Food part one

Just as Filipino ancestry is mixed, so is the Philippine cuisine mixed.   Many dishes are of foreign origin, of course, usually adapted to suit the Filipino palate.    Chris had mentioned that many things are sweet--that even pizza dough is often sweetened.

The Spanish contributed:  morkon (beef stuffed with pork fat; pochero (beef, chicken, and pork chunks stewed with cabbage, green beans and Spanish sausage; and paella (rice, seafood, and meat combination.

From the Chinese came all sorts of noodles (pancit).  The Filipinos have localized such noodles dishes:  pancit palabok and pancit malabon.    Also from the Chinese came rice porridge, meat buns, spring rolls and pastries filled with red beans.    We ate a lot of pancit. 

    The Americans introduced refrigerators and ovens.  (Though not many can afford refrigerators and most may not use an oven due to how hot the climate is to think about baking in!)   American foods adopted include:  salads, pies (they enjoy an egg type pie), hamburgers (which usually have ground pork in them), canned foods, and Italian spaghetti (usually sweetened).   

 Distinctly national dishes include:  adobo (dark stew of chicken and pork); dinuguan (stew cooked in pig's blood); bagoong (shrimp paste) and balut (boiled duck's egg with a half-formed chick inside).   My husband had told me about baluts.     I did get a picture of a balut food cart.  No, I did not try one!      

   
  Rice is a staple--white rice--boiled or fried.   Glutinous rice can be baked to make different rice cakes.  Rice can be wrapped in coconut or banana leaf or pandan leaf--the wrapper adding to the fragrance of the filling.   Ground rice is used in making rice balls in sweet coconut milk or in steamed rice cakes.

Food feeds the body and also the soul.  It is a social event allowing for sharing with family and friends.   Most Filipinos eat with a fork in the left hand and a large spoon in the right.  It is what we ate with at restaurants and i homes.   Some foods like dried fish are best eaten using one's fingers.  I'm not that much of a fish person and the dried fish was way too salty for me!   I did try some!

Here are some pictures of fish from the market in Bangued (Luzon Island):