Filipinos are a resilient people. We know how to work and we work hard like no other to attain our dreams. So in times that we need to rest and relax, there’s nothing better than to come home to the sweet, soulful aroma of our local breakfast favorites!
I don’t think any other country fully understands how serious breakfast really is for us Pinoys, nor do they fully comprehend the manner to which our breakfast plates are dressed.
To best explain this, I reminisce on the days of waking up to the aromatic smell of browning garlic as it fills your entire house along with the sizzling sound of your sunny side-up eggs being prepared.
Now let me take you on a journey to find out what the Filipino breakfast is all about: the SILOGS!
Rice Egg Meat, Rice Egg Meat, Rice Egg Meat – A silog is one of the most common Pinoy breakfast dishes usually comprised of garlic rice, eggs and some variant of meat. It’s a complex meal as compared to our western counterparts who simply mix cereal with milk, but it’s that complexity that we Filipinos actually find Sooo Pinoy and sooo savory.
I had to trace back where this Sooo Pinoy specialty might have originated: queue RUFO’s Famous Tapa Restaurant!
Rufo’s, a local breakfast specialty restaurant, had their humble beginnings in 1984 when a group of friends dreamed of putting up a simple breakfast “tapsilogan” to make Pinoy comfort food available for everyone anytime at a very friendly price!
Here, each breakfast recipe is meticulously created for that perfect Pinoy taste and every dish is served in the simplest, most humblest manner.
According to them, TAPSILOG can be traced during the WWII where everything had to be cooked quickly. Due to our Spanish influence, beef tapa was often available that time because it was the fastest and easiest to cook. Since it is in our culture not to waste any leftover rice, the “sinangag” or garlic rice, was then created. Eggs added more texture and balance aside from its nutritive value and hence, completed the divine breakfast trinity which we all adore!
But how has this simple concoction of random ingredients stand the test of time and make it throughout history into the 21st century kitchens?
Perhaps it’s not just about the food but more of that feeling of belongingness, of having an identity and a home… things which we Pinoys value dearly. Perhaps it’s really the weird mix of foods on that plate really just represents the weird mixes of friends, family and Filipinos that makes our country Sooo Pinoy!
When In Manila, be sure to try our amazingly simple, yet complicated, breakfast plates! Tapsilogs, Tocilogs, and any other silogs you can make up! Oh and of course, do visit our friends from Rufo’s Famous Tapa to truly get that real Sooo Pinoy experience!
