Filipino cuisine

Around 6000 BP, subsequent migrations of seafaring Austronesians, whom the majority of contemporary Filipinos descend from, brought new techniques in aquaculture and agriculture, and various domesticated foodstuffs and animals.

Using only basic tools, the Ifugao built the terraces using stone and mud walls to create flat surfaces on the steep mountain slopes, which allowed them to cultivate rice in the highlands.

The galleon exchange was mainly between Manila and Acapulco, mainland New Spain (present-day Mexico), hence influence from Mexican cuisine brought a vast array of both New World and Spanish foodstuffs and techniques.

Mexicans and other Latin Americans also brought various Spanish cooking techniques, including sofrito, sausage making (longganisa, despite more akin to chorizos), bread baking, alongside many dishes giving way to locally adapted empanadas, paellas, omelettes called tortas, and tamales.

Likewise, migrating Filipinos brought their culinary techniques, dishes, and produce to the Americas and several Pacific islands also under Spanish rule, notably Guam and the Marianas.

Within Mexican cuisine, Filipino influence is particularly prevalent in the west coast of Guerrero, which includes tuba winemaking, guinatan coconut milk-based dishes, and probably ceviche.

[23] A traditional Filipino breakfast (almusal) might include pandesal (small bread rolls), kesong puti (fresh, unripened, white Filipino cheese, traditionally made from carabao's milk) champorado (chocolate rice porridge), silog which is sinangag (garlic fried rice) or sinaing, with fried egg and meat—such as tapa, longganisa, tocino, karne norte (corned beef), or fish such as daing na bangus (salted and dried milkfish)—or itlog na pula (salted duck eggs).

There is also sisig, a popular pulutan made from the pig's cheek skin, ears, and liver that is initially boiled, then charcoal-grilled and afterwards minced and cooked with chopped onions, chillies, and spices.

Available mostly during the Christmas season and sold in front of churches along with bibingka, puto bumbong is purple colored ground sticky rice steamed vertically in small bamboo tubes.

Popular catches include tilapia, catfish (hito), milkfish (bangus), grouper (lapu-lapu), shrimp (hipon), prawns (sugpo), mackerel (galunggong, hasa-hasa), swordfish (isdang-ispada), oysters (talaba), mussels (tahong), clams (halaan and tulya), large and small crabs (alimango and alimasag respectively), game fish, sablefish, tuna, cod (bakalaw), blue marlin, and squid/cuttlefish (both called pusit).

Pagtakhan's), it is typically a specially seasoned chicken roasted over a charcoal flame served with "sarsa" or lechon sauce made from mashed pork liver, starch, sugar, and spices.

One is arroz caldo, which is a rice porridge cooked with chicken, ginger and sometimes saffron, garnished with spring onions (chives), toasted garlic, and coconut milk to make a type of gruel.

Barquillos use sweet thin crunchy wafers rolled into tubes that can be sold hollow or filled with polvoron (sweetened and toasted flour mixed with ground nuts).

Echoing trends in international markets, bars in urban areas have also begun to serve locally produced and imported craft beers in a variety of styles.

One often seen dessert is bibingka, a hot rice cake optionally topped with a pat of butter, slices of kesong puti (white cheese), itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs), and sometimes grated coconut.

Sapin-sapin (sapin means layer) are three-layered, tri-colored sweets made with rice flour, purple yam, and coconut milk characterized by its gelatinous appearance.

Ilocanos from the mountainous Ilocos Region commonly have diets heavy in boiled or steamed vegetables and freshwater fish, and they are particularly fond of dishes that are bitter and salty.

Among the treats produced in Pampanga are longganisa (original sweet and spicy sausages), calderetang kambing (savory goat stew), and tocino (sweetened cured pork).

Other native delicacies from the province are Roskas (hard cookies made from lard, anise, flour, sugar, butter and eggs) and Bukayo (coconut strip candies).

The authentic batchoy contains fresh egg noodles called miki, buto-buto broth slow-cooked for hours, and beef, pork and bulalo mixed with the local guinamos (shrimp paste).

This ingredient is batwan,[75] or Garcinia binucao,[76] a fruit closely related to mangosteen, which is very popular in Western Visayas and neighbouring Negros Island, but is generally unknown to other parts of the Philippines.

Palapa, is a popular condiment unique to, and widely used in, Maranao and Maguindanaon cuisines, and consists of a base of shredded old coconut, sakurab (a variant of green onion), ginger, galangal, chillies, salt, pepper, and turmeric.

[83] Some exotic dishes in the Filipino diet are camaro, which are field crickets cooked in soy sauce, salt, and vinegar, and is popular in Pampanga; papaitan, which is a stew made of goat or beef innards flavored with bile that gives it its characteristic bitter (pait) taste; Soup No.

[95] Furthermore, in the southern part of the Philippines, there is rendang made by the Muslim Maranao people of Mindanao[96] and satti, a specialty food in Zamboanga that still has close ties to satay, which originates from Java.

[97] Filipino-American cuisine was first brought over to and developed in the United States by Filipino immigrants in the early twentieth century, creating a distinct style of culinary traditions that were adapted to both the local availability of ingredients as well as American tastes.

[99] Cendrillion, opened in 1995 by Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan in New York, is seen as one of the first breakthrough Filipino-American restaurants that popularized Filipino cuisine with innovative, novel meals such as an adobo made with rabbit and quail or a crème brûlée flavored with ginger and lemongrass.

[101] Tom Cunanan, a James Beard award-winning Filipino-American chef and founder of Bad Saint,[102] also opened a restaurant named Pogiboy that further combines American and Filipino cuisine by serving dishes such as sinigang-flavored fried chicken and longganisa and tocino-filled hamburgers.

[105] Some of these Filipino-American restaurants such as Barkada, Jeepney, Pogiboy and Maharlika have also introduced the kamayan feast to American diners, a traditional way of eating a variety of Filipino dishes served communal-style using ones hands.

[107] Jollibee, a Filipino fast-food chain well known for their American-influenced food items such as fried chicken and hamburgers, currently has sixty-four franchises in the country with plans to open one hundred and fifty stores within the next five years.

[109] Ube, a purple yam traditionally used in many Filipino foods and desserts, has also seen a surge in popularity in the United States as a cooking ingredient in recent years.