For this Independence Day weekend, we put Philippine cuisine and Filipino chefs on the spotlight. After all, one of the things our nation is most known for is our unparalleled zest for food, and the warmth it brings when people gather together to eat and share Filipino food (extra rice, please!). Let's play food favorites and ask: if you can get to choose, what's your pick for our national dish? We asked over at Twitter the question (sorry we could only pick four dishes for the poll, but really wanted to include more!) and got these results.
To celebrate Independence Day, let's talk about food! What should be the official national dish of the Philippines?
— ClickTheCity (@ctctweets) June 9, 2016
What would our very own top chefs and cooks personally pick as that one dish, the national ulam that truly speaks of our culture and identity? Find out if your choice matches any of these fifteen Filipino chefs as they reveal what they consider as the national dish of the Philippines.
1. Dedet de la Fuente
"A birthday, wedding, graduation, or fiesta is made more complete and festive when Lechon is part of the buffet spread. It is the culinary centerpiece in any Filipino celebration. Lechon is the only Filipino dish that will make people smile when they smell it…or find out it is being served. No other Filipino food can elicit that emotion to a Filipino. It is the only dish foreigners will gladly take photos of in an all-Filipino spread."
2. Kel Zaguirre
Locavore Kitchen x Drinks, Empingao!, Taqueria 101
"If it's adobo, too predictable; if sinigang, one might mistake it for tom yum… And then, there was Sisig. It's fatty, savory, and good with rice. Now for me, that's my national dish. But whatever dish comes out as our national dish, let's just make it and claim it!"
3. Edward Bugia
Pino Resto Bar, Pipino Vegetarian, BRGR: The Burger Project, Pi: Breakfast and Pies, Backyard Kitchen + Brew, Brgy. Bagnet, Bulalo Boy
"Kare kare is my answer. In my travels to different countries, their national dish is usually the one that has the most soul and representative of the flavor profiles of most of their dishes. People say adobo by default but it's the only dish we have that's sour and salty. Kare kare is made with love; it's sweet, savory, salty – the three flavor profiles that Pinoys love most along with sour. You stew the oxtail forever to get it soft. You grind up the nuts to make homemade peanut butter; add in crisp fresh greens that showcase our local produce. You serve it with "this makes no sense at all but let's do it" bagoong and the flavors just complement each other so perfectly. Impossible to eat with anything but rice, our second most important national dish! Kare kare is the epitome of soul food because of all these reasons. It just makes too much sense and I hope I made a pretty good case for it."
4. The Bistro Group
"Of course, adobo would have to be the national dish. Due to its variations through provinces, the adobo also reflects on our many cultures and diversities."
5. Mikko Reyes
Hungry Hound & Niner Ichi Nana, Café Naya at The Palace
"After much thought, this is what I've decided: Sinigang. First, because it's great. And it's very common in other regions of the country, what differs only is the souring agent and protein used from what's easily available. That is why we have sampaloc, bayabas, or calamansi, and use different types of meat and seafood for sinigang. And it is also a very well balanced but at the same time comforting dish."
6. Rob Pengson
Co-founder and CEO of Global Academy, Resident Judge on AFC's 'The Amazing Food Challenge: Fun In The Philippines'
"For me, adobo is the country's national dish because every household claims to have the best version of it. Every region has significantly unique nuances to it, and even restaurants and chefs continually elevate it. It seems adobo is just something we cannot live without and is deeply rooted into everyone's culture."
7. Kalel Chan
Raintree Restaurants (Museum Café, Chelsea Grand Café, Chelsea Kitchen, Simplé Lang, Momo Café, Stella, Rocket Room, Kabila, Saboten, Terraz)
"I'm no historian, but as a chef, I think sinigang must be the national dish of the Philippines. The name adobo could be adapted from Spain or Mexico but based on ingredients our local version has soy sauce which has a Chinese influence, whereas sinigang has all the indigenous ingredients, and the cooking style is one-pot dish, which is really Filipino."
8. Sau del Rosario
Café Fleur, author of '20 Years of Love + Cooking'
"Pinakbet. With its myriad of ingredients, pinakbet exudes different flavors and textures. This very well represents our nation as a whole – a melting pot of different traditions and cultural flavors, which proves our potential to make it big, if we unite as one."
9. Cafe Ysabel, President of CACS (Center for Asian Culinary Studies), cookbook author and columnist
"I would consider adobo as national dish because a dish of meat, pepper, and vinegar was documented by Pigafetta during the Banquet tendered by Rajah Humabon. Though adobo is a Spanish name, that dish could have been given the term by the Spaniards since it was the closest to their adobo. So our style of adobo predates our colonizers. The miracle of garlic, pepper, and vinegar in the caramelization of meat is a flavor that can be universally appreciated."
10. Pia Roa
"A national dish is like a brand, it should carry a country's unique identity, from the ingredients to the methods of how it is prepared. Untouched through time and generations, drawing its ingredients from the local ecology – the land and sea (we are an island nation) with its flavors taking influence from the local culture, north to south. Because of that, kinilaw for me should be the national dish; it predates the Spanish discovery of the Philippines. There is no other dish that can be compared, correlated or cross referenced to any other dish with a similar name outside of the Philippines."
11. Claude Tayag
Bale Dutung
"Adobo should be our national dish, whether cooked with whatever meat or vegetable, with vinegar as a base, having variants of adding soy sauce, patis, atsuete, turmeric, gata, garlic, onion, black peppercorns, bay leaves, oregano, etc. What remains constant is the agaw asim-alat (tug of war between sour and salty) resulting into a symphony of subtle sour, salty, garlicky, and peppery linamnam or yummy flavors like no other."
12. JP Anglo
Sarsá Kitchen + Bar, Maipao & Mushu (Bacolod), 'Hungry with Chef JP' (CNN Philippines)
"Normally, everyone would say adobo, sinigang, or even lechon. For me, batchoy is my choice. It is our answer to ramen. It's one of those underrated dish that's so good. We proved to the international food community during Madrid Fusion Manila that our humble batchoy can stand up on its own. Done properly (using the traditional cooking techniques) and by using high quality ingredients, our batchoy can go a long way. This dish uses our bagoong or Guinamos, all the good stuff from the pork, chicharon, etc. Every Asian cuisine has a good noodle soup dish. Ours is Batchoy."
13. Fernando Aracama
Aracama Filipino Cuisine, Resident Judge on AFC's 'The Amazing Food Challenge: Fun In The Philippines,' President of the LTB Philippines Chefs Association
"Sinigang, in my honest opinion, is our national dish. It's a versatile soup that can be made with a variety of meats, chicken, seafood and vegetables; distinctly flavored and soured by fruits that vary according to regional origin. Most common is sampalok or tamarind, a combination of tart tomatoes and calamansi; green unripe pineapples, kamias or even santol; and batwan (garcinia binukaw) a super sour fruit related to the mangosteen commonly used in Negros, parts of Laguna and Ilocos region. For my Madrid Fusion Manila 2015 presentation, I talked about sour fruits in Filipino cuisine, and ended the presentation by cooking Kadios, Baboy at Langka (KBL), my favorite Negrense style sinigang soured by my favorite sour fruit: batwan. Sinigang is truly an indigenous dish with very minimal cultural and culinary influence from any of our historical conquerors. And, life just seems unthinkable without sinigang."
14. Myke "Tatung" Sarthou
Author of 'Philippine Cookery: From Heart to Platter,' host of upcoming Lifestyle Network documentary special 'The Food That We Are'
"I feel the adobo is worthy of being called our national dish, as its appeal cuts across all social classes, and versions of it is cooked and loved throughout the archipelago. Though the name may have a foreign origin, the actual dish has very strong indigenous roots, and has evolved to be what it is today: the adobo is a reflection of our diversity, and resilient like the sturdy Filipino who is able to weather all storms."
15. Gino Gonzalez
Café Ysabel, Buenisimo by Cafe Ysabel, Chef Gino's Gourmet, CACS (Center for Asian Culinary Studies) Head Instructor
"There is actually so much choices, and found this question quite challenging because I immediately thought of 10 dishes. So I started trimming it down… A well prepared bringhe! Bringhe is actually our version of paella. This dish is very interesting because it showcases the cultures that influenced our food. We have the use of turmeric and coconut milk which is very Indian-Malay, Chinese sausage is Chinese, the use of nuts and dried fruits is Indian, and cooking with banana leaves is very Filipino and Malay. The topping of adobo is very Spanish-Filipino, stemming from the word adobar which means sauce or marinade. Bringhe is actually a melting pot and a good representation of our cultural heritage. It is also a very good and very filling dish."
