“FAMOUS FOODS HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES”

Filipino food is exciting, surprising and full of wonderful flavors.

We travelled around the Philippines extensively as a gay couple and found many traditional yummy prizes to
enjoy. Without the exception of balut! We’ve put together our favorite foods and drinks from the Philippines
that we think everyone must try.

1. Chicken adobo: the famous Filipino dish

Chicken adobo is one of the most famous foods to try in the Philippines, known and loved by everyone.

Adobo means “marinade” in Spanish and this is just that: chicken (or pork) marinated in a mixture of soya
sauce and vinegar. This was traditionally used as a way of cooking meat because the acid from the vinegar and
high salt content of the soya sauce produced an undesirable environment for bacteria. Other ingredients are
added depending on whose recipe you follow.

2. Balut: the Filipino Kinder surprise!

Balut is a developing duck embryo boiled and eaten as a snack in the shell, often served with a splash of
vinegar. This is definitely one of the most famous foods to try in the Philippines and certainly the strangest
we've ever tried!

Balut is popular street food, which originated in the Philippines and is also frequently found in Vietnam, Laos
and Cambodia.

When we got the opportunity to try it from a street seller on Puka Beach in Boracay, a large group of children
rushed excitedly over crying: “Balut! Balut! Balut!” They loved it and each child rushed to open up the egg and
crunch away at the contents inside!

The ideal age of the duck embryo is 17 days when the chick is not old enough to fully show its beak, feathers,
claws and the bones are undeveloped. Sounds disgusting? Well in the Philippines, balut is a popular childhood
treat. Locals swear by it and will tell you what a nourishing and wholesome snack it is. It's just 188 calories for
each balut and it contains lots of niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, protein, calcium, iron and phosphorus.

3. Kare Kare: oxtail stew

Kare kare is a stew with oxtail, ox tripes, lots of vegetables, which is flavoured with ground roasted peanuts (or
peanut butter), onions and garlic. It's served with shrimp paste (called “bagoong”), calamansi juice (Filipino
lime) and sometimes spiced with chilli.

Kare Kare is famous throughout the whole country. The alleged origin of its name is from the word “curry” – a
nod to the influence of the Philippines' Indian community in the Cainta area of Metro Manila. It is thought to
have originated from the Indian soldiers who settled in the Philippines during the British invasion.

We tried it in somewhere here in our province and find it quite tasty. However, the rich peanut sauce makes it
super heavy so that after the 3rd spoonful, you feel full! For most Filipinos, kare kare is seen as comfort food,
which they would have eaten for dinner growing up – freshly and lovingly prepared by their inay (the Tagalog
word for mummy).
4. Kinilaw: raw fish salad

Kinilaw is similar to the famous Peruvian dish called ceviche. The word “kinilaw” or “kilaw” means ‘eaten
fresh’ in Tagalog. It is a raw fish salad served in an acidic juice, usually kalamansi (Filipino lime) and vinegar.
In the Philippines, vinegar is nicknamed “liquid fire” because it cooks the food enough to be digested. More
interestingly, vinegar in the Philippines is produced by alcoholic fermentation of coconut water, which is what
gives it a sour-sweet flavour.

Just like with ceviche, the acid from the lime and the vinegar “cooks” the meat. Other ingredients usually in a
kinilaw include garlic, ginger, onion, pepper and chilli.

5. Sinigang: sour meat stew

Sinigang is another popular Filipino stew. It is meat-based and more sour and savoury in flavour than a kare
kare – usually using tamarind (sampalok) as the souring agent. Alternative souring agents include guava,
tomatoes or kalamansi.

A traditional sinigang is served as a stew or soup, always served with lots of vegetables like okra, water
spinach, (kang kong), daikon (labanos), onions and aubergine (eggplants). Pork (sinigang baboy) is the most
common meat for sinigang, but chicken (sinigang na manok), beef (sinigang na baka) and fish (sinigang na
bangus) can also be used.

We enjoyed this soup so much, even in our own house, we cooked this kind of food like sinigang na baboy,
sinigang na bangus and etc. You can, of course, buy the tamarind mix in a packet from the supermarket, but it's
so much more flavoursome if you make it fresh.

6. Lechon: roasted suckling pig

Lechon is a “suckling pig” in Hispanic traditions. It is literally an entire young pig that has been fed on just its
mother's milk (the word for milk in Spanish is leche), which is roasted over charcoal for many hours. Lechon is
also considered the national dish of the Philippines. The city of Cebu is considered one of the most famous
places in the country for lechon.

Lechon is also very popular across Spain and large parts of Latin America, usually reserved for special
occasions. It's one of the many influences in the Philippines from its 333 years as a Spanish colony – from 1565
to 1898.

The leftovers of the lechon are stewed with vinegar and spices and become a delicious dish called paksiw na
lechon. Paksiw literally means: to cook and simmer with vinegar.

7. Tapsilog: the King of the Filipino breakfast

Tapsilog is a popular breakfast dish in the Philippines. The name itself refers to the contents comprising the
meal: cured beef (“tapa”), fried rice (“sinangag”) and a fried egg (“itlog”).

The beef in a well-made traditional Filipino tapsilog is seasoned with a sauce that is a mix of soy sauce,
calamansi juice, brown sugar, minced garlic and black pepper. The rice is fried with lots of garlic to give it a
strong and tasty aroma. Finally, the egg is usually served sunny side up. To complement a traditional tapsilog,
vinegar or pickled papaya (atchara) is sometimes served.
Variants of tapsilog include “adosilog” (adobo with fried rice and fried egg), “litsilog” (lechon with fried rice
and egg) and the most unique of all – “Stefansilog” (a Stefan with fried rice and egg).

8. Halo halo: the best Filipino dessert

This is the ultimate and most famous of all Filipino desserts! Halo Halo means ‘mixed together’ in Tagalog. It is
served in a tall glass containing ice shavings, evaporated milk and various small chunks of yummy goodies all
mixed in together.

Well this includes a mix of boiled kidney beans, chickpeas (“garbanzo”), sugar palm fruit (“kaong”), jackfruit,
tapioca, sweet potato, sweet beans, coconut gel, ice cream, guava paste, purple yam and more. There is no one
exact formula or recipe, as long as you have a fabulous mix of all of these thrown in with the shaved ice and
evaporated milk.

The end result is a tropical, colourful and very tasty mess, perfect for the beach. Every time we went to one of
the many beaches in the Philippines, there'd always be a vendor with a huge queue selling halo halos.

9. Buko: the Filipino coconut

Buko is the word for coconut in Tagalog. For us, no day in the Philippines was complete without a buko or two.
First drinking the nourishing juice inside, then hacking it open with a machete or a ‘sundang’ to eat the yummy
fleshy fruit inside.

Unlike the traditional coconuts which are smaller, slightly hairy and brown in colour, Filipino bukos are much
larger, smoother and green. They have a lot more juice inside which makes them so much more satisfying,
especially when you want to refresh your body and cool down in the hot, humid Filipino weather. It's also a
fantastic source of potassium, sodium, magnesium and iron, which is why the coconut tree is nicknamed the
‘Tree of Life’ in the Phillippines.

The Filipinos make good use of the Tree of Life: other than the many uses of the fruit itself, you can also use it
as wood fire, the leaves for thatching, the coconut husk to make ropes and more. Coconuts are so ubiquitous in
the Philippines that the country has become the second-largest producer of the world’s coconuts.

10. Rum: the Filipino drink of choice

The final one in our list of the best Filipino foods and drinks is the most ubiquitous alcoholic beverage in the
country – rum!

Surprised? Thought that this was more of a Caribbean specialty? Well, you're not wrong. However, in Asia, the
Philippines is one of the largest producers of rum, mainly because of the abundance of sugar cane across the
country. For most Filipinos, it's the drink of choice as its available everywhere and in some cases, it's usually
cheaper than bottled water!

Tanduay is one of the most famous brands of rum in the Philippines. It started in 1854 and has grown to become
so famous throughout Asia that it now ranks as the second most popular rum brand in the world after Bacardi.

So to honour this grand Filipino industry, we say ‘tagay’ (cheers in Tagalog) with lots of Tanduay and coke.