An incomplete guide to Pinoy food
Old Cavite Puerto (now Cavite City) was, in the 18th century, by royal decree, the shipbuilding and repair location of the galleons plying the Manila-Acapulco trade. And it was so until 1898. While the rest of the province remained rural in its cooking, Puerto residents drowned everything they ate in Spanish olive oil. Their pochero (aka cocido) or boiled beef dinner was, and is still eaten by some, alinear style—meat, potatoes, vegetables and saging all cut up and dressed with vinegar and olive oil, just like a salad. Similarly treated is its potaje de garbanzos—chickpeas with bacon slab. And where in da Pilipins would you find the everyday ginisang mongo, with shrimps or lowly tinapa so lovingly laved in vinegar and olive oil? (Try it, it’s great!)