Islands Apart

By Rew Shearer

It was a comment tacked on the end of a New Zealand Herald review of Turo-Turo Café. It said, “Filipino cuisine is such a difficult food to define since every region in the Philippines will have their own version of any dish.” Well … true.

For example. Sisig. Originally from Pampanga, traditional kilawin style sisig was boiled, with a vinegar base, and served soft. But Filipinos from other parts of the country may know it better served on a sizzling plate, perhaps with egg and even chicharon added. In fact anyone used to the sizzling variety could be forgiven for thinking the kilawin sisig was undercooked, and “off” due to an underlying sourness.

Adobo, another well-known and much-enjoyed Pinoy dish, equally knows variations. From the chicken-pork adobo simmered in vinegar, garlic, and soy that Manila natives may know, to a Batangas variant with added spice, to the adobo sa gata enjoyed in Bicol.

The pancit dishes, the noodle soups, even the desserts like buko pie, leche flan et al, can vary from region to region, province to province.In many cases, regions have all but stamped their trademark on a dish. Ilocos is the region known for pinakbet, that hearty dish of okra, pumpkin, bitter melon among others, with a tasty bagoong base.

Bulacan has a reputation for creating the best kare-kare, oxtail or tripe stewed in a peanut sauce with vegetables. Many of Visayas’ contributions are of seafood and fish, including kinilaw, now popular everywhere – raw fish marinated in seasoned vinegar.

And Mindanao and the south is known for curries and other spicy dishes, including tiola sapi, a spicy beef stew.

These variants are an inevitable result of factors such as climate, environment, and even religious and cultural influences. In the north, vegetables grow well that would be hard to cultivate in the warmer south.

In central parts, the abundance of seafood has created a wide range of inventive fish dishes.

And in the south, the Muslim avoidance of pork, combined with the influence of spicy Malay-style cooking, has shaped the cuisine.

Some critics of Turo-Turo have considered its failure to reflect these regional differences in Filipino food as a crucial flaw.

But every cuisine has regional differences. China is a vast country, the variations between dishes from east to west, north to south are profound. India is the same. Even Thailand. And yet all have managed to find success because they have chosen a limited number of dishes and stuck with them.

Too much variety is a bad thing, particularly if you are trying to introduce somebody to a new cuisine. That’s why a restaurant like Turo-Turo needs to be consistent with its food, but also to take careful note of which dishes are the most popular, and ensure that they are always available.

Every region in the Philippines has its version of the famous Pinoy dishes – and that’s something that should be celebrated. But for a café to try and accommodate all of those different styles in an ever-expanding – or ever-changing – menu would be commercial suicide.

New Zealand is discovering just how creative and unique Filipino food is, but good things take time … perserverance … and making some hard calls.

Turo-Turo Philippine Café, Mayfair Place, Glen Innes, Auckland: www.turoturo.co.nz, Tel: 09 528 6050

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