Street Food Paradise

Street Food Paradise
Magazine: April 2008

A fabulous mix of intense and atypical fl avours. A food experience that is a gastronomic crossroads somewhere between Asia and Spain, with infl uences from Mexico and China. To understand the special features of the Philippine cuisine we need to gain some insight into the history of this nation. People of Mongolian descent colonised the archipelago around 15 thousand years ago and started cultivating rice. The Spaniards offer dishes like empanadas to enrich the diet of the local population. The British made a brief appearance but did not leave “foody” traces. Then the Americans left a more evident cultural “tattoo”: here nearly everyone speaks English and fast food outlets are not unusual. However, at a gastronomic level, the Chinese infl uence has been much more important. The Philippine cuisine can rely on the freshly sourced ingredients (fi sh, sea food, rice, coconut, exotic fruits) and cooking methods evolved from different countries. The garlic and tomato sauces come from Spain, the curry and use of coconut milk from Malaysia, soy sauces, sweet and sour dishes and recipes based on ginger are from Chinese cuisine.

A stroll around the market
At Manila the place to “work up” a good appetite is Intramuros, heart of the city constructed by the Spanish colonisers where one can visit some historical buildings (like the Casa Manila) that survived the bombardment of the Great War and the ancient churches. Afterwards, you can have a stroll around he main market of the capital. From the super-organised meat section to the fi sh displays: from coloured scar fi sh to lapu-lapu (local perch), to vegetables like the kangkong, a type of “river spinach” and kalamansi, a citrus fruit with a green skin and sweet fl esh. Obviously in great abundance, especially in the summer, the different varieties of sweet mango, national fruit of the Philippines, that show up in lots of dishes even savoury recipes. Moving southwards, towards Lake Taal, one can stop off at the small but lively market of Tagaytay. There are lots of types of rice on the stalls like Crystal Blue, Dinorado, Angelika, and Triple Star. Then we come to eggs that in the Philippines are a “serious affair”, in the sense that a small variation of size or shape can vary signifi cantly the asking price.