The Filipino-American Kitchen: Traditional Recipes, Contemporary Flavors

The Filipino-American Kitchen: Traditional Recipes, Contemporary Flavors

"How do you prepare yourself and your kitchen for a Filipino meal? Naturally you start with the building blocks; the sauce, stocks, flavor bases that form the backbone of a cuisine... A Filipino meal is hardly complete without an array of potent and vibrant dipping sauces (sawsawan), which add zest and balance to each bite..."

"Filipinos are vinegar junkies, in fact,vinegar tops the seasoning hierarchy as number three, after salt (soy or fish sauce are salt equivalents) and black pepper as a way of simultaneously flavoring and preserving many cooked and uncooked foods..."

"With over seven thousand islands making up the Philippine Archipelago, the seas surrounding the islands are the veins through which the lifeblood of the Philippines flows. It is only natural that seafood plays a primary role in the Filipino diet and is enjoyed with zeal and creativity..."

- Jennifer M. Aranas (Author), Brian Briggs (Author), Michael Lande (Author)

Oscar B. Tan: "Like Wine in the River, Like Citizens of the World"

"As for me, I come from the Philippines , a former American colony best known for Imelda Marcos’s shoe collection. I remember being a six-year old watching my parents walk out of our house to join the crowds gathering to depose the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and form human walls against tanks. I remember being a twenty-year old in a different crowd deposing a different but equally corrupt president."

"I cannot deny that our generation’s issues will be complex, but I can guarantee that they will never be abstract, not after having a classmate who was an Israeli army drill sergeant, not after having a Chinese classmate with a Taiwanese girlfriend, nor after having a classmate chased by gunmen out of Afghanistan . In fact, when George W. Bush’s speechwriter visited, my Iranian classmate introduced himself, 'Hi, I’m from an Axis of Evil country.' "

"Friends, my most uplifting thought this year has been that the more we learn about each other, the more we realize that we are all alike, and the more we inspire each other to realize our most heartfelt yearnings."


"How do a mere 700 change the world, even with overpriced Harvard diplomas? Before a great battle in China ’s Spring and Autumn Period, the legendary King Gou Jian of Yue was presented with fine wine. He ordered his troops to stand beside a river, and poured the wine into it. He ordered them to drink from the river and share his gift. A bottle of wine cannot flavor a river, but the gesture so emboldened his army that they won a great victory. We of the Class of 2007 shall flavor this earth, whether we be vodka, wine, champagne, pisco sour, pina colada, caipirinha, tequila, sake, jagermeister, raki, Irish stout, Ugandan Warabi, or Philippine lambanog.

-Oscar Franklin Barcelona Tan,
Harvard Law School 2007 Student Commencement Address

[ Read the entire graduation speech. ]

Philippines: a Quick guide to Customs and Etiquette (Culture Smart)

Philippines - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette (Culture Smart!)

"Filipinos don't need an excuse to have a party, but they welcome the opportunity to celebrate a variety of occassions, a number of which have come through American influence."

"A Filipino's sense of self is derived from his or her family: "I am who I am because of my family; their success is my success, and my shame is their shame..." The Family (pamilya) is the most important social unit in the Philippines, a core value, and the ultimate safety net. A Filipino would find it almost impossible to refuse family requests or ignore family obligations."

"Airports in the Philippines are always crowded with well-wishers so such extent that at Manila International Airport only passengers are allowed to enter the terminal. Employees prefer to incur the ire of their boss rather than miss going to the airport to say good-bye to a relative who is leaving the country to work abroad. it is a recognition of the sacrifice, a cementing of the relationship, a giving of face, and a tacit way of saying, "when I am in need, I may call on you."

-Philippines - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette (Culture Smart!) by Graham Colin-Jones, Yvonne Colin-Jones, Published in 2004 in Great Britain by Kuperard