Why is Philippine cuisine so.... umm... primitive?

[zoomzoom]

I love tuyo.

[WallyWest]

I don't know if this is original PH cuisine. But, I love PH clam soup. It has a ginger-based broth with different greens and sometimes with green papaya slices.

I believe it is. We mostly cook mussels that way. It's like Tinola but with shellfish instead of chicken.

Tapatalked

[WallyWest]

My favorite PH dish is crab in coconut broth (also ginger-based). The wife makes it every time we get crab. If she doesn't, I'll just eat all the crab with beer. ;)

Coconut milk goes well with seafood and vegetables especially if it's hot and spicy.

Tapatalked

[zoomzoom]

I don't know if this is original PH cuisine. But, I love PH clam soup. It has a ginger-based broth with different greens and sometimes with green papaya slices.

Love this clam soup. But isn't this a Chinese dish?

[Jun aka Pekto]

I believe it is. We mostly cook mussels that way. It's like Tinola but with shellfish instead of chicken.

Tapatalked

I actually like mussel soup too. My wife cooks it more because PH (or Manila) clams aren't easy too find while mussels are in every supermarket.

Ah. Mussel. What does that remind you of?

[1D4LV]

I was born and raised in the PH and I don't eat that stinky fish (tuyo) I don't understand people who like it. It's too salty and there's almost no meat

I love Filipino home cooking but I think our Philippine cuisine has no identity. Our popular dishes such as adobo and Kare kare are derivative of other cuisines. I think other Asian countries have more identity when it comes to their cuisine such as Japan, Thailand, Korea, China and India

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

China and Japan (and also Korea) share their love for noodles, but of a different variety. Same with the Viets (Pho noodles) are an offshoot of both Japanese and Chinese.

Indian food is similar with the middle eastern variety, but uses local spices (e.g. curry).
Italian and Greek is also kinda similar. However, Greek also shares characteristics with Middle Eastern dishes.

Overall, its the taste and how it is presented and prepared.

Almost all of us are not familiar with African cuisine.... baka dito nagkaiba... but again, it boils down on meat and vegetables. Heck, even our own native kilawin shares some characteristics with the sashimi.

Ang wala sila sa ibang bansa? balut..... parang dyan noted ang pinas eh. I don't know with the chicharon though, pero parang wala pa akong na encounter sa labas.

[niky]

I was born and raised in the PH and I don't eat that stinky fish (tuyo) I don't understand people who like it. It's too salty and there's almost no meat

I love Filipino home cooking but I think our Philippine cuisine has no identity. Our popular dishes such as adobo and Kare kare are derivative of other cuisines. I think other Asian countries have more identity when it comes to their cuisine such as Japan, Thailand, Korea, China and India

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

There is nothing wrong with being derivative. Many countries derive their cuisine from other countries. Thai cuisine, for example, is quite obviously derived from Indian cuisine, while Korean and (parts of) Japanese cuisine had their origins in China (though it tickles me to no end that Japanese diners don't like jellyfish).

I am lucky that the home-cooked Filipino dishes of my childhood included a lot of Ilocano and Pampangan cuisine... lots of variety... both when I visited the home of my grandparents and when we would go to eat at Barrio Fiesta. The interaction of local cuisine and Indo-chinese influences and Spanish dishes gives our dishes a particular flavor that's different from our neighbors.

Granted, lugi tayo sa Thai cuisine in terms of presentation. OUr food is not quite as flashy as Thai cuisine, with its reliance on bright colors and spices, but there are a good variety of local dishes that a lot of Filipinos never get to eat in their daily lives. Even stuff you think you know, like Pinakbet, is different when you eat the real good stuff as compared to the ordinary everyday stuff you might cook at home or buy at the Carinderia. Had a smashing version of this in La Union that was worth the five hour drive... I've also just discovered Balbacua, served to me in Bohol and at Baguio, and I dig it a lot. Then there's Pansit Cabagan... which I last had over a decade ago up north, and which only one or two shops in Manila carry.

We look down on local cuisine because we eat cheaply-made variants of our best dishes every day, without ever stopping to wonder how they'd taste if they were prepared properly. Japanese households don't eat sushi every day. They eat rice and vegetables... hell... okonomiyaki is their version of left-over surprise. In China, it's the same. What's great is with social media and the rise of boutique restaurants, we're starting to see an explosion of experimental and high-level Filipino cuisine. It's simply up to us, the consumers, to go out and try it. ;)

[badkuk]

^ Just to add, there's a theory that pasta had it roots in China.

Generally, when seafood is really fresh, i like it cooked the simplest -- the freshness holds up on its own.

We used to eat sea snails with a toothpick/safety pin every time we visited Cebu. i think they call it kinason/aninikad. i think it's the same kind of snail you see in beaches on low tide. Quite tasty but i can't seem to find it in MM.


Re tuyo: there's this variety of tuyo where they "wash" the fish in fresh water, so it isn't so salty. The downside is that it is more prone to mold, so you have to ref it.

[badkuk]

i watched a show starring Bourdain not so long ago, he was served sinigang in Pampanga. The twist is that after the sinigang was cooked, the chef had the shrimp, vegetables,etc separated and arranged on top of each soup bowl right before serving. That was a nice touch ^_^

[_Cathy_]

how about Papaitan? the original ilocano version.
subukan mo cathy. . . . .

I've never tried that ata. Yan yung may bile diba When it comes to Filipino food I love bicol and ilocos food.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk