As time progressed, variants of the Bicol express dish expanded with seafood, beef, pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan, and other versions.

In terms of nutritional value, the original version of the Bicol express dish is beneficial in protein but unhealthy in regards to its high levels of saturated fats and cholesterol.

The dish has moved into food processing and commercial production so that it can be sold conveniently and stored for a longer period of time.

[1] The Bicol express dish had been formally termed by Laguna native, Cely Kalaw, as a result of her cooking competition experience in the 1970s at Malate, Manila.

[2][4] This event inspired Kalaw to name the dish Bicol express after the PNR train that is programmed to undergo the Manila-Legazpi route.

[8][9] This upbringing provided her with the knowledge about creating Bicolano cuisines and lead to the inspiration and construction of her Bicol express dish in Malate, Manila.

Bicolanos would wait at the Sipocot station, Camarines Sur, for a train to make a temporary stop and they would start selling the dish to the passengers.

[19][16] The ingredients for the main preparation of making the original Bicol express dish are oil, ginger, garlic, onion, pork chunks, coconut cream/milk, siling haba (long chili peppers), bagoong alamang (shrimp paste) and a side of rice.

[11] After the pork has turned brown, the coconut cream/milk is poured into the pan and simmered for a couple minutes under low levels of heat.

The tilapia is boiled under the katang gata (coconut cream)[20] and vinegar, and mixed with siling labuyo, onion and garlic.

This dish is similar to the Bicol express meal except that the pork chunks are replaced with pieces of shark bits[22] or manta ray meat.

[11] These Vegetables are bok choy (pechay in Tagalog) and the shoots of sweet potatoes (camote tops in Filipino lingo).

[27] Vegetable paste and gluten free soy sauce are used to replace the bagoong alamang that bases the rich flavors of the dish's broth.

[24][8][12][10][11][22] The nutritional value of the Bicol express dish observes a range of benefits and a couple of poor effects on the body.

The negative impacts of this dish is its high levels of saturated fats and cholesterol that makes it an incompatible diet for weight loss.

[16] In Filipino practices, siling labuyo have been utilized as a form of traditional home remedy for treating tooth pains.

[32][29] Unlike the historical versions of selling Bicol express in plastic bags and rice in taro leaves,[2][10] advanced technologies have allowed the dish to be stocked in a more convenient set-up.