Filipino Food

Food is central to Filipino life. Filipinos eat often and eat a large variety of food. The table is laden down with many dishes of various combinations of fresh vegetable and meat. Fish, chicken and pork are the most common meats on a table, but beef and shellfish are often present as well. They are combined with fresh vegetables such as okra, beans, egg plant, lettuce and tomatoes. And no meal, including breakfast, is complete without a pile of rice heaped on the plate. No one should leave a Filipino table hungry. We North Americans are concerned that we will need to pay an overweight surcharge on our airline tickets when we fly home.

Our first host told me that Filipinos eat seven meals a day, and I believe him as I am sure that we have been fed at least that many times each day. He said, "Count them. Breakfast, mirienda (or snack time), lunch, mirienda, dinner, midnight snack and one more that you can stick in any time you like." Breakfast is no light repast such as we eat in Canada. It is full course meal with several dishes set on the table for diners to choose from. I can not tell how it is different from dinner! Even mirienda is a giant sized snack that includes sandwiches and other foods that would make up my average lunch meal at home.

Fruit is fresh, delicious and offered at most meals. Papaya, mango, banana, watermelon, both red and yellow, pineapple and coconut are wonderful addditions to a meal. All of them taste better than the ones we eat in Canada. I will especially remember the bananas. I eat many bananas at home, probably one a day. Now they will never be the same because the smaller Filipino banana is so much sweeter and tastier that I will always think of them when eating a Canadian banana. A special treat is halo-halo, a word that means mixture and is really a mix of whatever fruit is available at the time. On one occasion we were served halo-halo mixed in a coconut shell with coconut milk. What a delightful treat! That now rivals apple pie as my favourite dessert. (No Carol, that does not mean that I don't still want apple pie when I get home.)

When a Canadian greets someone, he is likely to say, "How are you?" So important is food to a Filipino that he is likely to greet a guest by saying, "Are you hungry?" If you were to say "yes" you could be assured that you would be set down to a table groaning under the weight of all the food and watched while you dug in.

As visitors we have been treated to fine displays of Filipino cooking. It is excellent and greatly appreciated. However, we have also learned that it is OK to say, "No." and to eat smaller portions that will leave us  in shape to be ready for the next round, sure to come in the next two hours.