PPPans

Exotic to Asians or even just to Filipinos, Vegemite and Marmite and dragonfruit in Israel. Exotic to Westerners: our everyday food perhaps. Snails, frogs, fermented rice and shrimps/fish, balut, unborn chicken eggs in congee and some insects. One is the camaru or mole crickets (Gryllotalpa orientalis Burmeister) which are quite common after the harvest season. There are two well-known recipes for the camaru and both require that they are parboiled and dressed. In preparing to cook the camaru, the antennae, wings and legs are broken off after lightly simmering in vinegar, salt and spices adobo-style. Then one can proceed to either stir-fry (sanglé) in very little oil until they are toasted and crispy or saute some garlic, onions and tomatoes to cook them in. I once saw a website with almost the same-looking insects. They seem to be a delicacy in South Africa too. I think they're Gryllotalpa africanus.

Thanks for the welcome Apicio! Don't worry, I've been a long-time lurker on eGullet to be acquainted with the quality and rhythm of posts and since I've registered, I'll be posting as my schedule allows. I've read the Bruni thread at the time emotions were running high over Cendrillon and I've seen other positive reviews of Cendrillon. On Filipino food's inferiority complex especially in the US, I post here what I've put forward on a different mailing list: That's just one reason, mind you. There's probably a myriad more. I do not think there's any Filipino food writer like Doreen in terms of scope and depth. She really left a gaping void, same thing with her work on Philippine theatre history. You are right about Filipinos cooking according to season and availability. That's the reason why even classic dishes like nilaga would have different versions even in the same house. I've not seen Alejandro's book but I've read it's meant for the American market. But nowadays, with the proliferation of Asian stores, I suppose it has to be updated.

Soba, I have to disagree with having no Tagalog word for "dessert". Perhaps it becomes confusing because it is sometimes referred to as "postre" as in the Spanish term. However, there are older Tagalog words such as "pangmatamis", "panghimagas" and "pamutat". I think there are several more which I cannot remember off-hand. These are even precise as to be applied with a certain kind of sweet food. I am not sure if "panghimagas" is for fruits or if it's another word. It may be a bit confusing too because traditional Filipino meals are not served the Western way of having starters, mains and so forth. Fruits are also eaten with rice.

Rhea, Even in some towns of Central Luzon you can find very spicy food. Caldereta does not merit its name without the heat of at least a handful labuyo chilli peppers. Quilo babi is ground pork stir-fried in garlic and onions with lots of chillies too. Even sinigang can be spicy hot. The burong isda as you describe it would indeed be inedible, hehehe! It has to be thoroughly sauteed in garlic, at the very least. And if it's pink, it's most probably burong hipon or fermented rice and shrimp paste, also called tagilo or balo-balo.

Here, ube is the word for purple sweet potato. It's not a form of taro. It's very similar to the purple Okinawan sweet potato. Both are sold in supermarkets here. Imported ube jam (for desserts) is also readily available. Edited to add: Pan, you might be thinking of a Filipino dessert that uses ube and taro. I'm not sure of its name... It's a lavender-colored coconut tapioca pudding that also contains cubes or ube, taro, and chewy mochi (sweet rice) dumplings. Kinda' strange to Western tastes, but I love it and would eat it frequently if it weren't for the cholesterol count! ← I'm not sure whether I've had that particular dessert or not. I think I may have been fooled by the taste, as well as the color. I've never thought "sweet potato" when I've had things with ube in them. Vision over taste? I guess I owe you an apology for ignorantly "correcting" you. ← In the Philippines, ube is purple yam. Gabi is taro, also called gandus in Kapampangan. The purple in ginataan (also called sampelut and sinantan) is from the purple-coloured variety of camote (sweet potato). At least in the my province, ube would be too soft and crumbly to include in ginataan. Perhaps there are other varieties that are firmer and thus are an ingredient in ginataan.

Hi BettyK, The cookbook by Gerry Gelle comes well-recommended. But if you want a background on Filipino food culture, check out the ones written by the late Doreen Fernandez. They're not cookbooks but they put almost everything into perspective.

A few Filipino food bloggers actually had a long discussion that touched on this. One of the reasons that came up is that Filipino migrants in US tend to measure 'success' with how assimilated they are into the prevailing culture. And that includes food which makes it difficult to project with deep knowledge and pride. A product of the discussions is Lasang Pinoy, a Filipino food blogging event which aims to draw attention to Filipino food. We just recently concluded the event and the round-up is online. Apologies for cross-posting on another thread.