PHILIPPINES' FOOD HISTORY

Philippines' Food History

    Food has always been an essential aspect of human culture, shaping societies and reflecting the unique tastes and traditions of different regions. In the Philippines, food history is a fascinating and diverse subject that highlights the nation's rich cultural heritage and its encounters with various global influences. the influences on Filipino food as we know it now span both time and space. 

    The Philippines consists of about 7,107 islands nestled between the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea; its location has placed the Philippines in the route of migration and trade for thousands of years. Over thousands of years, the occupations of other countries in the Philippines have shaped the Filipino food we know today. From their first encounter with the Chinese, who introduced rice, soy sauce, and the lumpiang shanghai, siomai, to their interaction with the Spanish, who introduced cutlery, tomatoes, and cattle-raising, and the Americans, who brought canned meats and kitchen appliances. 

    With human migration comes new ingredients, recipes, and traditions. Filipino cuisine combines sweet, salty, and sour elements. Rice plays an important role, and coconut is essential, with all components of the coconut (including the sap and leaves) used in cooking and preparation.

    Filipino cuisine is constantly evolving and changing. While the food is constantly evolving, traditional Filipino culture and cookery are still reflected in each dish, some even with a tinge of peaceful resistance. Today's Filipino cuisine is a direct blend of local ingredients, flavors, and outside influences. Because the Philippines has such a diverse terrain and indigenous heritage, local versions of popular meals reflect these influences.

Malayo-Polynesian Beginnings

    The Malayo-Polynesians were responsible for the most ubiquitous component in Filipino cuisine; rice. They arrived in the Philippines in 3200 BC, bringing farming and cooking technologies like as steaming, boiling, and roasting over a fire. Protein soures were frequently animals, seafood, and the occasional reptile.

Chinese Traders   

    Trade with Chinese traders predated the arrival of the Spanish, dating back to China's Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). China built outposts in a number of Philippine coastal communities, exchanging silk, porcelain, beads, iron, and other items for hemp garments, tortoise shells, and pearls from the Philippines. The Song dynasty also introduced new culinary products, procedures, and meals, which were gradually adopted by Filipinos. Soy sauce, bean sprouts, tofu, bamboo shoots, lemongrass, fish sauce, and noodles, which were modified into the popular pancit, are among the ingredients. Alejandro Reynaldo highlights the many regional variations of pancit, where the noodle dish has been "Filipinoized" by different regions of the country. Pancit Malabon has oysters and squid, while pancit Marilao contains rice crisps.  

     

Spanish Conquistadors

    In the early 1500s, Ferdinand Magellan claimed the Philippines for Spain, ignoring the people who had lived there for thousands of years. In 1521, a tribal leader named Lapu-Lapu assassinated him with a poisoned arrow on Mactan Island. The Spanish lingered in the Philippines for a few hundred years, introducing new styles of cooking, new ingredients, and phrases that are still used in Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines. Adobo, sautéing, braising, and new ingredients like garlic, onions, tomatoes, and New World staples were all included. Working-class Filipinos ate Chinese-influenced cuisine as well as traditional rice-based dishes.

    Locals took what worked and changed recipes to suit their tastes, such as Spanish adobo with soy sauce. The numerous versions of pancit, fried rice, arroz caldo, lumpia, sawsawan sauces, and other dishes show how significant each era has been on the Philippines' culinary history and how consistently these influences have been parlayed into new dishes.

     

American Influence

  The United States occupied the Philippines in 1898 and remained there until 1946. They popularized American fast meals like hot dogs, hamburgers, SPAM, and fried chicken, as well as "cooking with convenience" practices including freezing, pre-heating, and putting anything and everything into a sandwich. Canned evaporated or sweetened condensed milk, canned sauces, and processed cheeses were also introduced.