Filipino food is built on contrasts — sour, salty, and savory playing off each other in ways that took centuries to develop. The cuisine reflects Spanish, Chinese, Malay, and American influences layered over indigenous cooking traditions, and it varies noticeably from region to region.
Adobo — meat (usually chicken or pork) braised in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and bay leaves — is the closest thing to a national dish. Every family makes it differently. It keeps well without refrigeration, which explains its ubiquity before the age of electric coolers.
Sinigang is a sour soup, typically tamarind-based, with pork, fish, or shrimp and vegetables. It's honest, warming food and almost always good in a proper Filipino restaurant. Kare-kare is the more festive counterpart — a rich oxtail and tripe stew in peanut sauce, served with fermented shrimp paste (bagoong) on the side.
Lechon (whole roasted pig) is the centerpiece of celebrations and is genuinely one of the great roast pig preparations in the world. Cebu is particularly famous for its lechon, which is seasoned inside with lemongrass and roasted over charcoal until the skin crackles.
Street food is worth seeking out. Balut — a fertilized duck egg with a partially developed embryo — is the famous dare food, but it's genuinely popular and not bad once you get over the concept. Isaw (grilled chicken intestines on skewers), fishballs, and kwek-kwek (deep-fried quail eggs in orange batter) are the staples of Filipino sidewalk snacking.
For dessert, halo-halo is the Filipino answer to a sundae — shaved ice, evaporated milk, and a bewildering variety of ingredients including ube (purple yam) ice cream, red beans, coconut strips, jackfruit, and a leche flan on top. It is excessive and delicious.
Jollibee — the Filipino fast food chain — deserves a mention not as a recommendation but as a cultural fact. It outsells McDonald's in the Philippines, and the fried chicken and rice meals are a reliable and cheap option when you're traveling and hungry. The chain is a source of genuine national pride.