A look into staple seafood dishes for Filipino families Fish these days are sold frozen thousands of kilometers from the rivers or ponds they were caught or raised in. When buying fish, our ultimate goal is to get “sariwa” (fresh) and not “ilado” (spoiled or no longer fresh). That is the root of the Pinoy aversion for seafood that has been preserved in ice.
Early Pinoys adapted the Spanish word helado , which means iced, to mean food that has not been preserved well in ice. Many consumers believe that fish sold at wet markets are fresher than those sold frozen at supermarkets. While this could have been true decades ago, it no longer is the case, thanks to advances in aquaculture, transport, and refrigeration practices.
Fish these days are sold frozen thousands of kilometers from the rivers or ponds they were caught or raised in. Commercially caught or raised fish is blast frozen within minutes and kept at very low temperatures until they are bought by consumers. In contrast, smallscale fishermen and vendors keep their fish supplies in iceboxes with just a small amount of melting ice, exposing their fish stocks to temperature fluctuations that affect the quality of the fish.
Frozen seafood sold at supermarkets has been my favorite bargain for several years. The quality and price have been reliable, unaffected by typhoons, strikes, and calamities. Salmon, bangus, and galunggong Top favorite varieties on the Filipino families' list are bangus (milkfish), galunggong (mac.
