Philippines: Food and Dining

Dining in the Philippines is a gourmet adventure and the variety of food evokes words such as succulent, exotic, tangy, spicy, sweet, sour, colourful and plentiful. You can always find excellent food whether it's from a cramped sidewalk stall (kainan), or a posh restaurant, for the diversity of Filipino cultures is echoed in the variety of ingredients and cooking styles.

Rice is the staple, although foreign recipes have become a regular practice in food preparation.

Coconut milk or gata is often used as an ingredient and popular dishes are lumpia (rolls) and pancit (noodles).

The most famous dish is lechon (roast pig) and because of its vast coastlines, the Philippines also has an abundance of excellent seafood. Most restaurants offer seafood cooked one way or another, the most popular being the broiled inihaw. Other dishes include shrimp, rock lobster, crab, oysters, squid and fish.

To cap a sumptuous meal there is a wide variety of desserts from fresh fruits to baked sweets.

Philippines: Entertainment

Entertainment often follows a good meal. In Metro Manila there are nightly showbands, a wide range of music from pop, jazz, rock, even Broadway and in some places bands of local singers play original Filipino music.

Travel Quotes:

Never go on trips with anyone you do not love. Ernest Hemingway

Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Philippines Cuisine History and Influences

The Chinese food introduced during this period were food of the workers and traders, which became a staple of the noodle shops (panciterias), and can be seen in dishes like arroz caldo (congee), sinangag (fried rice), chopsuey. More details at Philippines Cuisine History and Influences

About Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Repúblika ng Pilipinas), is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea.