Food and Drink: Filipinos love to eat and so much of their culture revolves around frequent fiestas and family groups celebrating with large amounts of food. "Lechon", roast pig and "pancit canton" ( for long life adapted from the Chinese ) are the main fare at birthday parties and get togethers but each Filipina helps prepare a variety of other favorites dishes. The common daily diet staple of Filipinos is fish and rice. Traditional cooking methods were mostly limited to boiled ( soups ) and grilled ( referred to as Ihaw - Ihaw ).  The many toppings eaten with rice are called "ulam" and more than one topping at a meal is common. A very common scene inside or near the "palengke" ( a market with many small stalls selling foodstuffs ) or wherever there's many employees who take their luch break outside are the "turo turo" food stands with from 5 to 10 aluminum pots on a counter top with a bench outside or sometimes with small table and chairs. Ulam with rice, often with bowl of soup both costs from P20 to P40 (.40 U$ cents to .80U$ cents ). Some foreigners hesitate to eat "on the street" but I love these places in Asia and often enjoy a short meal at them without any stomach problems. One word of caution; it's always best to eat at these places from 10:30AM to 12 Noon when the dishes are fresh, not in the afternoon after they sit in the tropical heat. But the Philippines is Asia's largest "melting pot" of people and cultural influences so Filipino cooking and common menu items reflect those adaptations of Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and American favorites mixing Eastern and Western cuisine.

How To Eat: The majority of Filipinos like Malays and Indians eat with the fingers of their right hand at home but also commonly use the western metal knife, spoon and fork, especially in public. Before modern times with the introduction of plates and bowls Filipinos used trimmed banana leaves as plates and one well known restaurant, the Kamayan, serves all of its menu items on fresh banana leaves. The first I noticed this way of eating was in India and I have to admit I said to myself that I'd never go THAT NATIVE; within weeks after being taught by a retired professor in Sri Lanka under a "toddy tree" I ate all my meals using my right hand in the style he taught us, using our fingers to forma small ball then pushing it into our mouth with our thumb.. I'll never forget thee first time I showed my Mother in Iowa how to eat rice with my hands; she almost freaked out not being able to adapt nor relate to a different cultural habit at all.

Snacks are referred to as "merienda" but when a group of Filipino men get together for a "drinking spree" ( which is quite often in the fiesta atmosphere of the Philippines) , such small snacks, usually meat or poultry etc are called "pulutan". Any dish named ginataan, pronounced "gee-net-tah-ahn" is made with coconut "milk". Another snack is "bag-o-ong", made from fish or shrimp into a paste sometimes eaten fresh or cooked with bits of pork can be used as "ulam" (anything used as a topping with rice ) but is commonly used as a dip for sliced, sour, green mangos. One snack that most western pallet would find disgusting is often eaten by pregnant women or men as an aphrodisiac is "balut", a half boiled, fertilzed, duck egg. I've eaten the egg white part which tastes like a chicken egg with more density but couldn't bring myself to crunch on the beak and small feathers. "Kinilaw" is one snack made with raw fish marinated with ginger, onion, hot chili peppers and spices is my favorite.  And another favorite of mine that comes from the Chinese is "siopao" pronounced "show-pow", a steamed, white dough ball with a spicy filling of chicken or pork.

 

Here's a list of words, you might find in filipino recipes...
Vocabulary- Mga kakalitaan para sa lutuin
Boil – pakuluin
Steam – pasingawan
Saute – igisa
Fry – pirituhin
Broil – inihaw
Bake – ihurno; lutuin sa hurno
Blanch – banlian
Baste – pahiran ng mantika o ng sarsa
Cut – hiwain
Chop – tadtarin
Pit – alisan ng buto
Beat – batihin
Marinate – ibabad sa suka at langis
Good luck in the kitchen?