Food is a central part of the Filipino lifestyle. Most people here eat five meals a day: 1) breakfast, 2) miryenda, 3) lunch, 4) miryenda and 5) dinner. Miryenda translates to snack. Families come together over food. Whenever they meet, there is always an excess of dishes. Traditionally, most of the diet here is rice, because it's cheap and readily available. Other staples include chicken, spam and fish. I live in the Culinary Capital of the Philippines, Pampanga, so the food here is the best. They say that Kapampangans, the people of Pampanga, are the best chefs, so I'm spoiled by the food my Lola makes. A key ingredient in most dishes is patis, which is fish sauce.
Most of the food I eat here I had never even heard of before I came to the Philippines. The dish which is most well-known and liked by Americans is chicken adobo. There are also pancit (noodles) of different varieties, lumpia (fried spring rolls), halo-halo (an icy dessert), pandesal (delicious rolls), siniguan (sour soup), dinuguan (soup make from pig's blood) and balut (half-developed egg). All of these dishes are delicious. But there are also regional delicacies.
