Why is Filipino food so bland and tasteless?

Question

I was shocked when I travelled to the Philippines how bland it is. I was expecting something so flavorful and delicious like Vietnamese or Thai. But everything seems to be like white rice and meat with hardly any flavor at all.

Answer 1

It is more subtle than vietnamese/thai/malaysian, but bland and tasteless? I had unbelievably great food when I lived there, good adobo is good even if the flavors don't jump out at you like they do in Thai and vietnamese foods (which incidently are my two favorites). They also have great desserts, hopefully you had a chance to try halo halo and leche flan.

Answer 2

You might have gone to restaurants in the Philippines that are trying to be conservative with their ingredients and spices. Chicken Adobo for example, typically include the right amount of garlic, onion, salt, soy sauce, and other ingredients to help produce a flavorful dish. In some cases, it is marinated to allow the flavor absorb into the meat overnight.

If you walk into a restaurant in the Philippines that is more concerned about making profit by reducing quality, it is more likely that you will encounter tasteless food.

Getting advice from locals about best restaurants or providing the ingredients and spices for a friend you know that can cook Filipino food will get you better results.

Answer 3

I agree with you. Filipino food is really tasteless. When you taste Chinese, Thai, Malaysian , Indonesian food , there is a wisdom and clever way to mix so many wonderful spices and flavour to their food . it's awesome. But Filipino's food is far from it. It's like they are confused how to bring flavour into their food! I guess influence of Spanish didn't do any favour for them when it comes to food. It's looks bad and taste even worse

Answer 4

Chinese, Vietnamese and thai restuarants are always packed with Filipinos, but u will rarely see a Filipino restaurant with other ethnic groups eating there. yes Filipino food is rather bland. maybe because Filipino culture was colonized so heavily by Spaniards and th Filipinos extremely idolizes western culture that they never made the time to discover their own culinary identity.

Answer 5

Honestly, there is a very good sociological response to this question, but without offending anyone, Filipino food is actually not bland nor tasteless. It is just that (and even most Filipinos agree) that the best Filipino food comes from their mothers.....what I mean by this is that Filipino food tends to be highly varied by geography and it's an important part of their culture for the woman to cook a lot of food at home for the family (and extended family) to eat.....and because Filipino foods tend to be food that can serve a lot of people (like soups & stews served over rice), they don't really have a need to eat out at Filipino restaurants. Most families cook their food at home. Therefore, Filipino restaurants in general do not serve "good" Filipino food because Filipinos only resort to eating out like an emergency or true fast food. If their mom cooks the same dish better at home, why would they eat out? It's kind of like if your family comes from the south and your dad is an expert at bbq-ing, would you really go to McDonalds and ordder the McRib when you want bbq? Probably not...

It is not like Chinese or Japanese culture where families tend to eat out more often, therefore the resturant food stays truer to culture & originality....

Answer 6

You must have been eating at a place that caters to american or european tastes. I've been to the Philippines many times and the only time I had a bad meal was when I 'meat' on-a-stick from a street vendor on a dare. The 'meat' was good, but I'll never do that again. Otherwise, pretty good experiences all round.

Answer 7

Well, where the heck did you go in the philippines?!?!?!?

Filipino food IS NOT bland or tastless !

I am half Filipina and my family happens to own a Pinoy restaurant here in phoenix AZ (PINOY-MEX).
There arent many places to get Filipino food in AZ and our customers and new comers LOVE LOVE LOVE our food.

There are different parts of the Philippines, and my family is Pampanga -which are known to be the best cooks.
So, i dont know where you visited, but dont give the whole nations cuisine a bad name because of a bad experience!

Answer 8

it relatively is all a rely of flavor, besides as based on how nicely that's waiting. I even have not traveled like I choose I had, yet i'm specific that jetgirly is suited and there is powerful nutrition and crappy nutrition international. only because of the fact something is extremely spiced warm it does not without delay make it stable. in case you pass to undesirable resturaunts or chefs you will get undesirable tasting nutrition. in case you pass to stable resturaunts or chefs you will get stable tasting nutrition packed with an excellent form of textures, flavors and savory herbs which could amaze you whilst no longer in keeping with organic spice warmth. that's like asserting that each and every physique cutting-edge comics are humorous because of the fact they cuss plenty, it relatively is only no longer actual.

Answer 9

somehow you weren't able to find a good Filipino restaurant, but mostly Filipino chefs produce fine tasting foods. I've been to Philippines many times and i found their cuisine very tasty and flavorful.

Answer 10

In the superstore, fruits are usually picked out far too soon. Some are rocks, many are bad. Some of the fruit and vegetables are right (zucchini, onions, garlic, lettuce, greens, and a few others) so I'd have to go with vegetables.