After glow

Until yesterday my knowledge of the Philippines and its cuisine could have fitted on a small postcard. Besides Imelda and her shoes, Spanish and American colonisation, a lot of mail order activity, Catholicism, and the Tagalog language, I knew almost nothing. I could barely even find it on a map.

A Filipina friend recently told me about the festival and emailed me a flier, providing the perfect opportunity to put things right.

My friend (left) following
her dance performance
at the festival.

As expected, none of my family was keen although, to his credit, Kieran put in an order for some interesting food. I was too lazy to organise anyone else to join me, so poor Anna No Friends headed off alone.

Upon arriving I couldn't find the event so asked directions from the first Filippine looking person I spotted. As luck would have it, he was the president of Auckland’s Filippine Society - and he was wearing the national costume.

As we chatted, I discovered a few interesting things:

* the shirt in the men’s national costume is made from pineapple fibre (!) and silk

* Filipinos are Auckland’s third or fourth largest ethnic group

* the festival was only a small one – there’s a really big one held at the ASB Stadium every October.

The cultural performances hadn’t started yet and it was lunch time, no prizes for guessing where I headed first.

There were half a dozen food stalls, all of which looked interesting.  Some of the food looked familiar – a whole roast pig, spring rolls, and sweets that bore a strong resemblance to Thai ones. 

Other things looked quite foreign: large pots of mysterious stews, an assortment of dried whole fish, and many desserts that I’d never encountered. Passersby and food stall owners alike were really friendly and seemed keen to enlighten me on Filippine cuisine. Apparently it uses little in the way of herbs and spices but frequently features vinegar, soya sauce and coconut milk.

 Thinking of you, my readers, I whipped out the camera and started snapping away – until I spotted two of the very few other Europeans there being almost pushy in their photographic quests. So I put my camera away and focused on what I was really there to do: eat! (And, of course, discover more about the country and its people.)

It was difficult to know where to begin. I don’t like pork, so that eliminated many dishes. In the end I chose a selection comprising jackfruit and coconut stew, taro leaves cooked in coconut, mixed vegetable stew and beef stew on rice. I also bought three different desserts to take home and try later; and some charcoal grilled pork for Kieran. (I tried a bit and, for pork, it was very nice.)

The food was completely unspiced, yet very tasty thanks to generous seasoning to bring out the flavours. The taro dish was very much like the palusami eaten by Pacific Islanders, a dish I really like. The Filippine version differs by being saltier and having a coarser texture. The beef stew was lovely – soya sauce flavours coming through loud and clear, nicely complemented by a subtle vinegariness. I’m going to track down a recipe and cook that one for the family.



My lunch (clockwise from top left:
jackfruit and coconut stew; vege stew;
beef stew, taro and coconut stew.

  The jackfruit stew had a nice soft-yet-firm texture and had none of the cloying fruitiness that fresh jackfruit has. The pumpkin, bean and okra vege stew was plain, but pleasant.

As I was eating, a group of three Filipinos sitting next to me struck up a conversation so I was able to further add to my body of knowledge. Some more new facts: there are 7000 islands in the Philippines; the main ethnicities are Chinese, Malays and Negroes. Islam is the predominant religion in the southern islands, Catholicism everywhere else. Exports include bananas and other fruit, and electrical goods.


Me and my new friends.


Before long it was time to head into the auditorium to watch a few cultural performances, including my friend’s dance.

While driving home I mulled over what had been an enriching and enjoyable afternoon.

As you know, I’m drawn to spicy and boldly flavoured food so I wondered why my inaugural foray into the more subtle Filippine cuisine rated so highly.

I figured it was because food isn’t just about what’s on the plate; it’s about the total eating experience, therefore the warmth of the Filipino people I met more than compensated for the food’s lack of spicy heat.  Salamat!

A Filippine sweet: palm-sugar flavoured,
softly chewy, only slightly sweet. Yum.



 

Love the purple! 
Yam dessert.  Sweet but not much flavour.
Odd texture.  Okay but nothing amazing.



Mysterious vanilla (?) flavoured sweet
stuff cooked (steamed then lightly grilled?)  in a
banana leaf.  Nice.