Why
Philippine Cuisine
is special

The dishes and cooking techniques of the Philippine Islands were originally Malay. Then, over many centuries, they were greatly influenced by visitors from distant lands. These include pre-Hispanic Chinese, Indian and Arab traders - and Spanish and American colonizers - and Japanese conquerors.

Despite the foreign culinary impact, Philippine food is more than a melting-pot cuisine. It has successfully evolved into an enticing culinary style that is distinctly Filipino. The local cooks have a flair for adapting imported recipes to suit their tastes.

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Other pages in my
Philippine cuisine guide

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Click links to read them.

Top 10 Philippine food specialties
25 more Philippine food specialties
Philippine menu decoder

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Tips & insights
on Philippine cuisine

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The three key tastes

The three long-established tastes that most distinguish Philippine cuisine are the liberal use of salt, vinegar and garlic.

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The fourth taste

In the last half century, a fourth taste has emerged: sweetness. Today sugar is used convincingly in a broad array of traditionally non-sweet preparations, including ground meat.

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Regional specialties & styles

Each region of the Philippines has its own distinct specialties and cooking styles. Yet, some dishes have become national favorites. I briefly describe them in my “10 most famous” and “20 more” specialties web pages.

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Chili areas

Cooks in the southern part of the Philippines lavishly use chili to perk up their dishes. Northern diners (except in the Bicol region) have milder palates.

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Pork areas

Pork is adored in the northern Philippine regions but shunned in large areas of Mindanao in the south (most Mindanaons are Muslim, not Christian).

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Seafood

The Philippines has an archipelago with 7,017 islands. Consequently, fish and shellfish play a major role in the national diet.

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Rice

Rice is the dominant food of the Philippines. It is often served for breakfast, lunch and dinner – and is used for appetizers, entrees and dessert, in grain or flour form.

Rice is so important in the Philippine diet that it goes by 3 different names based on its preparation state.

Palay - Unhusked rice

Bigas - Husked, uncooked rice

Kanin - Cooked rice

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Social role

Food is an integral part of Philippine socializing. It’s a virtual must accompaniment for family and friend get-togethers.

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Turo Turos

Food in most eateries is not served table-service style. Rather, it is displayed on steam tables in turo turo ("point point") or cafeteria establishments.

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Condiments

Frequently used bottled condiments include patis (fish sauce), bagoong (strong-scented fermented shrimp paste) and (toyo) soy sauce. The fresh tiny kalamansi (indigenous lime) also flavors many dishes.

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Cuisine handicap

An obstacle of Philippine cuisine becoming as popular as Thai and Vietnamese cooking in countries around the world is its relative lack of visual appeal and variety of flavorings. For example, dishes often lack the on-the-plate wow factor. The food is usually not enticingly presented and an excessive number of entrees are brownish. And, there tends to be too much sameness in seasonings among dishes. But it taste good.

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Filipino New Cuisine

As in some other countries, young adventurous Filipino chefs are developing a "New Cuisine" for their country. The emphasis is on using fresh, tasty, local ingredients cooked lightly to preserve natural flavors.

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Philippine Fusion Cuisine

It has also been launched. That names sounds anachronistic to me when used to describe a new Philippine culinary style because Philippine cuisine has been a fusion cuisine for centuries.

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Links to other
Philippine pages

Top 10 specialties
25 more specialties
Menu decoder

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Test yourself

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Explore my
candid country, region
and other travel guides
Click links for tips & insights

©2010 HQP / Hillman Quality Publications