Filipino Food Highlights
A good number of Filipino food recipes are truly exotic. These recipes and dishes are surprising to those who do now know about the Filipino food culture.
The Filipino is known all over the globe to be an indiscriminate food lover. The typical Filipino day consists of three official meals-breakfast, lunch and dinner-as well as four or more "unofficial" meals scattered throughout the course of the day-morning snack, merienda, afternoon snack, evening snack and late midnight snack.
This even excludes the Filipino custom of unscheduled, mini-snack "tsibugan" sessions held while watching TV, conversing with friends, riding public transportation, reading the newspaper, or simply spacing out, thinking of what to eat for the next official meal, or when exactly it might be.
It can be observed that the Filipino is nothing short of surrounded by food! And by tackling specific idiosyncrasies in the way Filipinos eat, we are afforded an accurate view of just how much the mere concept of Filipino food influences and shapes the country's culture.
So, let's begin!
Like most Asians, rice is considered the staple Filipino food, a steady source of carbohydrates, and a must for every official meal in the day. Rice is deeply rooted in the Filipino food culture.
For example, a Filipino will never consider a hamburger a full meal-no matter how filling, how thick the patty, how large the bun, or how many pieces of lettuce and tomato are sandwiched inside-but will degrade it to the position of a mere "snack", simply because there are no servings of rice to accompany it.
Thus, fast food restaurants, such as the McDonalds local franchise, devise all sorts of methods and recipes to inculcate the idea of the hamburger as a "meal" to the Filipino people, even going so far as to introduce "rice burgers", special combinations of hamburger patties with "rice buns" in place of bread.
International fast food chains will have to adapt to the tenacious Filipino food culture, or they won't have a broad market share.
Aside from rice, Filipinos are also fond of "instant noodles".
These noodles are beginning to be part of the Filipino food culture. Instant noodles have to be boiled for three or so minutes, before seasoning with ready-made flavoring included in the pack.
Stir for a minute or so, and serve! Filipinos have caught on to the instant noodles fever, even going so far as to serve it in meals with rice.
Yes, where else can you see tons of families serving platters of instant noodles with (of all things) with meat or fish? Here, you'd see it the Philippines, of course!
And last but certainly not the least we have the ubiquitous Filipino food culture involving junk foods.
The Filipino junk food fare includes peanuts, cashew nuts, walnuts, mixed nuts and all other nuts; sunflower seeds, watermelon seeds, and "dragon" seeds; essentially any fast finger food which exercises the jaw muscles but does not make the stomach full.
A Filipino food favorite is the sinfully salty and crunchy "chicharon", chunks of pork skin deep-fried and aerated to let the fat evaporate. Tasted best with vinegar, chicharon melts and sizzles in your mouth much like an MnM, but leaves significantly more pleasure.
Just don't bring a bag into your local theater-the crunching sound it makes is sure to drive the other moviegoers crazy! Chicharon is many times considered a "pulutan".
"Pulutan" is the local term for the beer match, or anything you take with beer. An essential part of the Filipino food culture is the pulutan.
In other parts of the world, you take beer without anything and wine can be taken with cheese. With the Filipino food culture, beer is taken with chicharon and other finger foods.
Our little tour of Filipino food culture ends here.
Much can be said about the Filipino food culture and its peculiarities.
To experience the vibrant culture of the Philippine, both gustatory (i.e. relating to food) and otherwise, there's nothing like witnessing the real thing firsthand.
So what are you waiting for? Drop on by for a uniquely colorful experience in the Philippine and to know for yourself what the Filipino food culture is all about.
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