The FilipinoSpanish food connection
The culinary history between the two countries is incredibly edible
Since October 12 is Spain’s National Day, we look at how they have shaped the way we eat today. Cochinillo, Paella, and Lengua—the names of these dishes and so many more are Spanish in origin but makes Filipino mouths water at their mere mention. These are considered as “luxury food,” served during special occasions such as fiestas by those who seek to impress their guests, a remnant of the Spanish colonial past where only those in position can afford to serve such lavish meals.
The influence is not confined to the affluent, as the Spanish period in Philippine history of more than 300 years left an indelible mark on the food culture of Filipinos, no matter what class one belongs to. Award-winning food writer and book designer Ige Ramos describes it as “all-encompassing.” He explains, “This pertains to our food culture in itself, not just our food. Our cooking techniques, particularly all the food that ends with ‘-do’: menudo, estofado, mechado, even the Chinese food such as asado and guisado have Spanish influences. The pugon is actually our horno. Our dining utensils such as tinidor and kutsara have no Filipino translation. When we go to Spain and order food, we can comfortably request for plato, platito, and tasa. May Spanish consciousness ang pagkain natin.”
Ramos paints a picture of how our ancestors ate in the pre-Hispanic time. “We had our kilawin, our sinigang. We also had our adobo, although we haven’t found records of what the dish of pork or chicken that was braised in vinegar and salt, then later on a salty flavoring such as patis or toyo. When the Spanish or Mexicans came here, they christened it as Adobo, coming from the word Adober, which means to dress. This was to differentiate it from sinigang.”
On salt and spices
The Spanish sailors set about to look for the Spice Islands. Flavoring agents were precious for them, especially before the invention of refriger- ation, because it helped mask the taste and smell of putrid meat. “What they would do was to salt their meat and fish to preserve it, but they wanted it to taste something other than just salty. So they would add spices such as cloves, peppers, and garlic to add flavor to their meals. The search for a new route led Magellan to our shores.” The galleon trade plied between Mexico and the Philippines led to a culinary exchange, and it introduced many of the dishes that we are familiar with now.
The galleon trade also had an impact on industry, particularly our salt production. The need for salt in food preservation led them to establish the salt industry in Cavite, Ramos reports. It also established a
food tradition in the region. “When they arrived, they brought with them their Bacalao or salted cod fish and since it was expensive, Filipinos substituted it with Labahita. To this day, while Bacalao is the Portuguese word for cod, the salted Labahita is called Bacalao in the province.”
This form of substitution is quite common, the food expert explains. There was a recent brouhaha between Spanish chefs and British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver when he put chorizo on his paella. Ramos finds it humorous, since we went one step further and put hotdog on ours. “Filipinos felt that if the Prayles could eat their paellas, they should enjoy it too. Since the ingredients were expensive or hard to source, they made substitutions.” Thus, we have our Arroz Valenciana, Valenciana, and in the Tagalog region, the Bringhe. Instead of the rice used in paella, we have malagkit. Saffron is expensive, we use kasubha or achuete. In lieu of broth, we have gata. In Cavite, some even use banana ketchup and hotdogs. “When the Americans came, hotdogs like Hormel were imported, and therefore prestigious. That is why we have hotdogs in some versions of the Valenciana and in our spaghetti.”
Maritime trade with Mexico also inadvertently gave rise to an unexpected product—our sublime kakanin. Because of the demand for trade items like tobacco, abaca, sugar, rice, and coconut, the farmers were told to plant not much else. “The Filipinos took the last three items and concocted the sublime rice cakes that can be found in our regions, as their way to enjoy
konting tamis ng buhay,” Ramos explains.
This monocropping and the trade is also the reason why our cuisine, particularly in Luzon, is not as spicy as that of our Southeast Asian neighbors. “Spices like peppers were heavily taxed, as they would make a bigger profit if exported. That is why we are not used to it in our cooking,” he adds.
Spanish surprises
Two Madrid Fusion Manila events have been held and while the aim is primarily of the Spanish chefs sharing food methodology to the chefs in this country, they left with their own surprising discoveries. Former Department of Tourism Secretary Ra- mon Jimenez Jr. revealed in a previous interview that when the chefs came over for an ocular trip, they discovered we were still cooking what people in Spain had forgotten how to cook such as the cocido and the lengua. “You can go to almost any Filipino restaurant and order lengua. That is a highly specialized, almost archaic way of cooking. They thought they were the only people in the world who knew how to cook a cochinillo and we were doing it every day.”
Ramos shares that at the Madrid Fusion event, chef Elena Arzak demonstrated the cooking technique using leaves, and found out that we have been doing it even in pre-Hispanic times, with our gabi, alagao, and banana leaves. “It was a discovery for them, because they realized ang dami palang resources
dito. It became an interchange of ideas where we are equals and not colonizer and colony.”
He also revealed that Filipinos have also made a culinary contribution to Spain. From us, they have also learned to enjoy Tuba in Mexico, and Kinilaw. “In Cavite, we have a dish called Pancit Pusit. Its origins are economic, because a fisherman could come home with a small catch of squid and to feed a large family, the home cook would cut up the squid and use the squid ink for flavoring on the noodles. Leftover squid would be treated the same way.” This concept caught on with the Spanish, and a document shared with Ramos by historian Dr. Fernando Zialcita shows that Augustinian and Augustinian friars who went home to Spain bought back with them Adobong Pusit, and because of this, the dishes using squid ink as flavoring became popular in Spain, particularly in the Basque region. Spanish food will always have close ties to Filipino taste buds, and with this discovery, we can say that we have made our own mark in their culinary culture.