Philippine cuisine Part 2

Philippine Generations sharing the Filipino cuisine. (2011, March 3). Retrieved from You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tyxv2VVWfM&feature=player_embedded

Philippine Cuisine

Fushu daiko at MDC Hialeah campus

Philippines Overview

Philippines is a sovereign country located in the southeast Asia on the western pacific ocean. It is an archipelago consisting of 7107 islands which its capital is Manila and it is divided in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The official languages of this country are Filipino (National Language) and English.

Philippines has a population of more than 92 million people and its considered the 12^th most populated country in the world and the 7^th most populated country in Asia.

The Philippines’ culture is a combination of Eastern and Western countries. Its culture came from the Asian countries with a Malay heritage and also it has influences from the Spanish and the Americans. To be more specific we could talk about the culture in areas of Language, Religion and Cuisine.

First of all, the Philippines language is a very broad topic so it is divided in three parts, National and official, indigenous and major foreign languages. For three centuries Spanish had been the official language, but in 1901 English became the official language and in 1973 the constitution declared Filipino as an official language too. Nowadays, Filipino and English are considered the official language of Philippines and Filipino as the National language. Another type of language is the Indigenous; in this family are around 171 languages that belong to the Malayo-Polinesian. Within the 171 languages are 13 languages that are spoken for more de one million people, these languages are Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, Bikol, Albay Bikol, Pangasinan, Maranao, Maguindanao, Kinaray-a, and Tausug. In the last part we have the Major Foreign Languages; in here we have English, which was introduced in 1762; Spanish, which was introduced in 1565; Chinese/Lan-nang, in the early 10^th century; Arabic, which is used for some Muslim population since the 14^th century; Japanese, that came at the 11^th century; and Bahasa Melayu/Bahasa Indonesia,that is spoken in the southernmost parts of the Philippines.

A second aspect of the Philippines’ Culture is the Religion. In this country the Religion and the State are separated, however, most of the population of the country is Religious, like 90% are Christians and the 10% are Muslims. This is one of the countries that has more Christian people in Asia. Within the 90% of Christians are 80% that are Catholics and the rest 10% are from other religious communities like the Jehova’s witnesses.

Another important aspect of the Philippines culture is the Cuisine. In this country are many kinds of cuisine, the Malay, Indian, Arab, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, American and South American Cuisines. As we can see in Philippines are a lot of different kinds of food, and according to Wikipedia these are some of the most common dishes: 

·         Congee( Arroz Caldo), it’s a very popular dish in Asian countries, it’s a kind of rice porridge and it’s usually served alone, but sometimes they add strips of fresh ginger or other sides.

·         Paella, it’s most created for “fiestas”, it is origin from Valencia, Spain; it contains beans, White rice, type of meat(meat, seafood, mixed),vegetables and land snails.

·         Chop suey, it’s from Chinese cuisine, it consists of meat and eggs cooked with vegetables.

·         Puto, it is a steamed rice cake that is commonly eaten for breakfast with butter.

·         Korma, it is originated from Central and South Asia; it is made with yogurt, cream, nut and coconut milk.

·         Lechon, is an adult pig that it is served in the center of the table.

·         Champorado, sweet rice porridge flavored with chocolate, served at breakfast with "tuyo" (salted dried herring) or "daing" (milk fish).

·         Adobo, it consists of pork or chicken, sometimes both, stewed or braised in a sauce made from vinegar, cooking oil, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, and soy sauce. 

·         Sinigang, fish prepared with vegetables and a souring agent or roasted over hot charcoal or wood.

The dishes mentioned above are some of the most important dishes; however, the Philippine cuisine is very broad so there are a lot of other dishes that are important like, the noodles, dinengdeng, Goto, Crispy pata, Kare-kare, lechon, chicharron, “tapsilog”, “puto”, among others.

Although Philippine cuisine has many influences from around the world it also has two unique features, the first one it is that they combine the sweet, sour, and salty flavors; and the second one is that they serve everything in a main course not in different courses. 

Chop Suey. (2012, June 24). Retrieved from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chop_suey

Congee. (2012, June 19). Retrieved from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugaw#Filipino

Korma. (2012, June 15). Retrieved from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korma

Paella. (2012, June 10). Retrieved from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paella

Philippine Cuisine. (2012, June 26). Retrieved from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_cuisine

Philippines. (2012, June 27). Retrieved from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines

Puto. (2012, June 12). Retrieved from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puto