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Ingredients and types of food |
Filipino Chinese cuisine is a style ofFilipino cuisine influenced byChinese cuisine historically brought to thePhilippines byChinese Filipinos, starting with theSangley Chinese and theirChinese mestizo descendants and modern descendants in the Chinese Filipino community of the Philippines. It is characterized as a fusion ofFujian/Hokkien cuisine andCantonese cuisine adapted over the centuries toFilipino cuisine to suit the general Filipinopalate/taste.
Filipino cuisine is influenced principally byChina andSpain have been integrated with pre-colonial indigenous Filipino cooking practices.[1]
In the Philippines,trade with China started in the 11th century, as documents show, but undocumented trade may have started as many as two centuries earlier. Trade pottery excavated inLaguna province, for example, includes pieces dating to theTang dynasty (AD 618–907). Chinese traders supplied thesilk sent toMexico and Spain in theManila galleon trade. In return, they took back products of field, forest (such asbeeswax,rattan) and sea (such as,beche de mer).
Evidence of Chinese influence in Philippine food is easy to find, since the names are an obvious clue.Pansit, noodles flavored with seafood and/or meat and/or vegetables, for example, comes from theHokkienpiān-ê-si̍t (Chinese:便ê食;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:piān-ê-si̍t orChinese:便食;pinyin:biàn shí), meaning something that is conveniently cooked. Modern day pansit, however, is not limited only to noodle dishes that are stir fried or sauteed, but also those shaken in hot water and flavored with a sauce (pansit luglog) or served with broth (mami,lomi). The term includes food that is not noodle shaped, but is of the same flour-water recipe, such aspansit molo (pork filledwontons in a soup).
Early Chinese traders, wishing for the food of their homeland, may have made noodles in their temporary Philippine homes, using ingredients locally available. Further adaptation would occur in the different towns and regions. ThusMalabon, afishing town inMetro Manila, has developed thepansit Malabon, which featuresoyster,shrimp andsquid. While inLucban, Quezon, which is deeply inland and far from the sea haspansit Lucban orpansit habhab, which is prepared with some meat and vegetables.
Withlumpia, the Chineseeggroll which now has been incorporated into Philippine cuisine, even when it was still calledlumpiang Shanghai (indicating frying and a pork filling). Serving meat and/or vegetable in an edible wrapper is a Chinese technique now found in all ofSoutheast Asia in variations peculiar to each culture. The Filipino version has meat, fish, vegetables,heart of palm and combinations thereof, served fresh or fried or even bare.
The Chinese influence goes deep into Philippine cooking, and way beyond food names and restaurant fare. The use ofsoy sauce and othersoybean products (tokwa,tahuri,miso,tausi,taho) is Chinese, as is the use of such vegetables aspetsay (Chinese cabbage),toge (mungbean sprout),mustasa (pickledmustard greens). Many cooking implements still bear their original Chinese name, likesian-se or turner. The Filipinocarajay (spelled the Spanish way) is actually the Chinesewok.
The cooking process for Chinese Filipino cuisine also derives from Chinese methods.Pesa is Hokkien for "plain boiled" (Chinese:白煠;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:pe̍h-sa̍h) and is used only in reference to the cooking of fish, the complete term being peq+sa+hi, the lastmorpheme meaning fish. InTagalog, it can mean both fish (pesang dalag) and chicken (pesang manok). As well, foods such aspata tim andpato tim refer to the braising technique (Chinese:燉 or燖 or𤆤;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:tīm) used in Chinese cooking.
Since most of the early Chinese traders and settlers in the country were from theFujian province, it isFujian/Hokkien food that is most widespread in influence. However, since restaurant food is often Cantonese, most of the Chinese restaurants in the country would serve both cuisines. Other styles of Chinese cuisine are available though in the minority.
When the Spaniards came, the food influences they brought were from both Spain and Mexico, as it was through the vice-royalty ofNew Spain that the Philippines were governed. When restaurants were established in the 19th century, Chinese food became a staple of thepanciterias (noodle houses), with the food givenSpanish names. "Comida China" (the Spanish term for "Chinese food") includesarroz caldo (rice and chicken gruel), andmorisqueta tostada (fried rice).
Media related toChinese cuisine in the Philippines at Wikimedia Commons.svg)
