Hello! This is my first ever post to this group.

HISTORICAL. During the couple of hundred of years of the Galleon Trade
between Manila and Acapulco, the importation by Mexico of Filipino
shipbuilders, Mexican and Filipino sailors jumping ship in each other's
country usually with matrimonial intent, and the formal governance by
Spain of their colony Las Islas Filipinas via Mexico, plus the
deportation from Mexico to the Philippines of an entire tribe of Olmecas
who ****ed of the Spaniards, it would be impossible not to have a very
healthy exchange of recipes and the inevitable adaptation of ingredients
in each culture's cooking.

GASTRONOMICAL. There is a very old city in the Philippines, in Pampanga
Province, called Mexico and pronounced the Mexican way. This
information is not just in passing, but to point out that Pampangueños
have a very strong passion for cooking (and eating), definitely stronger
than in other regions. Many Filipinos who formally earned the title of
*Chef* are Pampangueños.

GEOGRAPHICAL. The Philippines is subtropical and just off the coast of
mainland Asia on the Pacific side, so there are many ingredients and
spices available there not originally found in Central America but got
imported into Mexico. Also, the almost daily rains in the tropics
produce common fruits of gigantic proportions.

UNIQUENESS. For example, the avocados in Mexico and North America will
be just about the size of the seed of a tropical avocado. Tropical
papayas tend to be about two feet long and just over a foot in girth,
their seeds the size of peas. There are over ten varieties of edible
bananas in the Philippines, but the plantains there, I think, were
transplanted from Mexico.

There is tamales in the Philippines, but it's wrapped in banana leaves
just like the Oaxatlan (sp?) tamales, and made with glutinous rice meal
instead of corn meal.

INTERMARRIAGE. Adobo and palapas are reputedly of Philippine origin;
adobo is the unofficial national food of Filipinos. The word "palapas"
is an adaptation of "palaspas," which are the palm fronds brandished by
Filipinos at the church courtyard for blessing by the priest after
Easter Sunday mass. It is also the name of a holiday dish very similar
to the Mexican palapas.

DILUTION. It should also be noted that due to centuries of trade with
China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaya and Polynesia/Micronesia, Philippine
recipes transferred to Mexico long ago may have strong oriental and
Pacific Islands overtones that Mexican gourmets may not realize, such as
the hundreds of way to use and eat coconut--both the fruit and the tree
itself.

I could go on and on, but would like to read what others could
contribute to assuage my curiosity. Please post links and printed
references. I'll keep on adding in my responses whatever I could glean
from old Filipino folks (who, until the American conquest, spoke Spanish
AND cooked Spanish style) in my responses to others' posts.

But before I forget, Filipinos who settled in Mexico during the Spanish
colonial era were called "Chinos" and that, I think, is what their
descendants are still called, albeit inaccurately, to this day. They
may provide many golden nuggets to this thread if anyone knows any one
of them.

All this yada-yada is making me hungry. I'd better attack my camarones
rebosados and push 'em down with Cerveza San Miguel and Tecate Beer.

[Please don't be offended by my screen name. It's been around Usenet
for more than ten years.]

DSP