Minnan steaming hot fried rice noodles in the Philippines

Text by Wong, Fisher Hung-yue Translation by Bian Jiajin Photos by IC & CFP

Minnan steaming hot fried rice noodles in the Philippines

Text by Wong, Fisher Hung-yue Translation by Bian Jiajin Photos by IC & CFP

Wong, Fisher Hung-yue

Assistant to the Publisher Chinese Commercial News, Philippines. Bachelor of Arts in Journalism The University of Georgia, U.S.A. Born: Jinjiang, Fujian, China.

作者：王鴻瑜

菲律賓《商報》社長助理美國佐治亞大學新聞系文學士

祖籍: 中國福建晉江

Before Zheng He's Treasure Voyages, the Minnan people from Quanzhou, Fujian, had already crossed the Taiwan Strait to Lvsong Island to run all kinds of businesses.

The Philippines has a fertile land full of rice. The diligent Minnan people dry the rice noodles alongside the fields, produce them in large amounts and supply the karinderya snack stands continuously. The steaming hot fried hometown rice noodles are cheap, delicious, and always sell well.

For hundreds of years, Bihon Guisado has been flourishing with different kinds of ways of cooking created by different nations in the Philippines. This transformed karinderya from snack stands on the streets to luxurious restaurants and grand hotels. Now, from the northernmost Apari to the southernmost Tawi Tawi in the Philippines, people can eat these typical and pure fried rice noodles at any time. What's worth noting is that in the Philippines, in any Chinese commercial district, Minnan dialect is also universal.

On the vivid and picturesque menu of the Max Restaurant, which has over 100 chain restaurants and was established in 1945 by Spanish Filipinos, the Minnan snacks such as Pancit Bihou, Lumping Ubod, and Lomi are all listed, which is also proof of the cultural influence of the Minnan people.

In the 1980s, a boy called Tony Tankaitiong, who came from Jinjiang, Fuijan, opened an American burger fastfood store in the Chinese community in Manila. In order to attract more local customers, he refined and concentrated the Philippines style fried rice noodles, Palabok. Then his new fastfood restaurant Jollibee exploded in popularity. Chen not only kept improving, but also started to accept new investors and adopted the western methods of management. Jollibee has been developing for over 30 years, and now it has over a thousand stores in the whole of the Philippines. The chain stores are now also spotted in Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, California and Canada. In the recent years, the stock of JOLLIBEE has rocketed, which makes Chen Juezhong one of the richest people in the Philippines.

The Minnan fried rice noodles are still popular in the Philippines, and still make a fortune for people.

菲律賓的閩南米粉

三寶太監下西洋之前，福建泉州一帶的閩南人早已乘船過“大溝”(是指現在的臺灣海峽)飄海到呂宋島謀生，經營各式各類的行業。應地而生的“卡蘭”小吃店(菲名:karinderya)更是遍布每條街道。

菲律賓土地肥沃，米稻充盛，勤勞的閩南人在田邊曬起米粉，大量生產，成品源源不斷供應“卡蘭”小吃店，熱騰騰的家鄉炒米粉價廉美味深受大眾歡迎。

數百年來，炒米粉(菲名: Bihon Guisado)在菲律賓不同民族不同烹飪方式下百花齊放，也由路邊“卡蘭”小吃店走進高級餐館以及五星大酒店。現在，由菲律賓最北的阿巴里(Apari)到最南的達威達威(Tawi Tawi)，隨時可以吃到地道的炒米粉。值得一提的是，菲律賓由北至南，華人商業區，至今全部可以用閩南話溝通。

由西班牙裔菲律賓人于1945年創辦的數百間連鎖餐館 Max Restaurant 精致圖文并茂的餐牌菜單上，炒米粉(菲名:Pancit Bihon)，潤餅(菲名:Lumpiang Ubod)，鹵面(菲名:Lomi)等閩南小吃均列其中，閩南人的文化影響印證一切。

上世紀80年代，一個名為陳覺中的福建晉江小伙子在馬尼拉市華人區開了一間美式漢堡快餐店，為了吸引本地食客，他把菲式米粉“巴拉博”(Palabok)精巧化，濃縮化，結果他的“快樂蜂”快餐店(JOLLIBEE) 一炮而紅。30多年后，現有逾千間“快樂蜂”餐店遍布全菲，中國香港、新加坡、文萊、美國加州、加拿大等地均有分店，陳覺中也晉身菲國富豪行列。

閩南炒米粉持續在菲律賓熱賣，繼續在為人民創造財富。