Not from Guam

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Permalink Reply by David Gardner on June 20, 2009 at 8:12pm

Hi Candida,

Hola, Como esta? (I took a year of Spanish when I was in Junior High School on Guam... no place to practice it, though)

Probably the foods from Puerto Rico and Guam are similar because they both had been Spanish colonies until the U.S. administration after the Spanish-American war. Although Puerto Rico most likely has more Caribbean influence... and Guam has more Asian influence.

Of course, roast pig is almost universal around the world for "good vittles"...

One of the unique menu items from Guam is "finedene" - a hot sauce made with vinegar (preferably coconut vinegar), onions, soy sauce, and the blazing-hot tiny "Thai" peppers that grow in Guam's boonies. This is used for dipping lumpia (Philippine-style egg-rolls), lechon (roast pig--Philippine-style), and other goodies..

Also, Guam fiestas include "kelaguin" --similar a little to Philippine-style kelauin-- consists of chopped small pieces of chicken, coconut gratings, vinegar, lemon juice, green onions, pepper... mixed into sort of a "salad".

Guam fiestas have a lot of fish. A local fish known as a "tataga" ("unicorn-fish"/"surgeon-fish") resembles the shape of a tilapia (but usually larger)... very tasty when grilled.

Guam fiestas always have "red rice" -- boiled rice with achote (which gives it the red coloration) -- but also white rice as well.

Foods typical of a Philippine fiesta are also frequent attractions at a Guam fiesta-- lumpia, of course; pancit (bihon - with the thin rice noodles; canton - with the thicker egg noodles); karikare, palabok, pinakbet, siaopao... as well as the Japanese influence with sashimi (usually tuna), sushi , daigo (pickled radish).

Barbequed chicken, beef, venison (there are small Philippine deer on Guam), and the most weird, "fanihi" (fruitbat). Fruitbat tastes like duck (and some folks think it tastes like chicken)...

Most of the barbequed stuff is usually marinated for quite a while in a marinade sauce made from soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, papaya juice, pepper (black, ground), and "Lefran" (a Philippine version of catsup/ketchup made from bananas). You can get a commercial version of this marinade (we all have our own "secret recipes", however) at your local Safeway or Save Mart store... it's called "Chaka's MMM Sauce" (this fellow is from Guam... and his offices are in Lathrop! -- I met him at a Guam reunion!).

If you'd like to experience some foods that resemble Guam's you can go to Island Gourmet (on 11th Street in the little strip-mall behind Perko's Restaurant) or Boyong's (on Grant Line Road in the little strip mall in front of the Wall-Mart/Staples/PetCo complex).

Thanks for inspiring some fond memories...

Permalink Reply by Candida Pazo on June 20, 2009 at 9:57pm

Hi David.

Thank you for taking your time and reply to my blog. If you want to practice your spanish, I can help you with that because my english is not that great and is easier for me to write and speak in spanish. I came here from Puerto Rico 27 years ago and learned english, but i fell more comfortable speaking spanish. I am going to try that Marinade you talked about . I have some philipines friend and I love lumpias and pancit. I have a friend from Guam and she gave me lumpias filled with bananas.

Candida





David Gardner said:

Hi Candida,

Hola, Como esta? (I took a year of Spanish when I was in Junior High School on Guam... no place to practice it, though)

Probably the foods from Puerto Rico and Guam are similar because they both had been Spanish colonies until the U.S. administration after the Spanish-American war. Although Puerto Rico most likely has more Caribbean influence... and Guam has more Asian influence.

Of course, roast pig is almost universal around the world for "good vittles"...

One of the unique menu items from Guam is "finedene" - a hot sauce made with vinegar (preferably coconut vinegar), onions, soy sauce, and the blazing-hot tiny "Thai" peppers that grow in Guam's boonies. This is used for dipping lumpia (Philippine-style egg-rolls), lechon (roast pig--Philippine-style), and other goodies..

Also, Guam fiestas include "kelaguin" --similar a little to Philippine-style kelauin-- consists of chopped small pieces of chicken, coconut gratings, vinegar, lemon juice, green onions, pepper... mixed into sort of a "salad".

Guam fiestas have a lot of fish. A local fish known as a "tataga" ("unicorn-fish"/"surgeon-fish") resembles the shape of a tilapia (but usually larger)... very tasty when grilled.

Guam fiestas always have "red rice" -- boiled rice with achote (which gives it the red coloration) -- but also white rice as well.

Foods typical of a Philippine fiesta are also frequent attractions at a Guam fiesta-- lumpia, of course; pancit (bihon - with the thin rice noodles; canton - with the thicker egg noodles); karikare, palabok, pinakbet, siaopao... as well as the Japanese influence with sashimi (usually tuna), sushi , daigo (pickled radish).

Barbequed chicken, beef, venison (there are small Philippine deer on Guam), and the most weird, "fanihi" (fruitbat). Fruitbat tastes like duck (and some folks think it tastes like chicken)...

Most of the barbequed stuff is usually marinated for quite a while in a marinade sauce made from soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, papaya juice, pepper (black, ground), and "Lefran" (a Philippine version of catsup/ketchup made from bananas). You can get a commercial version of this marinade (we all have our own "secret recipes", however) at your local Safeway or Save Mart store... it's called "Chaka's MMM Sauce" (this fellow is from Guam... and his offices are in Lathrop! -- I met him at a Guam reunion!).

If you'd like to experience some foods that resemble Guam's you can go to Island Gourmet (on 11th Street in the little strip-mall behind Perko's Restaurant) or Boyong's (on Grant Line Road in the little strip mall in front of the Wall-Mart/Staples/PetCo complex).

Thanks for inspiring some fond memories...

Permalink Reply by David Gardner on June 23, 2009 at 9:15pm

No problemo. Los siento, pero yo no intiende espanol muy bien. --that's about the extent of my vocabulary that I remember...--

Ah, the lumpia (egg rolls) filled with banana ... those are called "turon" ("too rone") in Tagalog (the main language of the Philippines). My wife makes those all the time.... you can see some videos of her making "turon" here: http://www.squidoo.com/bananas_appeal (and some other banana stories!)

Enjoy..

Regards,
Dave

Candida Pazo said:

Hi David.

Thank you for taking your time and reply to my blog. If you want to practice your spanish, I can help you with that because my english is not that great and is easier for me to write and speak in spanish. I came here from Puerto Rico 27 years ago and learned english, but i fell more comfortable speaking spanish. I am going to try that Marinade you talked about . I have some philipines friend and I love lumpias and pancit. I have a friend from Guam and she gave me lumpias filled with bananas.

Candida