A Taste of True Pinoy Pride: The Unsung Dishes of the Provinces
Beyond the Filipino “classics” and comfort foods that dominate tables and menus lies a treasure trove of regional dishes that rarely make the culinary spotlight. These are the quiet and discrete classics of the Philippine archipelago — dishes passed down through generations, shared at family gatherings, sold in small-town markets or rural roads. Each dish tells a story of a place: its people, its flora, its fauna, and its stubborn pride in flavor. In a country made up of over 7,000 islands, these underrated gems are proof that Filipino cuisine has never been one unitary language, but a plethora of culinary dialects.
Take linapet, a humble kakanin from Kalinga wrapped in banana leaves. Made with sweetened peanuts enveloped in mashed sticky rice and coconut, it’s not as famous as bibingka or puto, yet every bite speaks of the Cordilleras — earthy, filling, real. Or tiyula itum from Sulu, a Tausug black soup tinted with burnt coconut, smoky and spiced with local aromatics. It’s a dish that serves as a window into history and geography: the influence of Malay traders on local chefs, the abundance of buko, and the boldness of the Zamboangan peninsula.
Image: Linapet
In the Visayas, kansi from Bacolod blurs the line between bulalo and sinigang, simmering beef shank in batuan for a distinct sourness, splashing it with atsuete oil for color. Meanwhile, laswa, another Visayan delicacy capitalizes on simplicity — a medley of local veggies boiled in clear broth, nothing fancy, yet deeply comforting. Dishes like these may not be front and center when talking about Filipino cuisine, but they serve as backbones of everyday Pinoy flavor. Quiet yet tasty meals that keep households fed and local communities connected.
Image: Kansi
Even in Luzon, the north and south hold secrets and treasures completely distinct from one another. The Ilocanos’ dinengdeng — vegetables stewed in bagoong — utilizes that kick that makes each bite explode, while Bicol’s kinunot na pagi, now an illegal dish due to the ban of stingray consumption, combined coconut milk and malunggay with the endangered species as a daring regional speciality. These meals may not grace the covers and glossy pages of cookbooks very often, but they imbibe a certain authenticity that no trend or viral video can imitate.
Today, chefs and home cooks are finding new ways to preserve these flavors without losing their soul and regional spirit. Luckily, modern kitchen tools and ready-to-use flavor aids like TasteSetters® Brand sauces and pastes make recreating these delicacies easy and accessible. A spoonful of TasteSetters® Brand Beef Flavor Savory Paste can bring that meaty depth to a bowl of kansi, while a pack of Clara Olé Béchamel Sauce can substitute for coconut milk yet still capture the richness of laing in seconds — combining tradition and innovation without an ounce of compromise.
This shows that the real beauty of Filipino food is in its huge variety, not just the famous dishes. Every part of the country gives a different answer to the question, “What does Philippine food taste like?” — a complicated and always growing answer that reflects the nation’s many local ingredients, history, and different traditional ways of cooking, all simmering quietly across the islands, ready to be discovered and enjoyed by the rest of the world
