The Way We Eat

A Foreigner Living in Manila and Working in the F&b Industry Observes the Filipinos' Love for Anything Fried and Lack of Knowledge About Their Food History

- Peter Pysk

Filipinos love their food. And I believe, there are two reasons why: the food itself and how they enjoy eating it with other people. How food plays such an integral part in bringing the whole family together is something that I have been privileged to experience, being married to a Filipina and having resided in Manila for five years now and counting. However, as I go deeper into studying people’s dining activities, I also find that the beautiful strong traditions are starting to crack too.

KEEN OBSERVATIONS

Richard, a friend of mine who hails from France and has been in Manila for 12 years, sees how conversations among Filipinos always revolve around food. He witnesses this whenever he travels to the province. When he sits at a local store to have an ice cold beer, the locals are not shy to approach him and start a discussion. The talk typically ends with a table full of pulutan and buckets of beer. Food just brings people together, no matter what the differences—in our case, nationalities and lifestyles—might be.

Filipinos are considered to be among the most hospitable people in the world. And this is very evident in the way they welcome people into their homes. Come fiestas, strangers would be invited to feast in their dining rooms. And they usually are out to impress. They would ask the eldest to get buko from climbing tall coconut trees or lay out their best tableware or offer their old traditional family dishes with the hope that people will acknowledge how special it is.