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Traditional foods of Philippine are influenced by Hokkiens. TOP INFLUENCER!
- Thread starter ginfreely
- Start date
Fuckein influence food
Only good Hokkiens can make it.
Yet another addition to the long list of TOP awards. TOP INFLUENCER!
KNN you fucking horny slut don't think my uncle don't know you thinking about licking lumpar KNN
in southern china they call it paopin (thin crepe) or popiah in hokkien and teochew dialects. but in the failippines it’s mistaken for lumpar (skin) and pia (crepe or cake), thus lumpia.
Dear gin if u bother to look around or have travelled south east Asia, you would notice two predominant ethnicity the orang Ali and the Indians...hokkein or otherwise the Chinese were definitely not the people of the land, they were migrants...
Food in the Philippines: A Lingering Taste of Salty Disappointment | Indiana Jo
Last updated: 31 May, 2018
“Food in the Philippines isn’t very good,” they were words from a fellow traveller and they came as a crushing blow. How could that be? I was in Asia – one of the cornerstones of the spice trade, a region that had sent its cuisine global with pandemic success. The Philippines had to have good food, it was its geographical birthright.
I looked down into my plastic bowl of pale brown watery sauce and floating pig fat (no meat, just fat). The restaurant had been recommended to me, the dish I’d ordered all on my own. Surely, it was a one-time bad order?
Food in the Philippines
Apparently not.
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For the following three weeks with increasing degrees of frustration, desperation and eventually downright food depression, I, too, reached the sad conclusion that the food in the Philippines simply isn’t good. I say these words carefully. The food is plentiful and provides essential nutrition (overly fatty meat aside), but for my inner foodie, sustenance was simply not enough.
Like many developing countries there is a point where income, at least for some, affords more dining choices and the fish, meat, vegetables and rice staples are passed over in preference for, most commonly, junk food. The result – an unsatisfying culinary mid-way – traditional recipes are no longer at their best, slowly being forgotten on a generation by generation basis, yet the new wave of fast food is a poor tasting substitute, even if it is an ironic social indicator of increased wealth.
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Amongst the upcoming Filipino masses, Jollibee with its McDonald style burger meals and platters of pasta that would make the Italians want to throw in the kitchen towel, was sadly one of the most popular if not the crème de la crème of the Philippine’s cooking world. I ate there twice – once for breakfast, another for dinner and both occasions left me with an inner food sadness. I also tried the ubiquitous Kenny Roger’s Roasters (I’m serious – this does exist and no, it’s not the world’s greatest chicken, as the slogan suggests), slipping out mid-meal to pick up an avocado from the market to add more pizzaz to my meal.
Food in the Philippines
Beef Tapa Breakfast Menu at Jollibee – fast food eggs are always dire.
Photo by: dbgg1979.
The street food (my usual go-to option in Asia) managed to tick the happy food box as I savoured barbecued everything from innards to unidentifiable pieces of meat, but a girl can’t live on BBQ alone.
Food in the PhilippinesFood in the Philippines
The halo halo dessert meaning ‘mix mix’ and comprising pasta, sweet potato, cream and jelly (strange, but works) and luminous green jelly drinks with buko (young coconut) were also fun (they matched the colour of one of my t-shirts, which made me happy), but equally, sugar cannot form my entire sustenance.
Food in the PhilippinesFood in the PhilippinesFood in the Philippines
On Palawan, I tucked into some delicious tuna, tried the deep-fried bananas despite my heart protesting to the contrary and sampled the strangest coffee combination that included mushrooms and Korean Ginseng (surprisingly nice) but none of these items were distinctively Filipino.
Food in the PhilippinesFood in the PhilippinesFood in the Philippines
By far the best local meal I ate was the lunch served up in El Nido cooked on firewood on a beach during my time on a boat tour
Food in the Philippines
But beyond those few examples, I was stumped.
Yes, beef tapsilog was served at breakfast. The Jollibee version is shown above. I sampled others but consistently found the beef over salty and the garlic rice just too much for me first thing in the morning – even if it was offset with an egg.
I will give credit to Ube jam, which is definitely worth a try and probably the best breakfast item I tried the entire time (perhaps I just like the vividly coloured foods in the Philippines?).
Otherwise, kare kare (pork in peanut sauce) and other rice and meat based dishes were consumed with decreasing excitement.
Food in the Philippines
As time passed and my interest in Filipino food waned, I lost my guilt at eating more internationally – Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian and (gasp, I’m about to say it) vegetarian food all stepping confidently into the breach, but it was nothing new, nothing I could take with me as a distinct culinary memory of the country.
Food in the Philippines
Yes, they are vegan sausages and yes they were vile, but the risotto was edible.
But I refused to give in. I researched, I tasted and then I found the answer I’d been looking for, the promise of a food utopia nestled in the heart of the Philippines…the Manila Sunday Brunch.
PS: I plan to return to the Philippines and I suspect that my disappointment with the country’s food stems from my extended time in Japan where I existed in food heaven. Speaking to other travelers who had spent time in South Korea and Taiwan, the Philippines’ food seemed, to them, a trade up. If you have any suggestions for where and what to eat for next time I visit, please do share otherwise I’ll be taking a jar of (unsweetened) peanut butter and saving my main meal for the weekly Sunday brunch.
For more travel planning tips and stories about Asia, see:
Asia Button
https://indianajo.com/food-in-the-philippines.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/etramping.com/rather-go-hungry-eat-filipino-food-again/?amp
I Would Rather Go Hungry Than Eat Filipino Street Food Again!
Many said:
You will love Filipino food for sure
There is nothing better than seafood in the Philippines
Filipinos are proud of their very own local dishes
Sorry guys for disappointing you, but it is not true in our opinion.
My “I’m starving but I don’t want to eat this food” face
You all should know by now that we are both food lovers and new flavour hunters. Every single trip, whether we discover new places inside or outside China, is related in some way to food. Before setting off for a new adventure to a new country, we do a proper research into new cuisines trying to find out which dishes we should avoid and which one can’t be missed out. So far, we enjoyed Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Khmer and Chinese cuisines the most, whereas Sri Lankan dishes (although they were incredibly cheap and accessible) were not our favorite. Unfortunately, with tears in my eyes and broken heart, we must add Filipino cuisine to our “I would rather go hungry than eat this food again” list.
We asked for traditional Filipino breakfast when in Pagudpud. This is what we were served – a bunch of fruits, coffee with milk and some cakes filled with jam. Is this what locals eat in the morning?
Why? Here comes a long list… but before that let’s see what Filipino food is (should be) all about.
Quick Navigation
A few words about Filipino cuisine
Expectations vs. Reality
What we hoped to experience…
What we have experienced…
Prices
Love for sugar
Biggest disappointments
Haggling
Conclusion
A few words about Filipino cuisine
It is possible that not many have heard of Filipino food before. We all know what Thai and Vietnamese, Japanese or even Polish cuisine is all about, before even traveling to these countries. As for the food in the Philippines, due to the small number of restaurants available, we are still not familiar with Filipino dishes.
Pro tip: if you want to skip the Filipino street food experience, you could go for the fancy Manila Bay Dinner Cruise instead.
Grilled (burnt) fish I was served in Manila one evening
It is commonly believed that Filipino food has also been defined by a melting pot of influences, springing from the Spaniards who colonized the Philippines for nearly four centuries to the Chinese settlers. The Filipino cuisine embraces all the common elements of Asian cuisine – sweet, salty, spicy and sour. Ingredients commonly used include garlic, vinegar and soy sauce, all of which are used in chicken adobo – easily one of the most recognizable Filipino dishes.
A piece of grilled chicken served with sliced carrot and sauerkraut in the streets of Cabu- that was yummy
We have also read that Filipino meals range from the very simple, like a meal of fried salted fish and rice, to the elaborate paellas created for fiestas or even lasagna of Italian origin. Top 5 famous Filipino dishes are lechon (roasted pig), longganisa (the local sausage), torta (omelette) and adobo (chicken served with soy sauce).
Moreover, while other Asian cuisines may be known for a more subtle delivery and presentation, Filipino cuisine is often delivered all at once in a single presentation (we have not experienced it at all though).
Expectations vs. Reality
What we hoped to experience…
Before coming to the Philippines, we have found CNN Travel’s list of 50 Filipino foods that define the Philippines featuring such dishes as:
Adobo – chicken and pork cooked in vinegar, salt, garlic, pepper, soy sauce and other spices.
Lechon – roasted pig with the crisp, golden-brown skin served with liver sauce.
Kare-kare – stew of oxtail served with delicious sauce made from ground toasted rice and crushed peanuts and presented with some banana blossom, eggplants and string beans.
Adobo
We also hoped to try some fresh exotic fruits and veggies, grilled seafood, smoked meat and fish, plenty of balut (developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell), local soups, different kind of rice (red and yellow), kind of dim sum and dumplings, sticky rice and a great composition of herbs and spices.
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What we have experienced…
Let me start from telling you that for the first few days we gave the local food a go. We were open to new things, we were willing to eat anything locals gave us and we were so curious about new dishes. That has changed after 4 days of stomachache, dizziness and feeling overtired and bloated.
Sweet curry served with rice in Banaue
The fruits we bought at local markets daily looked and tasted old and gross. Bananas (they changed color into black) were the worst (you could see some flies flying around and sitting on the bunch of them). Apples were tiny, oranges and nectarines were extremely sour and pineapples were soaked in some kind of liquid that smelled bad. The only good fruits available there were sour mangoes sold with pepper and sugar as well as watermelons.
Local market in Banaue
As for the veggies from local markets, we didn’t try them at all (apart from buying some at the supermarket) because we were not able to cook them. They looked ok though.
Random street restaurants
What shocked us the most was the poor quality of food. Most of dishes were left on the table without being covered with a lid, or without a fan to get rid of the flies, as it’s a common practice in other Asian countries. Fish and meat were mixed up together in the same bowl, sausages were displayed on a plate surrounded by flies and bugs, everyone was touching food with their fingers to try before buying and what was the worst the food was left on display for all night long and didn’t disappear from there unless someone bought it (we saw the same fish dish on display for two days in a row in one of local restaurants in Manila). It was a big mess, trust me!
Ready to go veggies from local market. They were packed with some noodles.
The Filipino food is packed with salt, sugar and oil. The meat we were served was soaking in oil, the fish that supposed to be grilled was full of oil and veggies we wanted to try contained more oil than the fattest meat we saw there. As we know, oil makes you feel so tired and slows your metabolism down. After having a few small Filipino lunches, we felt bloated and tired and we could tell it was the food.
A giant deep fried dumpling filled with mince and egg
The way it was made
We not only started feeling fat (literally), but also suffered from stomachache and diarrhea. I had a massive migraine, mood swings and heartbum caused by spicy and oily pork.
Locals enjoying their lunch in Manila
No wonder why, in the north, the vast majority of Filipino kids and young people are overweight. This is something we have noticed straight away. People in young age are huge and it’s due to poor quality of food.
For week 2 we were buying the food in local supermarkets. We paid much more, but we knew the food was fresh and healthy.
Prices
The Filipino food was extremely cheap though. Coffee was $0.22, bread was for less than $0.5 and meal dishes were never more than $1 (including rice). That was the biggest advantage of dining out in local places. On the other hand, if you wanted to eat something healthy and more Western (brown bread, brown rice, cooked veggies, yogurt, grilled or steamed fish, oatmeal, dried fruits, etc.) you had to pay a lot of money (more than you would pay in your own country).
Local coffee machine
Love for sugar
Filipinos, unlike Chinese, seem to love bread, cakes, pastries, muffins, buns and everything that contains a lot of sugar. So do we, but we must say some of them were way too sweet even for chocolate monsters like us.
Local pastries, cookies and donuts in Cebu
We found it so similar to Sri Lanka. The streets are full of local bakeries open 24/7 and you can see locals buying tones of donuts and cookies. They are extremely cheap and you could get like 3 for a price of 1. All displays looked so tempting and you could smell the fresh bread everywhere.
Yummy Apple and raisin roll cakes
Biggest disappointments
The biggest disappointment was not trying traditional Filipino dishes. Why? We simply could not find them! We visited enormous amount of local food stands and restaurants asking for balut, adobo, asado, daing and more and we we have heard was “Not here. We have some fish and fried pork only.”, “Do you want to try noodles instead?”, “We have some boiled eggs”. So, so disappointing!
Trying some local dishes in Cebu supermarket
All we managed to eat was binignit ( Visayan vegetable soup made by Visayans with slices of sabá bananas, taro, and sweet potato), bihon (rice noodles fried with soy sauce some citrus) and lomi (Filipino-Chinese dish made with a variety of thick fresh egg noodles). These were yummy and we recommend them all to everyone.
“Fresh” Filipino style pineapple juice – 3/4 of water and 1/4 of pineapple juice from the box
Haggling
After a few minutes in Manila, we knew foreigners were expected to pay more than locals. When it came to food prices, there was no haggling involved. Most of prices in supermarkets and local stored were fixed so there was no need to bargain. As for local markets, we were ripped off a few times, but it was still cheap so we did not mind it that much.
Conclusion
Based on our experience, Filipino food did not live up to our expectations at all. Let’s hope we can make it there again in the future and have more luck!
Are you a fan of Filipino cuisine? What was your experience with the local food there?
Agness Walewinder @AgnessTramp
Travel freak, vagabond, photography passionate, blogger, life enthusiast, backpacker, adventure hunter and endless energy couchsurfer living by the rule "Pack lite, travel far and live long!"
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VIEW COMMENTS
Azure
14 January 2017 at 10:05 am
As a Filipino myself not raised in Philippines (Raised in Australia), i can suggest really to just not eat any street food and stay with what you are familiar with.
The country is poor, so expect poor things. I would suggest to eat in places that warrant a good look such as Makati or Manila. There should multiple restaurants there that actually have standards in health and serving that won't get you sick. I've only been to couple so i'm not entirely sure because i was constant travelling abroad and back, only eating with the in hotel restaurant and chain restaurants such as McDonald's.
And stay away from Jollibee. The orange juice served there is just not right. It's 99% sugar and 1% orange.
Luca
1 February 2017 at 8:44 am
true about the oil , the fat & the sugar. Im a foreigner living in an amazingly beautiful and relatively small island in the philippines and food outside of your house is not always appealing. you will never find balut in a restaurant btw. that's street vendors food (usually a guy on a bicycle screaming "Baluuut"). the rest of street vendors food will often be(but not only) meat bbq (chicken intestines, necks and butts, and legs or pork) and sausages (even those are so sweet). bread is sweet, food is sweet, they love sugar and as you said if you eat truly local it will be cheap. the moment you want an espresso coffee or even simple european bread it will cost you double than in italy for example lol(if you re lucky ....)
in big cities you will find almost everything at higher prices and higher quality. most filipinos eat adobo, fried fish and fried pork, tinola on a regular basis with few regional exceptions....... caldereta, pancit and spaghetti usually only at birthdays....lechon baboy maximum twice a year for festivities... fried.dried fish and rice is typical for breakfast and very good and mangoes here are the best in the world. desserts like pinaltok and halo halo are amazing and so is leche flan and philippine fruit salad with condensed milk and cheese. not many fat people btw ....many people also dont have enough money to get by but most people can afford food but most people are not fat., actually they are slim on average. food is always accompanied by white boiled saltless\tasteless rice and they love it. i prefer it fried with garlic , at least it tastes something. there are amazingly tasty filipinos dishes though but in strret filipinos restaurant with a few exceptions quality will be low (not always)
filipino food can really be good but its not always in your face. after you live here you realize what is really good and what is crap lol
cookingflip
18 February 2017 at 2:32 pm
Oh my goodness, poor you. I was looking at the pictures you posted--those "eateries" are not there to showcase the Filipino food--they are for the poorest daily-wage earners (it also looks like you had been visiting class "D" municipalities which are really on the bottom rung). True, the poorest represent the majority of the country's citizens, but their diet doesn't represent the country's cuisine. There are cheap places too (but probably not dirt cheap) that serve good food, but it seems you were at the wrong places--a real misfortune. Otherwise you really have to be ready to spend as food in the PH is no longer cheap (high production costs, inflation, etc.--which is also a reason for the degradation of the local cuisine as people have to cut corners).
I guess we all have our own experiences. I have been to several SEA countries as well--and have also suffered poor food (and got sick as well)--from really remote rural villages to hotels. But there were good places to eat too, and when I see one, I make sure to stick to it, especially for reasons of hygiene--but yes, sometimes it incurs costs. I'm saying this so that would-be-travelers do not presume that food (i.e., proper food) in poor countries are always cheap.
'Hope you have a better experience next time--if you're not so traumatised to visit the country again. When in the PH I've worked with expats most of my life and they loved the local food--but of course, they lived there and knew where to go and had the means. Well, at least you'd be better prepared next time
For the meantime, maybe request your Filipino friends to cook for you 
(By the way, balut is not part of the southern/Visayan culture--it seems you've spent plenty of time in the south--also, I don't think you'd like it; it could be revolting. Lechon is expensive--they won't be in the menu of a cheap eatery; maybe same goes for danggit which is more of a high-end daing/dried fish--the cheap ones are herring and anchovies, but you might not like them. Longganisa--there would be the poor/cheap and the good/expensive varieties, as with all the other dishes.) Wishing you a safe and pleasant travel everywhere you go!
Mridula
19 February 2017 at 6:59 am
Being a vegetarian the local cuisine is often out for me! I hope you will have better experience the next time!
Alan
19 February 2017 at 9:33 am
I do not know where to start, anything 'unusual' like oranges and apples are expensive and have to be purchased separately out side of the cities. @fresh meat' is normally fresh in the sense that the meat is still warm , the animal may have been freshly killed but it never cooled down as it is not refrigerated. Swapping out ingredients for poor quality ones and then claiming they had run out of the good stuff after the food is placed in front of you. Restaurants that refuse point blink to give you a drink until the meal is served, even if you threaten to walk out. Lechon (roasted pig), should be wonderful, but the fact that they spend a very large amount of time preparing the pig , by tying it in painful positions then tying herbs and spices to the body means that the pig is so stressed that the adrenalynn takes over and the meat is always tough when eaten as it is pumped full of natural chemicals.
Kim
21 February 2017 at 2:13 pm
So sorry but I guess you've been on the wrong side of the island. I'm from the Culinary Capital of the Philippines and our food are indeed the best here in Pampanga. I don't eat much of the food from up North, really far from my tastebuds' standards. If you ever get back here for the best food to try, you know where to go.
Joanna
22 February 2017 at 1:53 pm
We're so sorry about the about the flies! As you'd know, it's a tropical country and always raining. You should've tasted the sweet mangoes and I can assure you to forget the bad experience in Banaue. Please also try to visit Palawan or other provinces like Ilocos, Bohol, Cebu to try other local/traditional Filipino dishes
Alan
1 March 2017 at 1:19 pm
You say 'a melting pot of influences' that is so true. Unfortunately they have taken the very worst parts of each of these influences and created what, IMO, may be some of the worlds worst food. Everything is prepared totally without care, and with a strong passion to cut costs wherever you can. Often food is not what it is supposed to be, dubious meats and rotten vegetables seem to be pretty standard. I am a Brit, and in comparison, our much criticized food is all Michelin Star
Maniparna Sengupta Majumder
1 March 2017 at 8:57 pm
I always have heard/read that Filipino foods are delicious! Thanks for this honest assessment. One of my friends is travelling to Manila next month for the first time. I'll let him know about this article... :-)
Hemangini Patel
20 March 2017 at 2:48 pm
I have Phillipines on my list and I want to visit Cebu the most... Let's see what kind of experience I will have. Thanks for your honest review of the food products. I am a foodie too and in search for new flavors always. This is a huge saver.
Have fun and keep blogging. You guys are amazing.Adonis Villanueva
21 March 2017 at 3:53 pm
I don't blame you. I grew up there
I remember eating chicken heads on a stick in my childhood, I thought it was good then I wouldn't touch it now! You're best served to try local delicacies near the ocean as those tend to be freshly made and right off the ocean. Traditional Filipino food like Adobo is not healthy.Alissa Apel
26 March 2017 at 3:46 pm
My Step Grandma is from there. Some food I liked, while others I was like, "Ummm...not going to try that!" She made banana egg rolls once. I just couldn't eat it.
Agness
7 April 2017 at 9:08 am
Banana egg rolls? Haha, it must have been 'delicious', Alissa!
Luca
7 April 2017 at 10:33 am
Actually filipino desserts are very good. See/google pinaltok, special halo halo, leche flan, rice cake (biko) , maruya(banana fritters amazing) , fried rolls of banana in a stick and camote (sweet potatoes)
Often filipino desserts have cpconut milk and sticky rice (malagkit) in the ingredients. Im not filipino but i ve lived here in total 1 year and a half or
More between stays
Parahita Satiti
26 April 2017 at 7:43 am
Hi, Agness! Have you ever been to Indonesia? Our (street) foods are delicious!
When i read this post and see the pictures of the Philippines local market with bruised chicken, i dropped my jaw! Yes, Indonesia's traditional/local markets are not that clean either, but I never saw that kind of chicken being sold in here.
Agness
8 May 2017 at 11:20 am
Yes, I have a couple of times. The local fish and seafood dishes was delicious, indeed!
Ren
2 May 2017 at 6:53 pm
When I saw the picture of your 'typical' Filipino breakfast, I knew right away you were going to the wrong places . I was just there two months ago and none of my breakfast look like that. I was in BGC/Taguig and Boracay and enjoyed the fruits and veggies and did not have a bad meal. I went to street markets in Makati and the night food market in BGC and was blown away by the quality of the food. I avoided dives - just like in any country. Bon Appetite just named a Filipino restaurant in DC as the second best new restaurant in the US. Enough said.
Julie Cao
18 May 2017 at 3:52 pm
I was in Philippines for two weeks and was not impressed by the food neither. I am from China and I thought that if my stomach is not get used to the western food, I can handle Filipino food.. big mistake. I went to a pancake house in Manila one afternoon and ordered Mango crepes, it is so sweet, even my North America-trained stomach could not handle it. Then I could not eat dinner. My stomach was protesting of having too much sweet ingredients and creamy flavor.
And what really gross me out is I cannot believe the fish and meat are mixed together. How people can even eat them?
Anda
2 June 2017 at 2:54 am
I'm with you on this one, Agness. I like some of the Philippine dishes, but I wouldn't eat the food they most their food.
Aren't they only famous for bananas and preserved mangoes? Come to think of it they were a hotbed for sg tourists in the 70s and 80s...many of the uncles in their 60s to 70s would have travelled there at least once..
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