Philippine Tourism & Cuisine being promoted

Philippines have become a popular tourist destination nowadays. Foreigners from Europe, Australia, United States and even Asia are mesmerized by the beautiful beaches and the hospitality of the Filipinos. Among the most visited and most popular beaches in the country is Boracay, known for its white and very fine sand. Boracay offers different activities like scuba diving, snorkling, kiteborading, cliff diving, and windsurfing. In 2010, Boracay was the venue for the Asian Wind Surfing Tour.

(Photo courtesy from boracay-budgettravel-tips.com)
  
Among the list of favorites are:
Palawan for its famous underground river (http://www.palawan.net.ph/palawan_underground_river.htm), 

Camsur, for its watersports complex (http://www.camsurwatersportscomplex.com/) 

Siargao & La Union for surfing (http://www.surigaoislands.com/siargao_island.html & http://www.launionsurf.com/)

Donsol for the butandings (Whale sharks) and Manta Rays (http://www.donsolecotour.com/)

Apo Island (Dumaguete)/Mindoro for snorkling ( http://www.aposhore.com & http://www.aporeefclub.com/)

Davao, Bohol, Batangas for scuba diving (http://www.pasyalera.com/davao/diving-at-marissa-reef-in-samal-island-davao/  http://www.boholfundivers.com/  http://www.batangasnow.com/divingspots.html)

There are more nice places that have not been included in this list and will definitely be enjoyed by the tourist. This places offers different  activities but another thing that they normally ask for is the food. Many foreigners would always ask to describe Filipino cuisine. Compare to Thailand and Vietnam, Philippines cannot identify single flavor that distinctly describe Filipino taste.   

To most of the Filipino, Adobo is the most popular and can be considered to be the best representation of Filipino cuisine. "The Adobo Book" written by Nancy Reyes-Lumen confirms that multiple versions of adobo recipes is available in the country.

Another Filipino kitchen trademark is the sinigang dish, a soup characterized by its sour flavor brought by tamarind. Sinigang can be a mixture of seafood (shrimp), fish (milkfish), or pork and vegetables seasoned with tamarind.

(Photo courtesy from about-recipes.com)

In the south, or the Cebuano speaking area, lechon or roasted pig is always part of occasions. Cebuano lechon is very popular for being tasty because they normally put lemongrass and other herbs inside the tummy while it is being rotated manually. Other places, like Pampanga, Bacolod, Davao and Bicol also have their own favorite recipes to showcase the world.

(Photo courtesy from myfoodtrip.com)

Efforts are now geared in the promotion not only of the beautiful places but the country's cuisine. We should develop a more objective ways of defining the cuisine similar to other countries. Sure there are good filipino restaurants around the world, the recent being The Manila Machine in Los Angeles, what is needed now is some form of standard that will clearly defines that it is Filipino cuisine.