BACKGROUND Cuisine in the Philippines Is As Rich As Its Culture
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BACKGROUND Cuisine in the Philippines is as rich as its culture and history. Having been a colony of Spain for 300 years and of the U.S.A. for several decades, the Filipino cuisine can be considered a salad bowl of Spanish, American and Malayan cooking influences. Due to their frequent interaction with Chinese people then and now, there is also community know-how on cooking Chinese dishes—with a Filipino touch.Even with various external influences at play, there are still original Filipino dishes that can be considered as regional specialties. Filipinos during the pre-Hispanic era in the Philippines prepared food by boiling, steaming or roasting. This ranged from the usual livestock such as kalabaw or water buffalos, cow, chickens and pigs to seafoods such as fish, shrimps, prawns, crustaceans and shellfish. There are a few places in the Philippineswhere the broad range in their diet extended to monitor lizards, snakes and locusts. Filipinos have been cultivating rice and corn since the arrival of Austronesian people from Southern China and Taiwan in 3200 BC. They brought with them rice cultivation and a lot of other various traditions that are used in forms today. Pre-Hispanic trade with other Asian nations introduced a number of staples into Philippine cuisine; most notable are toyo or soy sauce and patis or fish sauce,as well as the method of stir-frying and making savory soup bases. The arrival of Spanish settlers brought with them chili peppers, tomato sauces, corn, potatoes, and the method of sautéing with garlic and onions, which found their way into Philippine cuisine. They also introduced the use of vinegar and spices in foods to preserve them due to lack of refrigeration. Local adaptations of Spanish dishes then became common, such as paella into its Filipino version arroz valenciana, chorizo into its local version of longanisa, and escabeche adobo, which is connected to the Spanish adobado. During the nineteenth century, Chinese food became a staple of the panciterias or noodle soup shops around the country, although they were marketed with Spanish names. Chinese foods include arroz caldo which is rice and chicken gruel; morisqueta tostada which is an obsolete term for sinangag or fried rice; and chopsuey. Today, Philippine cuisine continues to evolve as new techniques and styles of cooking find their way into one of the most active melting pots of Asia. The Philippines does not only possess its traditional cuisine; popular international cuisines as well as restaurant and fastfood chains are also available around the archipelago. Furthermore, the Chinese population is famous for establishing Chinese districts where predominantly Chinese and Chinese-fusion food can be found. OBJECTVES To know the history of the Philippine cookery. To further understand the factors that affects and influences the Philippine cookery. To know why Philippines have different cooking stylesin every region. To know the different regional cooking styles of the Philippines in every region. SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY History and legend say that the Filipinos came from Indonesia and Malaysia. They founded villages and small kingdoms in the 7,000 or so islands which make up the Philippines today. Chinese traders were common visitors to these settlements. So were Hindu merchants, Japanese fishermen, and later on,Spaniard, Portuguese, Dutch and English adventurers. In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan reached the islands in his effort to circumnavigate the world, reaching the east by sailing west Spain colonized the country soon after that and gave it the name of Philippines, after the Spanish King, Philip II. Spanish rule held sway over the Philippines for more than three centuries until the Americans took over in 1898. The Philippines gained its independence from the United States in 1946. Filipino cooking reflects the history of the islands. On a Malayan base, Chinese, Hindu, Spanish and American ingredients have been added through centuries of foreign influence and surprisingly, a blend with an identity of its own has emerged. In the cosmopolitan city of Manila, this mixture is most in evidence. Far from the capital city, however, one can still sample the simple dishes that native Filipinos eat Many of these dishes are remarkably close to native fares still found inIndonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and other Asian countries. Native Filipino cooking is not too spicy despite the fact that spices are plentiful and readily available in the islands. (Europeans, after all, stumbled upon the Philippines in their search for the fabled Spice Islands). The basic staple is rice of which hundreds of varieties are cultivated. Main source of protein is fish which abound in oceans, lakes, rivers, streams and ponds. Meat, especially pork and poultry, is also commonly eaten. Beef is readily available but is more expensive; the cattle industry not being well developed in the country. Veal and lamb are not too popular but goat meat is considered a delicacy in some parts of the country as are frogs, rabbits and deer. It is often when sampling native Filipino dishes that one appreciates the regional variations in the country. For while it is true that Filipino culture is homogeneous, there are specific differencesn i cooking and food preferences that readily identify the regional origin of many dishes. Although these differences are not as pronounced as in the regional variations of Chinese cooking, for instance, they are widely recognized in the country where regionalism plays an important role because of its geographical division into many island-groups. It is generally observed that from a culinary viewpoint, the Philippine archipelago may be ethnically divided into six regions. Based on the people's cooking styles and eating habits, the regions from north to south are: NORTHERN LUZON — the region around the northern tip of Luzon Island peopled mainly by llocanos, Pangasinans and several minority groups like Ifugaos, Bontocs, Ibanags and Kalingas. Cooking in this region is very simple relying mainly on native vegetables, fish, poultry and meat. A preference for native vegetables particularly saluyot (a leafy green that looks like spinach but turns slippery like okra when cooked) and the widespread use of bagoong (shrimp paste) give Northern Luzon cooking a definite identity. The llocanos usually like their vegetables steamed or plain boiled and dipped in bagoong. For additional flavor, they may boil their vegetables with pork or broiled fish as \npinakbet, dinengdeng or inabraw. The Pangasinans are Justifiably famous for the quality of their bangus (milkfish) which are artificially reared in ponds through an ancient system fo aqua-culture. Generally, Northern Luzon cooking uses locally grown ingredients, involves simple proceduresand may even be called sparse fare. Life in this coastal and mountainous region is hard and the people tend to be thrifty and live simply. These traits are well reflected ni their dishes. CENTRAL PLAINS — inhabited in large numbers by Tagalogs and Pam- pangos and occupying the rice growing central part of Luzon Island and the area around the capital region of Manila. Central Plains cooking is the most sophisticated in the country. This is most evident in Manila and surrounding areas where foreign cuisines have left the people with a taste for rich sauces and fancy desserts. The people have a passion for meat especially pork and poultry. Their cooking is marked by clever combinations of many different ingredients in a single dish, long and elaborate preparations and festive looks. They are fond of stuffed main dishes and are well admired for their^llenong manok or bangus (stuffed, boned whole chicken or fish), morcon (stuffedolled r beef) and embutido (stuffed pork sausage) — all wtth rich, spicy sauces.They usually like their vegetables sauteed in garlic, onions and tomatoes with pork and shrimps. SOUTHERN TAGALOG — homogeneously Tagalog speaking area south of Manila and the country's maJor source of coconuts as well as rice and fruits. Their cooking and eating habits are strongly influenced by their products and the availability of certain foodstuffsin the region. For instance, they have a strong preference for fresh water fish which abound in streams and rivers and which are usually sold swimming in buckets of water in the market. Their cooking tends to be sour with their constant use of vinegar and sour fruits like kamias,tamarind and over-ripe guavas.Vinegar seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper, is used as a marinade for fish before frying or as a dip. Tamarind and other sour fruits are used to s6ur the broth of sinigang, a favorite way of cooking fresh water fish. But the southern Tagalogs are well known for their native cakes and delicacies such as espasol, suman, hinalo, sinukmani and bibingka, the main ingredients of which are glutinous rice and coconuts. BICOL — another ethnically homogeneous region on the southern tip of Luzon Island where inhabitants speak the Bicol dialect. Its cooking is notable for the general use of coconut and hot chilies. The combination results in many rich, spicy dishes the most nationally known of which is laing, a chili hot mixture of meat or shrimps and vegetables seasoned with bagoong, wrapped in gabi (taro) leaves and boiled in cdconut milk until the milk is reduced to a thick sauce. VISAYAS — the region that includes islands that occupy the middle part of the Philippine archipelago and parts of Mindanao island inhabited by Christian Filipinos: The two main dialects spoken in the region are Hiligaynon and Cebuano. The people thrive on salt water fish abundant in the Sibuyan, Visayan, Sulu and Mindanao seas surrounding them, not to mention the China Sea and Pacific Ocean. Fish and seafoods not immediately consumed are preserved in salt and dried in the sun. The region is noted for these various types of dried salted seafoods such as daing, tuyo, pus it, hipon and kalkag.