowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you’re a cab driver.

That’s another thing I’d never seen before coming to Manila — taxis with the driver’s kids’ names on the trunk.

Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the “composite” name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, believe it or not). That’s a bit like me being called something like “Engscowani” (for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Between you and me, I’m glad I’m not.

And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter ‘h’. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?

How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come to a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names.

Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be true?

Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin?

Where else but the Philippines!

If there were more articles about Filipino food that Matthew Sutherland wrote, he could have definitely upped the awareness of Filipino food in the world. I don’t even know where he is now, or who was he before. Where and what is Matthew Sutherland doing?

That is why I want to engage people in writing here in myfilipinokitchen. If it’s not me, then it would be someone who just wants to write about Filipino food that may write a sort of “A Matter of Taste” article. So, contact me if you want to write here at seigfred[at]myfilipinokitchen[dot]com, because you may be the person who will write “that article” and may change the face of Filipino food in the world.

Click here to read Ziggy’s invitation for you to write about Filipino Food

We always tend to describe our cuisine as “fatty, succulent and delicious” (I believe it’s the perfect description for Lechon haha) but I couldn’t help but wonder… in these times that healthy living is a fast becoming trend, and people are getting conscious of what they eat, is there any room for Filipino food in anyone’s stomach?

One of the greatest attributes of our cuisine is comfort. Simmering pork belly for an hour in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and pepper until it’s very tender, is not really one person’s idea of healthy food. But don’t get me wrong, it’s one of the food you’ll catch me eating in the middle of the night, in my bed, watching movies. But is there really a chance that we can associate Filipino food with healthy eating?

Last Friday, I was invited to do a cooking demo on a health and wellness expo, which got me thinking on the possibilities of incorporating Filipino ingredients, techniques and recipes which might contribute to a balanced diet and wellness of being.

Sweet Potato by Geocachernemesis from Wikimedia Commons

Let us take the underrated sweet potato for example. When Filipinos talk about “camote” the first thing that we associate it with is getting a gassy stomach but we sometimes overlook the possibility that it is a complex carb with natural sugars that can give us all the energy that would get us through the day. We can actually substitute it with any recipe that would require a regular potato whether baked, fried or mashed. Did you know that sweet potatoes are also great combined with curry powder? Or with fresh herbs like Thyme, Cilantro and Basil? (Hmm, a recipe… CURRY-BAKED SWEET POTATO WITH CILANTRO SOUR CREAM haha sounds good).

Tinola Lunch by FoxLad from Wikimedia Commons

A healthy Filipino dish that I can think of is “Tinola” –  light chicken broth with ginger, papaya, and malunggay. All the nutrients in one pot. In a way, I am becoming a fan of “fusion and modern cuisines” as being cooks, we are slowly trying to change the techniques and ingredients to create a lighter version of Filipino classics that are smaller in portion, but still retains the identity that we all grew up with. As a modern cook, I am not here to “murder“ the dishes of our heritage or preach about what to eat, but to share with you that small hole of potential; that Filipino food and ingredients could also be a part of a healthy lifestyle, and aid in the never-ending battle of promoting Filipino cuisine in the modern world.

Organic Farming by Surachit from Wikimedia Commons

Recently, organic farming and the use of organic ingredients has been a real hit. Well… we don’t get vegetables as big as we used to, but believe me when I say that it definitely tastes better and it is really worth that extra penny (yes, and of course it’s a healthier alternative). We Filipinos are very fond of planting vegetables in our backyard without using chemical fertilizers and I believe it is the way to go. I remember long time ago, when I was catering for a client, her grand mother wouldn’t eat the chicken that I served. She told me that ever since she was little, she would only eat free-range chicken and organic vegetables, from their backyard. She is 98 years old now, still strong and still planting vegetables within her lot. It is very inspiring really, and while we are at the subject of “healthy eating”, many restaurants now in the Philippines are offering fat-free alternatives to classic Filipino dishes. The group of restaurants that I work in now offer low-salt options in their menu and some even make dishes according to diet specifications.

Going back, There are many Filipino Ingredients or dishes that can be suitable for a very strict healthy diet like “Dalandan, Ampalaya, Monggo…” the list goes on. All we need to do is try to exploit the possibilities and combine it with organic ingredients with a little substitution, if necessary. Then we can actually say that Filipino cuisine is suitable for a healthy lifestyle and of course, I would not forget the primary reason why I am trying to incorporate Filipino cuisine with ingredients in promoting health and wellness….because they’re just so GOOD!

Hey guys, JLeo is the newest addition to write for us here in the site. If you missed her “first appearance” click here. Enjoy! – Ziggy

Are some foods just an acquired taste? Do you have to grow up eating certain things to like them? For example, bagoong.

My nephew is 10 years old. I don’t know anyone who gets more excited at the sight of bagoong. The other day he opened up the fridge at his grandparent’s house and screamed “Bagoong!” in delight.

He has been eating bagoong with Kare-Kare (a Filipino ox-tail and vegetable stew) at his grandparents’ house since he was a toddler. And it’s not just with Kare-Kare. Any time there is meat, he asks if there’s bagoong to eat on the side. So he’s been nicknamed by his grandpa “The Bagoong Kid.”

Bagoong by Uberdoog from Wikimedia

Not  So Pretty in Pink

What is it? It’s not pretty. It’s pink, mushy, tiny, little fermented shrimps. If you look closely, you can see their itty bitty black eyes staring at you. It’s usually eaten as a side dish. Or, like fish sauce, the salty goodness of bagoong is used to add flavor while cooking to different recipes.

Some even eat it with slices of unripe mango. I haven’t tried that yet, but I guess the sour and salty combination could be good.

Mabaho

Mabaho means stinky. As for the smell of bagoong, well, you can tell a block away when it’s being cooked. Phew. Yep, must be a Filipino in the neighborhood!

My husband, who is Caucasian, refuses to eat bagoong. Not that he’s super picky. He eats lots of Filipino food. He won’t try it because of the smell. Before you eat it, it must be fully cooked. You gisa it (sauté it) with onions and garlic. I tried preparing it once, and only once, before my husband made me swear I’d never cook it again in our house.

The Lingering Smell

Here’s what happened. He was getting ready to go to a friend’s house. I started cooking it while he was showering. As soon as he got out of the shower, he made a stinky face and gasped, “Ugh, what is that?” He got dressed, grabbed his jacket off the coat rack, and headed out.

When he got back home, he said he could still smell the bagoong in the house, and proceeded to open the front door and windows to air it out. He said the smell was so strong, he could smell it as he was driving to his friend’s house because it was on his clothes. He said he had to leave his jacket in the car before going into his friend’s house because his jacket smelled. That’s when he made me promise to never, ever make it again. I didn’t put up a fight. I totally understand.

Of course, he still doesn’t even know what it’s made of (and I probably won’t tell him). Maybe he will try it some day. For now, the odor alone was enough for him to say no.

Doesn’t Stop Me!

I can’t cook it, but I can still eat it!

Do I still eat bagoong? Heck yah. Er, I just have my mom cook it at her place and then I bring it home. (It really only stinks while you’re cooking it.) Eating Kare-Kare without it just won’t do!

My nephew loves it. I love it. Do you have to grow up in a Filipino household to love it? Or maybe just be a little bit more adventurous?

I am so glad with 10 backflips that we have a new author in the site – Joy or let’s just call her Ligaya (which is the exact meaning of Joy in Filipino). Joy lives somewhere in the Middle East (it’s up to her to tell you where she is), has a very Japanese husband (or I think he’s from Texas) and loves cooking more than Oprah (I actually have no idea). Joy will be quite a relief and a joy in this website because she will write in both English and Filipino. I will translate this post for those who don’t know how to read Filipino but next time you have to activate your browser’s translator. Here we go:

Kamusta buhay abroad sa pilipinong kagaya mo

(How is life for a Filipino abroad?)

Masaya naman, pero minsan malungkot lalo na kapag inaatake ng homesick at mahirap din dahil narito ako sa pinakamahigpit na bansa sa Middle East.

(It’s fun but when being homesick gets to you it gets lonely. It’s quite hard too because I am in the strictest country in the Middle East.)

Gaano mo ka miss ang Filipino Food

(How much do you miss Filipino Food?)

Sobrang miss na miss ko, lalo na yung mga lutong pinoy na BABOY ang putahe. Mortal Enemy kase nila ang Baboy dito.

(I miss it so much, specially Filipino dishes with PORK. Pork is their mortal enemy from where I am.)

Mahirap bang maghanap ng ingredients for Filipino dishes?

(Is it difficult to find ingredients for Filipino dishes from where you are?)

Hindi naman, marami naman nagbebenta dito.

(Not really, there are a lot of stores that sell them here.)

Malapit lang?

(Is it near from where you are?)

Sa Asian/Filipino Store sa Souq, dun ako madalas mamalengke.

(There are Asian/Filipino stores in Souq Market where I frequent.)

Kung icocompare mo ang food natin sa ibang bansa, pano mo icocompare?

(If you compare Filipino food with foreign food, how would it fare?)

Masarap ang pagkaing pinoy at madaling lutuin, saka kumpara sa ibang bansa yung pagkain natin kahit di mamahalin ang rekado masarap pa rin.

(Filipino Food is delicious and very easy to make, and compared to foreign dishes, our food can still be tasty even if you use inexpensive ingredients.)

Anong sabi ng asawa mong kano sa Filipino Food?

(What are your American husband’s thoughts regarding Filipino Food?)

Masarap daw ang pagkain natin. Paborito nya ang sinigang, ginataang na kalabasa, caldereta, tinola at pritong tilapia.

(He finds it delicious. His favorite is our Sour Soup, Squash with Coco Milk, Caldereta Stew, Chicken in clear broth and Fried Tilapia.)

Anong sabi ng ibang mga foreigner sa Filipino food?

(What do other foreigners say about Filipino Food?)

Masarap at malinamnam ang palaging sinasabi nila sa mga pagkain pinoy na natitikman nila, palaging nauubos ang pancit, puto at spring rolls sa mga party dito.

(Whenever anyone has them, they always say that Filipino food is delicious and tasty. Whenever there’s a party going, it’s always the Pancit or Filipino noodles, rice cakes and springs rolls that go quick.)

Sa tingin mo ba may pag asang sisikat ang Filipino Food sa mundo.

(Do you think there is still hope that Filipino Food will be renowned in the world?)

Sa palagay ko sikat na ang pagkain natin, marami ang may gusto ng ating Adobo at iba pa. Kahit mga arabo dito regular customer na ng mga Filipino Restaurant.

(I think our food is famous already. There are a lot of people that like Adobo and other Filipino foods. Even the Arabs are regulars in Filipino Restaurants.

Anong masasabi mo sa mga gustong matutong magluto ng Pinoy food?

(What can you say to those who want to learn how to cook Filipino Food?)

Mag obserba lang ng mabuti kung paano lutuin ang pagkain na gusto nilang lutuin, mag praktis magluto sa bahay at timplahan ang luto mo ng naayon sa panlasa mo.

(If they have a favorite Filipino food, they just need to observe how it’s done, practice at home, and cook to their taste.)

If given a chance, ano ang last mong kakainin bago ka mamatay.

(If you are given a choice to eat something before you die, what would it be?)

Kare-kare at Lechon

(Beef in Peanut sauce and the Roasted Filipino Pig on a spit.)

Here’s Ligaya in the flesh

Watch out for her post tomorrow.

Food in the Philippines and consumption of it can be classified by a Filipino family’s socio-economic status. Let’s have fun with this:

Señora Doctora De de Espadaña

Judging by the name there, this lady is filthy rich. She always has 2 options for dinner. Either eat in at home with food prepared by a generation of maids or call her driver for an overtime because she will be eating outside, in a luxury hotel’s restaurant maybe or be in a party with politicians and businessmen. She doesn’t eat at the usual restaurants because she thinks they are too small for her entourage, but she is secretly addicted to Jollibee. She has a rest house in her own farm which is a 2 hour drive from her urban mansion, and once a month she goes there to eat fruits from her constituent’s harvest. A week before she visits, the farm animals are in repentance. On the day of her visit, they all get butchered and dressed. She is by the way a dentist, for the record.

***

Gia Ross Mendoza

The urban animal. Gia doesn’t know how to cook and never did the idea cross her mind. She loves eating outside (what can she do anyway). Her favorites range from the usual pasta and pizza, to Australian angus, to Chinese shabu-shabu, to Spanish stews and sautés, to huge burgers (she thinks Mcdo’s burgers taste like paper), Mcdo fries (though), KFC, pancakes (for dinner), chicken barbecue and gurgle a Starbucks coffee after every meal. She loves chillies and uses a lot of ketchup in everything she eats.

***

The de la Cruz family

Except for lunch, the de la Cruz family always eats at home. Mrs. de la Cruz thinks it saves them a lot of money since both the kids are now in school and she’s tired of hearing the husband complain and swear at Catholic private schools for up-to-heaven prices of tuition. The only thing that shuts the husband’s trap is food. That’s how the missus learned how to be a good cook. Their breakfast would either be any version of Tapsilog, dried fish, Sinigang (Sour Fish Soup) or Pandesal (believe me, this is called a breakfast roll). Their dinner however would always be grand because Mrs. de la Cruz loves to see her family jump in on the table once they see something festive on top of it. She is an expert of Spanish stews like Kaldereta, Mechado, Menudo, Pochero and Afritada. With a flick of a hand, she makes Ensaladang Langka (Jackfruit Salad in Coco milk), Seaweed Salad, Tomato Salad (that’s the one with Onions, soy sauce and vinegar) and any sides that can go with the main dish. She is obsessed with putting one whole huge fish on the table that Mr. de la Cuz has banned her to go to the nearest Fish port in the wee hours of the morning. On Sundays after church, going to Jollibee or any fast food chain is a treat. They are thinking of inviting a relative of a relative to work as a maid for them so Mrs. de la Cruz can go back to work.

***

Pamilya Ocho-ocho

They don’t eat three times a day. In fact, dinner is the only thing that they look forward to. They always watch out for that truck that sells rice in a very cheap price. They have a make-do stove that is fired up by urban-driftwood which is any piece or plank of wood that you see on gutters. Pansit (Stir fry noodles) is the usual food that goes with rice. Not only that it fills the stomach quickly, if there are seven of them in the family, a tablespoon of viand will do for a plate of rice. If there is no pansit or any canned fish, salt or shrimp paste will suffice. That’s how the kids learn about punctuations marks – period is when you press your finger on salt, and comma is when you dab your finger on shrimp paste… that’s after stuffing your face with a handful of rice.

***

The common thing and I have to agree with Mr. Wootton, is that Filipinos eat with either friends, family or even with strangers (if you’re eating in a Carinderia). The Señora eats with her cohorts, Gia always eats with her friends, the de la Cruz family are a unit and Pamilya Ocho-ocho would even invite neighbors even if they have salt or shrimp paste only.

There is also truth in what he said that Filipino cooking is not a refined art… yet. I have noticed that when we eat with friends we would rather talk about what’s happening to another person’s life than discuss the components of what we are eating and how it was prepared. During my stay in the Philippines there was not one Filipino restaurant that grabbed the overwhelming buzz of the metro. (But this website will reek of fantastic Filipino restaurants in the Philippines in the future).

Generally speaking though, British food can be bland. But not Filipino food. Filipino food is never bland. If the author was under the premise of comparing Filipino food to British food on the basis of convenience, he must have colleagues who are the likes of Gia Ross Mendoza. The common Filipino who does take-away food (or take-out, in Filipino slang), gets his food from a carinderia (that’s the neighbor who decided that she can cook and would like to sell it to neighbors by extending her dining table to a food joint), which most likely is home cooking, but with a considerable amount of MSG and massive gathering of garlic, onions and tomatoes.

There are a lot of newly opened restaurants but it can be just a trend. If you visit Filipino food blogs in the Philippines, they are more focused on reviewing restaurants rather than discussing Filipino food. I am saying that this is a trend because in the US, Filipino food is slowly infiltrating the mainstream. The consciousness about the existence of Filipino food will tweak the trends in due time. And in the future, it will define Filipino food and cooking beyond the kitchen. In my own opinion, Filipino cuisine as of the moment, although defined, has not been refined yet.

To Mr. Mike Wootoon, thank you for giving interest in Filipino food to the point of writing about it. I also suggest sir, to visit hidden nooks and crannies in Manila where the local Carinderia serves superb Filipino food.

To the readers, feel free classify another segment aside from the four mentioned above and please tell us about your favorite Filipino restaurant in the Philippines.

From Wikimedia Commons, this is a picture of Félix Resurrección Hidalgo y Padilla, one of the best Filipino Painters of all time. He is of Chinese descent.

Let’s have fun learning some Chinese words that are mostly used in the Filipino language:

mami – a cougar, and by that I mean Demi Moore

toyo – a crazy person

petsay – a politican who spends a lot of money on his campaign but will never win

toge – a graduation gown

miki – a famous mouse

bakya – hmmm… a jejemon?

And here are a few chinese sentences for you to practice:

John goto China – John went to China (the English can’t say it any other way)

Petsay mami – My pet says Mommy (whatever pet that is)

Pansit lomi – The pan sits under me (for very strange reasons)

Siomai lumpia toyo – I will show my private parts to you (you shouldn’t say this if you’re a woman, or else)

Sitaw – sit down (to be said with Arnold Scwarzhenegger’s accent)

Now I know the word translations that I gave before those sentences do not agree with the sentences themselves but if you are doing some Chinese, you shouldn’t ask any questions… or some Mao guy knocks on your door and shortlists you, your blood and your bones to be part of the new Great Wall of China. Alright, now on to Chinese Influence on Filipino Food.

As there are no records as to when the Chinese have landed on the Philippines, most historians believe that the Chinese have been here ever since the discovery of raft, we can safely say (as if somebody will shoot if we don’t) that the Chinese and Malays arrived in the Philippines about the same time. Come to think of it, if the Malays did not arrive with their structure of government and if Ferdinand Magellan was not slain by Lapu lapu, Philippines would not be named Philippines and everyone would be eating using chopsticks. Ni hao!

A rampaging list of new dishes stampeded on the Filipino table. I will list the 3 most famous ingredients where Filipino food was influenced greatly by Chinese cuisine. Make way:

Noodles! Everyone calls it Pansit. It is our Medusa. Imagine an Asian suddenly getting petrified and consumed by overwhelming, maddening hunger. Here are a few varieties of this monster:

• Pansit Canton – The most famous pansit of all, canton is basically stir-fried noodles. If you ask me, this is the tastiest of them all. What makes this different to other noodles is that it has coconut oil which I don’t find in the list of ingredients in other Asian noodles. And the Filipino twist to your basic stir-fry noodle is, innards are a key ingredient. Most recipes use chicken innards like liver, gizzard, heart.. everything that an inexperienced, non-adventurous, i-will-die-eating-chicken-breast unicorn wouldn’t eat is a staple of this dish.

• Pansit Lomi – Think about a very thick chicken nooodle soup. I couldn’t describe it any other way. The Pansit used in this dish is your usual egg noodles.

• Pansit Palabok – Think about your usual vermicelli but bigger, fatter and with an orange-colored sauce. I have offered this to my non-filipino friends and they thought it’s something fruity and sweet. Big nay-nay. I think the one who made this up was a crazy man who hasn’t eaten for days, blindfolded and thrown into the kitchen. It’s weird. The vermicelli is blanched to softness and topped with a sort of saffron sauce (we only and strictly use food coloring), on top of it is steamed chicken breast, shrimps – mostly dried and shelled, smoked fish, tofu, srping onions in wrong spelling but finely cut, pork cracklings and boiled eggs. It’s a beautiful mishmash of whatever you can get your hands on first.

I would love to talk about each Pansit in the Philippine vocabulary but i don’t want to tire you and myself. There is Pansit Luglog, Misua, Bihon, Sotanghon, Batchoy and everything else between and beyond.

Soy Sauce. I really don’t want to talk about this because there is nothing to talk about soy sauce and I can’t describe it any other way nor expound more on this ingredient even Martians know that when there is a Kung-fu master, there is soy sauce… well, aside from soy sauce is made of fermented human hair. Szechuan grandmothers to be specific.

Soy Bean Curd. Or Tofu as everybody knows it, although Tofu is a Japanese word by the way. In the Philippines we call it Tokwa. The most common dish for this ingredient is Tokwa’t Baboy (Pork and Tofu). I only know two ways of executing this dish. One is steaming pork ears (of course you have to shave and pluck it first, neanderthal), deep-frying squares of the magnificent Tokwa, mix them in a small bowl with onions and tomatoes and drizzle with a ginger, chilli, onions and soy sauce concoction. The other one is stir-frying all of those ingredients in a happy wok. Jeepney drivers are crazy with this stuff because it has a Szechuan nana in it. Another famous food that uses Tofu is actually a dessert/snack. It is called Taho and it uses silken tofu, caramel and pearls. I’ll zip it for the moment because I’ll feature it here when the crows and cranes exchange colors.

Aside from those 3 ingredients, the Chinese has changed the martial arts in a Filipino’s  kitchen. Among them is how to toss the wok dragon style, how to make soup that does neck twists in one sip and how to train a dumpling.

Fast forward to today, the Chinese consist a huge majority of the Filipino population… like every other nation in the world. As a people, they have been through a lot of doomsday episodes which include categorizing them as humanoids during the Spanish occupation, subjects of practice shooting during the Japanese occupation, denial of citizenship after World War 2 and from that time to now – kidnap for ransom magnets. I personally feel sorry for our Filipino-Chinese brothers who have gone through these experiences. In spite of that, Filipino-Chinese or Tsinoys, as they are commonly called, are on top of the food chain in the Philippines. Top businesses in the Philippines are either led by or from a Filipino-Chinese background… name it:  Airlines, TV Stations, Radio Stations, Real Estate, Restaurants… the incoming president of the Philippines Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino is a Filipino-Chinese. They are indeed an essential mix to the Filipino stock.

Although I still could not reconcile why most of us look like Mexicans. But that’s another story.

That’s it Pan-sit!

Click this to go to History of Filipino Food, Spanish Influence

But before that, I’d like to ask this question. If aliens stepped on earth and upon landing they declare something in their own language which, in our limited technology, is indecipherable, how would we react? How would the world welcome them without a common language? How would you as an individual react to what is supposed to be sci-fi but is real in green flesh and blood? What if what they are saying is, we will destroy your world in a week, just wait with joy as you will see your suffering cease forever…. and we have no idea about it.  What if they indeed come in peace?

Now here’s the story:

At around, 11th – 12th century, Genghis Khan nearly conquered half of the world, Monarchies have crowned their nth kings, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia was built, the Knights Templar were founded, Japan had its Shogunates instituted, Mass Production had its machines running, Fire and Plague Insurance had their first policies written in Iceland… while our black ancients, the natives of the Philippines, sat back, relaxed, got fat, and watched the waves run for the shore (mind you, there isn’t a huge difference from that time to now that’s why going home in the Philippines is a siesta from the get-go). But one day, as  the tribe chief Marikudo and the brothers were lounging at the beach, listening to bamboos play chill-out music, Balangays (Malay Seacrafts) made shape on the horizon.  The feeling that overwhelmed the tribe according to accounts would that be of Troy against a thousand ships as that was the first time they have seen sea crafts this big, although it would not be more than twenty Balangays. Ten Malay tribes arrived from Borneo with their long swords and shield-bearing wives. The leader was the wise Datu Puti (that name is now a famous Filipino brand of vinegar and soy sauce) who in all his wisdom avoided war and uttered the famous words that is now a staple in Hollywood and on any ethnocentric settlements – “We come in peace”. Now I don’t know if  team Marikudo understood what he said but some accounts said they started fleeing until Datu Puti flashed them with a huge Golden Salakot, a very long gold necklace that kissed the ground, a golden basin (don’t ask me why) and other jewelry jackpots. With a complex series of hand gestures it was understood that they wanted to buy the coastal areas. The deal was sealed when the golden necklace landed on Marikudo’s wife’s neck.

The Aetas settled in the mountains (they are still there up to this day) and the Malayan tribes divided the whole island among the first three families and the rest of the Datus went further north and settled in what is known to be the captial of the Philippines – Manila. And they lived happily ever after… well around 300 years until the Spanish came with guns and cannons.

Now here’s another story:

The Malays brought along a wealth of culinary influence in the timeline of the history of Filipino food. If you have read the previous installment of this series, food would just either be salty or sour or cannibalistic if you think more adventurously… so a lot of changes to the palate as the brown people found their way to the black man’s plate and vice versa. Here are the three main influences that the Datus brought with them:

Bagoong or Shrimp Paste. Bagoong is made up either of small shrimps or fish that is dried and fermented with salt to a paste and is widely used as a flavor-booster or a condiment for meat dishes and an essential ingredient to Filipino vegetable dishes. It is salty, it is stinky but ultimately it is the blandness killer. Just add a teaspoon of bagoong to any of your fried, steamed or sautéed vege or meat and voila, and you will see them bouncing on your pot. Here are some of the dishes that have become a temple of Bagoong:

• Dinengdeng, Pinakbet and Kinilnat. These 3 vegetable dishes are blessed with bagoong as it boosts the nutty flavor of vegetables.
• Binagoongang Baboy. That is pork stewed in shrimp paste. The best thing about bagoong is if you add the exact amount of it to pork, it compliments the meat.
• Kare-kare. This one is more of a nutty-satay kind of dish which should be cooked bland because you need to it eat with bagoong. Any kare-kare without bagoong is, I don’t mean to be condescending, but a man without balls. Even a minute amount of bagoong on Kare-kare will make you a “Lance Armstrong.” But then of course you don’t want to be an owner of a lonely testes.
• Green Mangoes. This, I think is the reason why God let man made some edible stinky-salty stuff out of shrimp carcasses. Raw, hard, sour, punching green mangoes should be eaten only and with bagoong. If you haven’t tried it, you won’t go to heaven. Every being who is allergic to shrimp paste will go to remediation.

Gata or Coco Milk. I have no idea if Aetas utilized this before the Malays arrived but I am pretty sure that coco milk has been used by Malays for various dishes, maybe for dinosaur stew or something. Coco milk has a distinct savory taste of its own that is irreplaceable even with S-26. The coconut, second only to mangoes in the fruit ladder is so loved by Filipinos they decided to mint it in their 2 peso coin. Apparently, 2 pesos was removed from the monetary list when the recent government experienced diarrhea in the economy… they blamed coco milk for it. Aside from few weak-gutted humans who disco in the toilet after chugging a shot of coco milk, this ingredient Pops with a capital P. Coco milk should only be added a couple of minutes before taking the pot off the flame because if you let it sit in a bubbling pot for more than 10 minutes, you are making coco oil. Congratulations Dexter, you can now oil up your robo-monkey. Here are a few Filipino dishes that are breastfed by Cocos Nucifera.

• Ginataang somethings. That means this and that meat or vegetable with Coco milk. The most famous is Ginataang Tilapia (a  freshwater fish famous in South East Asia) stewed in coco milk. Another one is Ginataang Sitaw which is sautéed string beans, squash and ground pork finished with coco milk.
• Laing and Pinangat. Pinangat is gingered pork belly sliced into small cubes, wrapped in taro leaves and either steamed or stewed and finished with cream of coco milk. Laing on the other hand is when you sauté small slices of pork belly with taro leaves and finish it with cream of coco milk. This is one thing that is not in the annals of history – Filipinos have that partly Maori culture. And I do not mean that part of us that wants to go hunting and spearing (that is drowned by eating too many rice) all the time, what I mean is, we love eating Taro leaves. Not only that, Filipinos look like Maoris… that is if you haven’t seen a Mexican before. On the next article, we’ll talk about coco milk and cream of coco milk as this article is getting too long.
• Coco Milk Desserts. Latik which is coco milk shocked in hellish high heat until it becomes a coco milk crumble. Sansaw – a refreshing drink of caramel and coco milk (I promise, this website will reek of it in the future). And Ginataang Halo-halo which is a steaming hot mumbo-jumbo of root crops and fruits, starch balls,  tapioca and of course coco milk. Look! You’re drooling!

Rice as a staple, and along with that, more organized farming. Need I elaborate further?

And with that the records (that were not accounted for) in the history of Filipino food took on a different color (I think I need to say that).

Now going back to the question that I asked before I told the story:

How in the world do people with various languages communicate to each other without a common language? How did the native Filipinos understand the Malays’ “We come in peace” spiel? I cannot virtually and visually imagine how two different people settle a negotiation without a lingua franca. Let me try my best though. Imagine us face to face. Me, as the brown god Datu Puti and you, the black brother Marikudo. I open both of my arms from the center outward slowly while moving my head from left to right looking all over the coastal areas. I point to you and point to the mountains and then I show you the treasures that I bring. What would you do?

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Continue on to History of Filipino Food, Chinese Influence