The cooking of the Philippines is quite different from any other country in Southeast Asia. Ingredients such as cheese and tomato sauce are used here and nowhere else. Everyday dishes are closer to the cooking of Spain than to their own native food. Spanish colonization of the Philippines lasted for almost 400 years (1521-1898). Probably 30% of Filipino recipes are of Spanish origin. The two prevailing techniques learned from the Spanish are sauteing and stewing (or braising). Garlic and onions sauted in olive oil or lard - the first step in many recipes - gives a taste to Filipino food that is unique. Annatto seeds, achuete, which give a red color to food, were introduced from Mexico, as were many vegetables, including corn, avocado and coffee beans. Gradually, Filipino cooks added Spanish ingredients to their Malay and Chinese foods, and more often than not gave a dish a Spanish name.

Spain, Portugal and Mexico inspired such dishes as empanadas, meat-filled pastries; morcon, rolled flank steak stuffed with sausage and hard-boiled eggs; pochero, a slow-cooking mixture of meats, sausage, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, saba bananas (plantains), chick peas and other vegetables, which dissolve into a thick savory sauce; bacalhao, dried salt cod from Portugal, an ingredients used in fish balls and fritters; caldereta, a goat stew - the same name is given to a fish dish of Spanish origin; several different kinds of arroz a la paella; menudo, a stew made with pork, pork liver, tomatoes, and potatoes, flavored with annatto seeds; chicken relleno, a fiesta dish of chicken stuffed with pork, boiled eggs, sausage and spices; chorizo de Bilbao, a strongly flavored sausage, eaten with enthusiasm in both Spain and Portugal, and a milder sausage that Filipinos eat for breakfast sometimes topped with an egg; adobo, from Mexico, a rich stew simmered in vinegar, garlic, and pepper, which has become the Philippines' national dish; sweet desserts include leche flan, a creamy custard often topped with sweetened soft young coconut, called macapuno; and membrillo, a thinly sliced candy made from cooked guava paste.

Native Filipino food seems very mild, almost bland, on first acquaintance. But further investigation reveals assertive sour, salty, bitter, and sweet tastes that define Filipino cuisine. Sour flavors predominate. One of the best-loved of these is a small limelike citrus fruit, called kalamansi, which is spritized generously over food at the table, particularly noodle dishes. Filipinos are also partial to the tart, unripened, fruit pulp and the leaves of tamarind, which is squirted into the pot during cooking. Other green, sour fruits used in the same way are immature guava, pineapple, green mango, and kamias, an astringent cucumber-shaped fruit. Prior to cooking, meats and fish are routinely marinated in palm vinegar. Palm vinegar is half as strong, and acidic, as our regular vinegar. This practice was started to preserve food's freshness, before everybody had refrigeration. It continues because the Filipinos have grown to love sour tastes and would not give them up at any price. Sour-tasting dishes can be remarkably restorative on a hot, sultry day. Bowls of pickled foods, called achar, similar to the acar of Malaysia and Indonesia, are placed on the table at each meal, as is an array of strongly flavored condiments and relishes. It is expected in Filipino homes and in restaurants that everybody will want to season their food themselves, and a jar of bagoong, fermented fish, a bottle of patis, fermented fish sauce, a dish of vinegar spiked with chili, and peppery vegetable relishes are provided for this purpose. They are used as ubiquitously as we use salt and pepper.

Filipino cuisine reflects the culinary influences of the Spanish, the Malays and the Chinese who came as settlers, traders, immigrants, or conquerors, and choose to live on the islands. Arabs and Indian Muslims also came to trade, carrying their favorite spices - cumin and coriander. The Chinese introduced bean curds and noodles to the Philippines. Egg rolls, soy sauce and a taste for cooked vegetable dishes such as Guisadong Sitaw, sauted green beans, all hail from China. Chinese noodle dishes, pancit, are found throughout the Philippines, each with a different sauce made from local ingredients. A particular favorite is pancit luglug, for which the sauce includes shrimps or shrimp sauce and peppers fried in garlic, patis and sour lime juice, with a sprinkling of pork crackling and chopped boiled egg. Two immensely popular noodles are sotanghon, bean threads, and bihon, rice sticks. Egg rolls have evolved into lumpia, a thin sheet of noodle dough rolled around a savory filling. A multiplicity of different stuffings fill these delicious appetizers - shrimp, pork, garlic and various seasonings. They can be fried and served hot (Lumpia Shanghai) with a sauce of cooked vinegar, soy sauce, crushed garlic, black pepper, and tomato. A typically Filipino method is to line the wrapping with fresh salad leaves and fill them with freshly cooked ingredients, such as lobster or shrimp, mixed with julienned hearts of palm, and serve them cold (Lumpia Ubod) with a precooked sauce of vinegar, garlic, and brown sugar.

All Filipino dishes with ginataang (coconut milk) in them are part of the Malaysian heritage, as are goat and lamb dishes spiked with hot chilies. The American influence is seen in the Filipinos' fondness for steak, hamburgers, apple pie, and canned soft drinks. Some canned American foods are used for convenience, for example, evaporated milk in place of water buffalo milk for custards. Salads, laced with mayonnaise, and sandwiches were brought to the Philippines by the Americans.

Breakfast is often rice and fish or sometimes fried rice and a spicy, local sausage, called longaniza, washed down with glasses of ginger tea. Mid-morning brings more ensaimada and hot chocolate, or perhaps a dish of fried noodles. Lunch cooked in the home is seldom less than a meat dish, such as caldereta - a goat stew, grilled fish or shrimp, soup, a cooked vegetable salad, fresh fruit, and a rich dessert.

Merienda, the famous Philippine meal resembling English high tea, can be anything except steamed rice. Rice constitutes a complete meal and merienda is not considered as such, despite the wealth of savory fritters, lumpia - spring rolls, noodle dishes, shrimp-filled pancakes, pies and cakes. Hot chocolate or refreshing kalamansi juice is normally the order of the day with merienda. For dinner, which is anticipated with enthusiasm, Filipinos will often go to a simple turo turo restaurant. Dinner could be a savory shellfish soup, an adobo - braised pork or chicken with spices, a noodle dish, perhaps an eggplant salad, and, of course, pickles, relishes, and condiments. This may be followed by fruit and one of the exacting desserts which occupy Filipina cooks, such as gulaman, a soft melange of pineapple and coconut; bibingka, a moist cake made from rice flour and sprinkled with cheese and served with grated coconut.

Dinguan, a strongly flavored stew of blood and beef entrails; and balut, a hard-boiled duck egg containing a partly developed embryo - a great delicacy among the Filipinos. Paksiw, a dish of fish or meat cooked in vinegar with ginger, garlic and salt; kari kari, oxtail and beef stew thickened with roasted ground rice and peanuts, sometimes tinted red with annatto seeds; pesa, boiled fish with lots of fresh ginger and black pepper; adobong sugpo, a tangy yet delicate shrimp dish; ukoy, golden, crisp shrimp fritters; chicken binakol, a chicken dish sauced with ginger, garlic, soft young coconut meat, and patis (fish sauce) packed into a bamboo tube and steamed.

Ubiquitous in the cooking of the Philippines are bagoong balayan, a pungent, thick sauce of fermented small fish, bagoong alamang, a chunker, pink paste of salted, tiny shrimps, and patis, a clear amber colored fish sauce. Mixing different types of food together is common throughout Filipino cuisine. Adobo - combines all the Filipinos' favorite tastes and techniques:vinegar, peppercorns, garlic, and bay leaves marinate a mixture of pork, chicken, and perhaps shellfish. The meat and fish are cooked in the marinade with added soy sauce, then fried a deep brown in lard, and further simmered with broth, sour vegetables and fruits until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Coconut milk and bagoong (shrimp paste) are also acceptable additions to adobo, depending on the whim of the cook. As adobo keeps very well and improves with time, cooks usually prepare it at least a day in advance. Sinigang, an extremely sour soup, served piping hot, is made with a flavorful broth of meat and chicken or fish and shellfish, and cooked with tomatoes, sour fruits, and sour vegetables. Traditionally it is brought to the table in an earthenware dish, called a palayok.