Postcard-Geography Album: The Philippines

This week our postcard came from the Philippines.

In our researching about the Philippines, I came across this wonderful site, Food in Every Country, which is a wonderful resource for learning the cultural habits of other countries and where I got most of the information for this post.

Comparing the Philippines to the United States in terms of how large it is, the area is slightly larger than the state of Arizona. Ninety percent of Filipinos are Roman Catholic so Christian holidays are the most widely celebrated holidays in the Philippines.
Tropical forests cover about one-half of the land.

Volcanic mountains form the center of most of the larger islands, and a number of them are active. The country is also vulnerable to typhoons, earthquakes and floods.

The Philippines islands are location between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Because of it's location, the nation is made up of a wide range of different people and ethnic groups, which is reflected in their cuisine. Malaysians were among the first inhabitants of the Philippines and they brought with them the knowledge of preparing hot chilies and coconut milk, which balance each other.

For our Philippines dinner, we made Adobong Hiponsa Gata (Shrimp Adobo in Coconut Milk) and Sinangag (garlic rice). 

The Chinese established colonies in the Philippines between 1200 and 1300, introducing Chinese noodle dishes, bean curds, egg rolls, and soy sauce.
Spain occupied the Philippines for almost 400 years, beginning in 1521 and colonization had a major impact on Filipino cuisine both in terms of ingredients and style of cooking. Techniques such as braising and sauteing, cooking with olive oil and seasonings, such as garlic, onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and vinegar are examples.

We served a pineapple punch with our dinner.

The United States took control of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War in 1898, staying through World War II until 1946. From our country the Filipinos were introduced to foods such as mayonnaise, hot dogs, hamburgers, apple pies, canned evaporated and condensed milk, which often replaces the traditional buffalo milk.

Nowhere else in Asian cuisine can cheese and canned tomato sauce be found in recipes.

Filipino meals are well balanced in terms of tastes and are served buffet-style. The desserts are included on the table, providing a sweet balance to the salty and sour tastes of the other dishes.

We served Flan for dessert, but we just used a Jello box mix.

It is customary for anyone who arrives at a Filipino home, to be offered food, no matter what time of day. This may have developed out of the fact that most Filipinos eat five or more meals a day.

Filipinos use "Kumain ka na?" ("Have you eaten yet?") as a general greeting to each other.

You can visit Christine and Kyla at The Mommy Journey.

The postcard we received was from Christine and Kyla and was of "Obando" dancers.

Obando is a dance of rural Philippines. The ladies are dressed in traditional attire with bell-shaped sleeves and hats with wide brims. The men are dressed in long straight shirts and Victorian-era hats.

We also played Tapatan, a game from the Philippines.

visited 12 countries in our album (5.33% of the world)

Postcard Exchange can Promote Literacy

If you think that geography skills is the only thing to be gained by joining a postcard exchange, look at this post in which Cathy from the Nurture Store outlines how post cards can promote literacy.

WANTED: US States postcards

Please help us in our 50-states postcard-geography album project.

If you would be willing to exchange postcards, look at the sidebar on the right and see if your state is there.

If so and you would like to exchange postcards, please leave me a comment on this post and we can make arrangements.