Filipino cuisine — 1565, Galleon pantry

The home pantry around Adobo and the labour behind Sinigang rarely fit a takeaway box. Are restaurant versions "authentic"? Lutuing Filipino is the local name used in this atlas beside Filipino cuisine. Filipino cuisine tastes first of sour and garlic: adobo, sinigang, kinilaw. Chili exists (Bicol, Mindanao) but the national bass is suka and tamarind, not nam prik.

Street food is barbecue sticks, fishballs and halo-halo. Jollibee is a genuine popular taste, not a joke about colonialism — though colonialism is in the gravy. Filipino cuisine is organised by bagoong / suka and rice. Pampanga claims a culinary capital. Ilocos salts and bagoong; Bicol cooks chili-coconut; the Visayas roast lechon that Manila argues about; Mindanao holds Muslim-Filipino and lumad tables.

Ilocano vegetable austerity and a Kapampangan fiesta spread are not one "Filipino flavour". Bagoong (fish or shrimp paste) and coconut vinegar are the jars. Soy entered with Chinese trade. Condensed milk is an American-era sweetness that halo-halo never gave back. Adobo is a method — stew in vinegar and garlic — not a single recipe. Every house claims the ratio.