The cuisine of the Philippines demonstrates unmistakably that the islands have been, over the years, visited by traders and colonisers from both East and West. The most lasting impact was made by the Spanish, and on formal occasions the menu will reflect that influence. On the other hand, when families get together their favourite food will be those dishes which owe little, if anything, to outside influences. Even if they were originally borrowed they have been 're-composed', adding new flavours and generally acquiring a new personality.

It was not only the Spanish who left their stamp on Filipino food. There were the Malays, Chinese and Indonesians and, more recently, the Americans. While important meals may sound more Spanish than anything else, a day in the Philippines is broken up by as much snacking as goes on in Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia. Breakfast is followed mid-morning by sweet rolls (see BREADS) with hot chocolate or coffee; lunch, however substantial, is not expected to sustain anyone until the very late dinner hour, so in the afternoon there is the typical merienda.

Rice belongs to the main meals, lunch and dinner. Merienda food is served purely for enjoyment and hospitality. Among the items served there may be dishes as substantial as fried noodles with mixed meats, pancit guisado, and noodle soups, pancit luglug; fresh or fried spring rolls, lumpia; and always some sweet treats such as rice cakes, puto and bibingka, a cake very similar in taste and texture to a Western teacake.

Traditional Filipino food takes in dishes such as sinigang (a sour soup); guinatan (fish, meat, vegetables or yams cooked in coconut milk); adobo (a piquant preparation of chicken or pork cooked with vinegar, garlic and black pepper); kari-kari (a stew which features oxtail, stewing beef, or sometimes tripe as well as eggplants (aubergines) and other vegetables simmered in a sauce made bright with the addition of annatto); lechon (a whole roast pig served with a special sauce which includes liver pate); dinuguan (pork meat and organ meats with spices stewed in fresh pork blood). Another popular local food is lumpiang ubod, a delicious spring roll which has as part of its filling the fresh heart of a coconut palm.

While wealthy Filipinos can afford kitchens equipped with modern appliances, it is in country kitchens or those of very particular cooks (who say that modern utensils and methods don't give quite the right result) that the heritage of Filipino cooking is preserved. Here the stone mortar and pestle, round-bottomed earthen pots (carajay) and heavy cast-iron kuwali (shaped like a small wok) are considered the best utensils which give the best results. To the traditional way of thinking stainless steel and aluminium may be convenient but simply cannot compete. The table setting always includes spoons, forks and knives, the spoon being used for eating rice.