Sadly, I’m not very in touch with my Filipino heritage. I am half British, and half Filipino, by ethnicity (and Australian British my nationality), and am proud to be connected to all three countries, but because my parents split up before I was a year old, and I always lived with my (British) mum, I know very little about the more ‘exciting’ parts of my background. I often joke that I ‘like to like Asian things to make up for my lack of Asian-ness!’, but I suppose in a way it’s true! I actively try to learn more about the culture of the Philippines and Australia (and also Asia in general), and I do try to embrace anything I can identify with! And yes – that of course includes food, cuisine, and eating culture. Upon researching the Philippines, I discovered that the most common utensils are a spoon and fork, with knives being much rarer, and chopsticks really only used for specifically oriental meals. And true – this definitely matches the way my dad ate when I would spend weekends at his house, throughout my childhood.
This made me wonder – why?
In Far East Asia, chopsticks were, historically, the most common form of utensil, while cutlery is something that came from Western society. Countries that eat with chopsticks – Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Mongolians, etc – are all within the Chinese sphere of influence (the Chinese being one of the oldest civilisations). The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and other nearby countries are part of the Indian sphere of influence, where eating with your hands was common practice. The practice of eating with the hands originated within Ayurvedic teachings – the Vedic people, one of the oldest populations, believed that our bodies are in sync with the elements of nature, and that our hands hold a certain power. When feeding one’s body, one is also feeding their mind and spirit.
While Filipinos did not practice Vedism, they were influenced by Indian culture, and there also was no need for a specific utensil to ever be developed. The typical Filipino diet consists of rice and meats, which can be eaten by hand. A specific utensil had not been developed in these areas because of the types of foods eaten – rice and meat, which constitute a typical Filipino diet, can easily be eaten by hand. It is also possible that because eating is a very social practice in the Philippines, eating by hand felt more natural, organic, and relaxed.
Cutlery was first introduced to the Filipinos when they were colonised by the Spanish (much like how the Dutch introduced cutlery to the Indonesians). Spoons, forks, and knives were used throughout Europe, and were considered civilised – the Spanish, in their mission to ‘civilise’ the men they had conquered, ordered them to use cutlery too. However, the Filipinos adopted spoons and forks over knives and forks because spoons were much more useful for rice, and stews (or meat with soup). A spoon was much more similar to the ‘scoop’ technique they used for eating with their hands. Because knives had not been part of eating culture before, dishes had evolved to not need them – fish, chicken, and red meat were cooked for long periods to be tender enough to not need cutting, or split into small pieces prior to serving.
Nowadays, many Filipinos still do not use knives, except for in meal preparation – and some still use their hands, though this is often when specifically eating a meal ‘traditionally’, for example for a celebration. This traditional way of eating actually has a name, ‘kamayan’, and is considered a demonstration of love of the land, and of where one has come from. While the term is used to describe abandoning cutlery, a traditional kamayan meal is a feast served family style, usually over banana leaves.
Basic kamayan guidelines:
- Wash your hands
- As much as possible, keep the second hand clean, for drinking
- When taking food, use your fingers to pinch the food into a clump at your fingertips
- After taking a bit of ulam (the meat or vegetables) and rice with your fingers and thumb, use the your thumb to push the food into your mouth
- A scoop technique can be used for rice in order to create rice balls, for dipping into ulam.
I hope you found this interesting – I certainly did!
Also, a couple of other fun facts:
- Some people say the Spanish chose not to introduce knives because they feared the Filipinos were use them violently against them, however this is unlikely, because the Filipinos were already skilled in knifemaking, for weaponry, agriculture, and other industries
- A ‘boodle fight’ is a Filipino dining experience originating in the military, where a big pile of food is served in the middle of a really long table, and everyone eats with their hands, showing camaraderie, brotherhood, and equality. The ‘fight’ refers to grabbing and eating as much as you can, before anyone else gets to the food!