On behalf of Filipino food bloggers everywhere, we are proud to announce Lasang Pinoy 20: Binalot, All Wrapped Up!

There are a myriad ways of preparing Filipino foods and a favorite is wrapping in leaves. The dish is oftentimes referred as “Binalot” and while it usually means picnic lunches, Philippine cuisine does have a thousand and one sweet and savory recipes that uses this technique of food preparation. It gives you a peek of the Filipino’s practical nature, ingenuity, creativity and propensity to have fun, wherever and whenever.

As in most Southeast Asian countries, the most common leaf used is the banana leaf. The banana leaf is huge with a thin wax outer layer that makes it perfect for wrapping even the sauciest of dishes. Another common leaf we use is the coconut leaves woven or folded into various shapes and sizes.

But Filipinos don’t stop at leaves. There’s fresh bamboo cylinders, then there’s crepes and wontons, an influence of the Chinese population in the Philippines. Whether the wrap is thrown on the grill over hot live coals or the fire itself, or perhaps boiled or steamed, the natural wraps lends its own distinct aroma and flavor to the dishes encased within. The whole experience of unwrapping a dish while all the steamy goodness and aromas fill your nostrils is definitely half the fun.

The possibilities are just endless. Instincts also tell me there must be more wraps out there being used for “binalot” recipes than we know of. It’s probably as many as the 7,100 islands of our modest archipelago in the South China Sea and Pacific.

Perhaps you’d like to feature the technique of folding and wrapping, that will definitely be interesting to readers from all over. Or maybe you have the best recipe for lumpia wrapper or your very own Filipino-inspired wrapped concoction using your own wrapper idea, that’s certainly welcome.

Whichever you choose to write about on your blog, or someone else’s blog, (this one included) Lasang Pinoy only requires you submit your Filipino or Filipino-inspired entries to the current host or the Lasang Pinoy Team with your name, blog name, and the link to your entry. For quick identification, please title your emails LP20: Binalot. For your entries, please use the LP20 icon shown here. As always, it was creatively designed by LP pioneers, Iska Montero and Mike Mina. Thanks for everyone at Lasang Pinoy for your support.

For this edition, entries will be accepted starting today through the 1st of August 2007.

Unless the host gets all wrapped up in some unforeseen circumstances, we are hoping to release the round-up feature within the first week of August…..then we’ll call it a wrap!

Let’s get rolling and wrapping!

Aray! Feet aching from too much Todo-todo? Or perhaps your body is letting you know that that third helping of halo-halo may have not been the smartest move. But before I go any further, here is the round up for this month’s event!

Come on over and take a peek.

The Philippines is home to some of the world’s most colourful fiestas. Fiestas have been an integral part of the Filipino culture and communal existence whether in good or bad times — since time immemorial.

Traditionally, a fiesta always starts with a celebratory mass in the church honouring a patron saint of the barrio, town or city followed by a prusisyon (procession) or parada (parade). Participants are in high spirits. They dance and frolic to the beat of the marching band’s music in celebration and as a gesture of appreciation for all blessings received during the year as well as blessings yet to be received in the days to come. Along the procession or parade route, town folks and spectators would watch in awe the colourful pageantry normally seen only once a year. And as what has been traditionally practiced, the procession would always end where it all began — the church.

In the past, after the procession, traditional Filipino games like the karera sa sako (sack race) and palo-sebo (greased bamboo pole climbing) are played in the town’s plaza that is usually located in front of the church. Traditional folk dancing is also the main form of entertainment. Today, these traditional activities have been replaced with modern-day events and entertainment programs like variety shows featuring celebrities and artists, singing competitions and even beauty pageants. In some parts of the country, spectators are treated to a mélange of both traditional and modern entertainment.

And since food is an important part of the Filipino culture, no celebration would be complete without fiesta dishes served like the ubiquitous lechon baboy (whole roasted pig), other savoury regional dishes and sweet treats like kakanins (native cakes) indigenous to the place celebrating a particular fiesta. Everyone participates — spends and feed others, when they can. Others are more than welcome to partake in the feast, eat and indulge til they drop!

Moving on . . . For the 19th Edition of Lasang Pinoy Food Blogging Event, let’s talk about food we normally associate with fiestas. Blog about timeless and traditional family recipes that have been the hallmark these celebrations or how in the passage of time these dishes have evolved into unique culinary treats.

What is Lasang Pinoy?

Lasang Pinoy, which could mean ‘tastes of something Filipino’ or short for ‘the Filipino taste’ is a monthly food blogging event to promote Filipino food. It is a product of e-mail brainstorming sessions of several Filipino food bloggers who thought it was time for a Filipino event in the tradition of Is My Blog Burning. The blogger organisers of Lasang Pinoy and participants strive to make the events reflective of Filipino culture.

Who may participate?

All Filipino food bloggers are highly-encouraged to join the event, be they in the country or abroad.

Non-food bloggers of Filipino ancestry are also invited; no matter how many generations they have been out of the country or who have never been to the Philippines but still identify themselves as Filipino [or part Filipino, married or related to Filipinos].

Entries from other Filipino food and culture enthusiasts are very much welcome. Non-bloggers may also join as long as their entries are hosted in any blog.

How to participate?

All entries must be submitted by 30^th June 2007 at 7:30 pm, Manila time. A round-up will be published shortly after.

For entries [or further quieries], you may send an email to lasang.pinoy@gmail.com with your name, address, the name of your blog, and the permalink to your entry. Please indicate in the subject field Lasang Pinoy 15 [’Entry’ or ‘Query’] for all correspondence to facilitate identification. Or you may also post it via the comment section of this post. For non-bloggers, you can email your article and photo, if you have, with the same particulars. We would be more than happy to host it in one of the sites.

By the way, we’d like to mention/remind the important fact that Lasang Pinoy was created to promote Filipino food! Therefore, as a challenge to everyone, we would love for those of you who have never tried Pinoy food before, to maybe try one of the recipes that I’ve already posted here, or visit one of the Filipino food bloggers site listed here, and here, and here too, find a recipe you like, play around and have a ball with it! After all, it’s fiesta time!

*** Please visit ANG SARAP, this month’s HOST for the 19th Edition of Lasang Pinoy called BARRIO FIESTA. ***

Vegetables. Some of us have a love affair with them, others have a love-hate (or hate-hate) relationship with them. One sure thing we all have in common is: We were all made to eat vegetables. We all started out with mashed peas and squash, were scared out of our wits with the bitterness of the wrinkly ampalaya (bitter gourd), and wondered how many more vegetables we should eat. The Bahay Kubo song had the answers, of course!

We all have a vegetable story to tell and a vegetable dish recipe to share. That is why I am very eager to be hosting and inviting you to join Lasang Pinoy 18: Oh My Gulay!

Read the full announcement here.

06/01/07 UPDATE: The round-up is now up! See it here.

After a short hiatus Lasang Pinoy is back.

To celebrate its “resurrection,” we decided to relaunch within the week after Easter Sunday. After a series of false starts and consultations with the Lasang Pinoy peeps, it was decided that the secret ingredient for the 17th edition is … ta..ra… ra …… The EGG.

The egg in various cultures symbolizes fertility and rebirth. From a Philippine context, the egg is very much part of culture and history. First thing that comes to mind is The Balut. It is something we always claim as our own. It specifies us from other cultures ,though not exclusively. Vietnam has it similar delicacy called Vit Lon. More than that, the fertilized duck’s egg is also an eaten object of bravado, virility and Pinoy machismo. Because it takes a certain amount of guts to eat, we love to taunt our foreign friends’ comfort zones by challenging them to feast on boiled “aborted” duck’s embryo. Balut is often eaten after dark with beer. The Pinoy “barako” who consumes it is said to acquire certain powers when doing a most pleasurable ritual, legit or not, in a darkened four-cornered room. This, even if the V pill came with the same claims.

Read the full announcement . . .

“It’s that time of year, when good friends are dear, and you wish you could give more than just presents from a store . . .”

Another year, another Christmas will soon pass our way. For those of us who have celebrated this – year after year after year, for soooo many years…aren’t we tired of it?

HECK NO! This is the month that most of us look forward to – the whole year! The magic that comes with Christmas, somehow washes off our negative vibes, rejuvenates our “happy” hormones, and pushes us to tirelessly prepare for the numerous celebrations. And like everywhere else in the world, this is the time to bond, the time to give, the time to share.

For the 16^th Edition of Lasang Pinoy Food Blogging Event that ALA EH! is proud to host, we tackle the challenges of gift-giving – PINOY HOLIDAY FOOD GIFTS in particular. The challenge of gift giving turns holiday cheer into holiday fear for many. Gift etiquette and choosing the perfect HOLIDAY FOOD GIFT stumps even the savviest of shoppers. What you should give and whom you should give to are two questions sure to cause hours of deliberation and, finally, preparation and cooking – if you have to do it yourself!

Read Joji’s LP16 Announcement here . . .

Pinoys [or Filipinos] passion for food more often than not ends up with cooking more than what is required — with leftovers finding their way into freezers. And as conscientious as we Pinoys always are, these leftovers become creative and delectable culinary delights when whipped-up differently from how they were originally cooked.

In the Philippines, when you get replies of “panga” or “pangat” to your question of what’s on the table for lunch, dinner, or merienda, it only means one thing: recycled leftover food!

What does “panga” or “pangat” mean?

Check out Mike’s announcement for Lasang Pinoy 15.

I wrote an article about Lasang Pinoy’s first anniversary that was published in What’s On & Expat [ 3-9 September 2006 issue, Vol. XXV No. 35 ].What’s On & Expat is a weekly newspaper for expats in the Philippines and is circulated in major hotels, restaurants, and diplomatic missions.

The text that follows the scanned image of the printed version is the original draft which was edited for length due to last-minute space limitations.

The printed version also has two screen caps: one of Stef’s blog, and the other of Karen’s.

HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY to everyone at LASANG PINOY!

Read more about this here . . . .

Stef is hosting the first anniversary of Lasang Pinoy! Here are excerpts from the announcement:

For this month’s theme, I am inviting all of you who love Filipino food to find one (or two!… or three!) dishes that for you DEFINES what being Pinoy is all about.

The usual:

Post a link to your entries by 31 August 2006 (your timezone) in the comment section here, or send an e-mail with your permalink and location to lasang.pinoy@gmail.com. If you don’t have a blog and would like to participate, just e-mail us and we’ll be happy to host your entry. I’ll do a roundup shortly after August 31st. This announcement may be completely posted on any blog or forum.

Join us and enjoy! Kain na tayo!


Twang is used to describe a mild accent or a pronunciation common to a certain group of people. It can be used in many forms, basically as a word for describing certain sounds.

Twang can also be defined as a persisting flavor, taste, or odor.

I am honored to host the 12^th edition of Lasang Pinoy. After almost a year of rolling down memory lane sharing our thoughts on Filipino food experiences, let’s take off and get a head-start on putting some flare into our palate. With this month’s theme, Distinctly Pinoy with a Twang, we look forward to a staggering array of Philippine specialties infused with international punch!

Are you up for this challenge? Check out essenCes for the rules of this battle! Post all entries on or before the 31^st of July, 2006 and shoot me an email with your name, website and permalink of your entry to lasangpinoy@gmail.com or cesanciano@gmail.com.

Feel free to upload this 3D button designed by my husband, Marco and approved by LP’s design team of Mike and Iska.

Pinoy or non-Pinoy, you are most welcome to participate! Let’s push the Pinoy palate to the boundaries of taste!

UPDATE: The round-up is here!

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The last topic of Lasang Pinoy 10, Food Memories From Your Childhood evoked so much from our consciousness that it didn’t seem enough; ‘Bitin’, we would say. As Chef Sam mentioned in his roundup of LP10, it seems that many of us savored most the flavors of our childhood summers. So to continue on the same vein, the next round of Lasang Pinoy extends our reminiscing mood to include our memories of summer and the cooling flavors that made it even more enjoyable. With summer just waning in the Philippines and the tastes of summer still fresh on the palates; and with summer advancing on this side of the hemisphere and many of us have started dusting off our grills, what better time to write about summertime!

We invite you to join us on this round and share your favorite summertime food. It doesn’t have to be a typical Filipino recipe, it only needs to be touched with Pinoyness. As we who are now living outside of the Philippines can attest to, we assimilate but we add our own flavors to the mix. I do this all the time with my girls. We may be cooking something that is typically of this region, but the flavors of my Filipino upbringing can’t help but creep into everything we do in one form or another. A sneak preview of things to come is in my blog. I look forward to your memories of summer and your cooling ways.

Post your entries in your blogs by the end of the month, June 30th and submit your URL to lasangpinoy-at-gmail.com or to jmomblogs-at-gmail.com. If you don’t have a blog, just email me or Lasang Pinoy and we will host your posts for you.

Feel free to download the buttons for this round and use it on your sites. Thank you to Iska and Mike for designing these beautiful buttons.

Lasang Pinoy 10 Official Announcement

Chef Sam de Leoz is hosting Lasang Pinoy 10th Edition! It’s always fun to reminisce about our childhood memories, especially the food-related ones! Your job now is to blog about *your* food memories from your childhood.