What's Inside a Filipino Fridge?

Blog article for February 16, 2012: Post-Colonialism

What makes a society inferior or superior in the early years of our world's history? A simple classification does.

Colonizers = Superior and Colony = Inferior

However, Post-colonial theory explains colonizers did not really bring only negative effects to their colonized societies. Some influences were indeed, very positive.

Post-colonial theory deals with analysis of culture in previously or currently colonized countries, or culture in colonizing countries which deals with colonization or colonized peoples. Post-colonial theories attempts to focus on how to colonizers treated their colonies during the period of colonization taking into consideration political, economic and social factors.

For this blog article, I will site examples of the Colonial influences of the states who colonized the Philippines - Spain, the United States of America and Japan. The general theme of my examples is something very close to my heart.

Post-Colonial Dishes in the Philippines

Contemporary Filipino cuisine is influenced principally by China, Spain and the United States as a result of years of the country's colonization. The Filipinos then integrated these influences into the Pre-Colonial indigenous Filipino cooking practices. Out of the old and new came something which is most familiar to us nowadays, being served in our very own homes and our favorite local restaurants. As much as I want to talk about Pre-Colonial Filipino dishes, I'm afraid that wouldn't be the subject of this blog article. Rather, it is something which emerged decades before that - the Post-Colonial Filipino Dishes as influenced by our country's colonizers.

The Spanish Influence

Food historians claim that 80% of Philippine dishes are of Spanish origin. Most of which are often viewed as Fiesta dishes and served only for special occasions during the Post-Colonial era. This was because the Spaniards only formed the elite class in the society back at the Spanish Colonial era. Thus, these dishes were only adapted by upper-class Filipinos. 

Fil-Hispanic food had new flavors and ingredients - olive oil, paprika, saffron, ham, cheese, cured sausage and even new names which are also, more often than not, Spanish in nature. 

Do dishes such as Relleno, Arroz Caldo, Morcon, Paella, Callos, Embutido, Leche Flan, Ensaymada, Caldereta or Afritada make your stomach grumble? If your answer to this is a yes, then you have no one else but the Spaniards to thank ;)

The Chinese Influence

We are all aware of how the Chinese influence our dishes because I am sure most of us love Chinese food! Personally, I think it is my favorite among the three (Spanish, American and Chinese) because of its intense oriental taste and flavors. To date, my favorite Chinese restaurants and food chains in the Metro would have to be Mann Hann (SM Megamall and SM Mall of Asia) Eat Well! (SM Mall of Asia) Mongkok (Makati area and Shangri-la Mall) and of course Hen-Lin (Makati Parksquare and Harrison Plaza). From the noodles in almost all forms - Canton, Miki, Bihon, Sotanghon and Misua, to the dimsums of all shapes and sizes - Siopao, Siomai, Lumpia, even to the sweet and sour, braised or sauteed meals such as Chop Suey and Lomi. All of these dishes, I am sure, tastes great! I am one of the people who believe that the greatest influence of China in Philippine Culture would definitely have to be food. For all those people who, like me, love Chinese food, let us all say "Shi shi!" at the same time ;)

The American Influence

Basically, the Americans introduced to the Philippine cuisine the ways of convenience: pressure-cooking, freezing, pre-cooking, sandwiches and salads; hamburgers, fried chicken and steaks. American salad, pies and sandwiches are also part of their influence to Filipino dishes. Canned goods were also brought to us by the Americans. The Philippines is actually the first state in Asia which experienced canned goods. Fast food emerged in the Philippines as well as the Americans took over; again, it was a matter of convenience. For those who love the comfort and flavor of fast food, raise your hands up in the air and say, "Thank you!"

Although most notion which refer to Colonialism are negative, surely, we can say that the Filipino cuisine was indeed definitely positively influenced by our colonizers. Now let me ask you, what's in your fridge? ;)

Source for data about Filipino Food: Asia Recipe

Source for Pictures: Google Images
Editing of Images: (c) Reese Corpuz

♥ Reese Corpuz