The 7 Best Beaches in Aruba: Our Favorite Beaches & Hidden Gems
August 13, 2026
Content
Filipino cuisine can be described as "east meets west. Because when you think of Asian cuisine, Filipino cuisine is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Filipino cuisine is a multicultural mishmash of indigenous and foreign influences from East and West. It is exotic, tropical and traditional. But to also definitely recognizable with a Western touch, which also makes Filipino cuisine very accessible. The dishes range from simple to complex. It is almost impossible to summarize Filipino food culture, it is so extensive. But we make an attempt by sharing more background information in this article, along with tips and our favorites!
History of Filipino cuisine
Due to the prolonged Spanish colonization, of nearly 400 years, and American rule, Filipino cuisine has many Western characteristics. The love for Western ingredients, products and even fast food chains is evident. Many preparations, dishes and specialties have Spanish names or origins. The Spanish brought fruits and vegetables from Europe and other colonies.
But before this era of colonialism, Filipino cuisine was influenced by migrants from other Asian countries, wonder China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. The Chinese have had a significant influence on Filipino cuisine. They introduced noodle dishes, dim sum, soy products, fish sauce and deep-frying and stir-frying.
Different Filipino regions with their own influences
The The Philippines consists of more than 7,000 islands with nearly 101 million inhabitants. Each region has its own ethnic group, dialect, religion, traditions and delicacies. Filipinos, of course, love their local and fresh produce. The climate provides a wide choice of exotic fruits and vegetables. You can think of coconut, saba banana, mango, papaya, guava, pineapple, langka (jackfruit), durian, rambutan, guyabano (soursop) and kalamansi (citrus fruit), eggplant, sitaw (long beans), cassava, ube, sweet potato, petchay (pak choi), repolyo (cabbage), corn, chayote (pumpkin) and kangkong (spinach).
Preparation methods Filipino cuisine
Filipinos have their traditional cooking methods. Fish is sun-salted and dried, smoked or steamed in pandan or palm leaves. Meat is dried, aged or steamed. Traditional sweets such as coconut or rice cake, for example, are steamed in banana leaves or hollowed out bamboo. Fish, meat, soups and stews are prepared with vinegar. These dishes have a long shelf life, even outside the refrigerator, with vinegar as a natural preservative. Interestingly, meat and fish are often combined together in a dish. The ingredients are sometimes a bit lurid: intestines, blood, marrow, bones, fish heads, squid ink and pigs from nose to tail. As little is wasted as possible in Filipino cuisine.
Different from many other Asian countries
Most Asian countries are known for their herbs, spices and spicy ingredients. The Philippines is an outlier in terms of flavor palette. They like spicy food in a few regions, but this is really an exception. There are some distinct and strong flavors that you can often taste. With the use of vinegar, tamarind, lemon or kalamansi, there is often an acidity to the dishes. Filipinos also eat sour unripe fruits dipped in fermented salty shrimp paste (bagoong) as a snack.
Salt is an important seasoning for Filipinos. The use of salty soy sauce and fish sauce appears in many dishes. Fish and meat are liberally sprinkled with salt, grilled, roasted or fried. Bitter flavors are also favored and you can taste this in indigenous Filipino vegetables. You can taste this for example in vegetables such as ampalaya, cabbage, green leafy vegetables, (unripe) fruits and through the use of entrails in meat dishes. The contrast and combination of salty, sour and/or sweet is striking. Filipinos combine sweet and savory flavors such as chocolate rice porridge with salty fish, rice cake with cheese or egg as topping and meat prepared with sweet marinades or sauces.
These are typical Filipino products and dishes
The versatility in Filipino culture, tradition, people groups, climate and history combined with the openness and hospitality to foreign influences makes Filipino food culture unique. They adapt, adopting here and there from other countries and making it their own. The nice thing is, there is never an authentic recipe for a dish. There are so many variations and combinations possible. In this, Filipinos are open-minded, flexible and resourceful. Filipino cuisine reflects a complex but colorful history. Put it in a big pan and you get a unique melting pot full of flavor sensations!
Below are some typical Filipino dishes to give you an idea of Filipino cuisine.
1. Rice
Rice is eaten at every meal in the Philippines, even at breakfast. Bread (Pan de sal) is also eaten for breakfast on weekends with some butter or jam with coffee. Usually the leftovers from the night before are eaten again for breakfast with rice. Rice is steamed, fried with garlic (Sinangag) or prepared like paella. Rice flour and sticky rice is widely used for cakes and desserts.
2. Adobo
Adobo is a stew made with vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, black peppercorns and bay leaf. You can make an adobo dish out of almost anything: chicken, pork, fish and vegetables. This is one of the most popular dishes and every household has its own adobo style and variant. They also call this the national dish of the Philippines. Adobo has a perfect flavor balance of sour, savory and sweet.
3. Lechon
Lechon is essential at a Filipino fiesta, BBQ and during the vacation season. Lechon is a whole (suckling) pig that is slowly roasted on a bamboo spit on a homemade barbecue on the ground. If this is done the traditional way, it is with coconut husks in front of the fire. The butchering, cooking, hours of roasting and manually turning the spit. It is a very time-consuming process so you can almost call it a craft. Families used to bring the piglet in as a pet, take care of it and feed it until it was ready for the barbecue.
Nowadays you can just eat Lechon in restaurants or pick it up, the preparation process is mostly done by machine. You can even hire people to prepare and roast a Lechon for you at parties. Every region has its own version with herbs, sauces and spices to fill the inside and marinate the outside, but the end result is always the same: crispy on the outside with a crispy bite, tender and juicy on the inside!
4. Pancit
Pancit is a stir-fried noodle dish that has influences from the Chinese, and of which there are endless variations. The dish is a perfect combination of vegetables fish, meat and noodles. Soy, oyster sauce, garlic and onion are often used as the base for the sauce.
5. Menudo/ Afritada/ Calderata/ Mechado
These are the most famous Filipino stews with tomato, onion and garlic as the basis for the sauce. Here you can clearly taste the Spanish roots. Chicken, beef, pork or goat meat is slowly simmered with different vegetables. The basic vegetables are potato, carrots, tomato, garlic and onion. Deliciously sweet and savory in flavor!
6. Arroz Caldo/ Lugar
A savory rice pudding/chicken soup with ginger, garlic and onion. To garnish with some fish sauce, calamansi, fried garlic and fresh spring onions. This is the real Filipino power food eaten when your health needs a boost.
7. Kare-Kare
Kare-Kare is a traditional stew with a rich peanut sauce, oxtail, eggplant, long beans, pak choi and banana flowers. You can taste the Indian and Malaysian influences in this. There are other variations with different types of meat, vegetables or fish, but the version with oxtail and beef is like the classic Kare-Kare.
8. Dinuguan
Dinuguan is a sweet and sour stew with pork, pork blood, garlic, onion and vinegar. Filipino food for the daring and advanced! For Filipinos, however, this is a very normal and everyday dish, even children love it and it is also considered a comfort food.
9. Ginataang
You can call Ginataang the Filipino curry with coconut milk as its base. There are many variations with different kinds of meat, fish and vegetable combinations. There is even a sweet dessert version with fruits and tapioca.
10. Sinigang
Sinigang is a vegetable soup with a sour taste. Tamarind gives the sour taste to the broth. This dish is packed with fresh vegetables and again has many variations with chicken, pork or fish. This is considered super and comfort food. Filipino women also say tamarind is good for the line, so you can keep eating it!
11. Bistek tagalog
Bistek Tagalog is a simple beef dish with a delicious gravy. Thin slices of beef are marinated in soy sauce with lemon and sweet caramelized onion rings.
12. Bulalo
A few simple ingredients, but very rich and refined in flavor. With time and patience, make a clear beef broth slowly pulled from bone, marrowbone and beef. Very healthy with fresh vegetables such as onion, pak choi, cabbage, garter, corn, potato and carrot.
13. Sisig
Zero Waste had long been a household name in Filipino cuisine. This dish originated because the U.S. Army base in the Philippines did not use the pig's head and intestines. Filipinos transformed the leftovers into a delicious dish. Pieces of chopped pork, heavily seasoned with garlic, ginger, onion, soy sauce, chili and calamansi. Grilled on a hot cast iron plate, it makes a sizzling sound! This is Filipino street food and is eaten with rice or pancit with a cold beer on the side. This dish also has other variations, for example with tuna: Sizzling Tuna.
These are typical Filipino side dishes
Every meal is accompanied by some tasty side dishes. And when we talk about Filipino cuisine, these are the most delicious side dishes!
1. Longganisa
Small in size, but strong in flavor! These are sweet garlic sausages with pork. The filling is very simple: salt, sugar, pork and lots of garlic.
2. Tocino
These are bacon strips prepared with a sweet marinade of sugar, salt, anise and the red dye annatto. The bacon strips are baked, roasted or grilled. There are other variations as well. You can make tocino from different types of meat with the marinade.
3. Sawsawan
Filipino dip Sawsawan is indispensable with meals. Sawsawan adds a little spice and contrast to dishes. The usual ingredients of a Sawsawan are soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar, garlic, chili pepper, onion and black pepper. There are classic combinations that go with certain dishes, but combining and varying is always allowed!
These are typical Filipino snacks
Are you suffering from cravings? Instead of driving to the local supermarket for a bag of chips or chocolate, opt for a typical Filipino snack!
1. Lumpia
Filipinos have different spring roll varieties. Fresh vegetarian spring rolls (Lumpiang Sariwa) with homemade dough and a sweet soy sauce, or the deep-fried spring rolls as we know them here in the Netherlands, filled with beef, shrimp, pork, chicken or vegetables.
2. Siopao
Siopao are steamed white buns with a sweet meat filling. This is the Filipino bapao. Usually pork is used, with some soy, hoisin, oyster sauce, garlic, onion and sugar. Delicious as a street food snack and it is often eaten with the Merienda (afternoon snack) or as a side dish.
3. Empanada
Empanada: deep-fried patties with a delicious crispy homemade dough and a lightly spiced meat/vegetable filling with a sweetness from the raisins. This is one of the delicacies the Spanish brought to the Philippines.
4. Banana Cue/Maruya/Turon
Fried banana is a popular Merienda snack. Banana Cue is traditional street food in the Philippines. These are baking or saba bananas fried with brown sugar until the sugar coats the banana into a crispy caramel coating. Maruya is fried banana with a sweet dough coating. Turon are deep-fried spring rolls filled with banana and sugar. The Turon variety with Langka (jackfruit) is also delicious!
Filipino desserts:
1. Cassava Cake
Cassava cake is a sticky cake made from grated cassava, condensed milk and coconut milk. On top is a layer of pudding and sugar. This gives the cake a nice brown caramel finish.
2. Bibingka
This is a rice cake served around Christmas time. It is made from sticky rice flour, coconut milk, sugar and yummy butter. The cake is topped with grated coconut, slices of cheese or salted duck eggs.
3. Leche Flan
Leche Flan is similar to French crème brûlée or Spanish crème Catalana. According to tradition, it is steamed in a tin. The pudding is made from eggs, condensed milk, vanilla and sugar for the caramel.
4. Halo-Halo
Halo-Halo literally means mix-mix. A representation of Filipino history and cultural diversity in a dessert. A mix of ingredients and cultural influences: shaved ice with condensed milk, fruits, sweet pickled beans, corn, chickpeas, ice cream, tapioca, gelatin, coconut and pieces of Leche Flan. Mix well and you have a delicious cold dessert with different flavors, colors and textures.
Travander
At Travander, we’re all about exploring hidden gems, unique destinations, and off-the-beaten-path travel experiences. Our motto, “Let’s Travel and Wander,” reflects our passion for discovering both local treasures and faraway adventures. As experienced travel bloggers and travel consultants, we share insider tips, personal stories, and practical advice to help you make the most of every trip. From city breaks and weekend getaways to tailor-made travel itineraries, we guide you to the most beautiful and inspiring places. Explore the world with Travander and let us spark your next unforgettable adventure!
