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Although Philippine cuisine at first sight, does not seem as exotic as other East Asian cuisines, there is no basis for the complaint that there are not enough truly native dishes.

However, there is a tendency that the foreigner who stays only in a tourist environment in Manila or the provinces, will not encounter Philippine cuisine because cooking is more Westernized in public places than in Filipino homes, especially if the public places are regularly frequented by foreigners from the West.

In Manila, the Western impact is noticeable even in small restaurants. These often do not serve dishes that Filipinos would regularly eat at home (rice, vegetables and fish), but rather hamburgers and fast foods. Recently a columnist in Manila wrote: "When Chinese go out in style they eat Chinese food, when Indonesians go out in style they eat Indonesian, but when Filipinos go out in style they eat Western."

Native food includes a salty tasting fish or shrimp paste (bagoong in Tagalog) which is also found in Thailand and Indonesia, and dried fish (tuyo) which is fried and malodorous. Philippine noodle dishes resemble Chinese noodle dishes. There are also unique dishes like boiled duck embryos, named balut. For details see the food dictionary below. Three meats are commonly available: beef (baka), pork (baboy), and chicken (manok). Many recipes use the intestines or other internal organs.

There are a number of words which describe the manner of cooking: pasingaw (steaming), adobo (stewed in vinegar and garlic), sinigang (sour soup using sour vegetables or fruits), nilaga (boiled), paksiw (stewed in sour fruit or ginger), estofado (with burnt sugar sauce), ginataan or gata (cooked in coconut milk), pesa (sauted and boiled), pangat (simmered with tomatoes), bulanglang (vegetables boiled together), dinuguan (cooked in blood), kilawin (raw).

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