Several days ago, an American friend back in the States seemed confused when I was talking about our Thanksgiving Festival, which was upcoming. He did not believe that there is Thanksgiving in the Philippines. Well, there most certainly is! This is our 5th Thanksgiving in the Bacolod Area of the Philippines and as always, we all had a blast!
There are more than 300,000 US Citizens living in the Philippines, according to the most updated statistics of the US Department of State. Thanksgiving is alive and kicking in the Pearl of the Orient! Some cities with large expat communities get together for Thanksgiving and I have friends who enjoy this type celebration. For me, I enjoy our Thanksgiving Festival at our home in Bacolod, which has been a tradition since 2009. I introduced Thanksgiving to our Filipino family and friends during our first Thanksgiving here and it is no longer viewed as an American holiday. It is annually viewed as a Fiesta in our area of the Philippines!
Every major supermarket in Bacolod City, such as Super Metro, SM and Robinsons, sells turkeys this time of the year and some smaller supermarkets, such as Save More and K-Mart also sell them. A few sell turkeys year round! Butterball and Norbest are the two brands of turkeys that are available in the Bacolod Area. Many Filipinos who spent time in the USA celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines. Last Sunday at Super Metro, I saw a Filipino family buying a large Butterball turkey and they appeared excited!
Lechon Turkey
The above photo is our turkey when it was first uncovered from its banana leaves wrapper. Our turkey was prepared the famous Philippine lechon style! I really enjoy the famous lechon style of roasting and BBQ in the islands but mostly you will find lechon chicken and lechon pork. I hit on the idea back in 2009 to prepare our first Thanksgiving turkey in the Philippines local style, lechon. I bought a 10 pound Butterball Turkey this year, two weeks in advance, and Thanksgiving morning, we took the turkey to a Filipino friend, who is a local expert in lechon. The turkey was stuffed with lemongrass and garlic, a skin rub of herbs and spices was added, a basting sauce of brown sugar, lime juice and soy sauce was prepared, the turkey was put on a bamboo pole and roasted over hot coals. Marvelous! Fantastic! The skin of the turkey is crispy and the meat is so tender and juicy. Wow!
The only dish on our Thanksgiving table that may have been different from the tables back home is the plain white rice, which is a staple with every Filipino meal. Sweet potatoes, fried corn bread, Northern beans and cranberry sauce graced our Thanksgiving table. Maybe the pineapple pie was different, instead of pumpkin pie or apple pie back home. Everyone enjoyed the feast! Everyone is also looking forward to Thanksgiving 2014! It is always Fiesta time the 4th Thursday in November.
No, Thanksgiving is not an official holiday in the Philippines but it is celebrated in the country by many. Together with the famous Bacolod Festivals, Masskara and Panaad, our Filipino family and friends have added Thanksgiving to their list of favorites!
Gary,
This has been the first official Thanksgiving for us and we had 5 Americans in the group. Luckily Mark found a last minute turkey at Robinsons in Bacolod. He didn’t make it to Metro. What a crazy week trying to coordinate with everyone’s schedule. We had a great time at Tony’s Beach Resort about an hour South of Kabankalan.
Dale
Dale,
That is great you hooked up with other Americans and had your first official Thanksgiving in the Philippines.
An American and his Filipina wife in Taboso have an annual Thanksgiving lunch with many Americans and other foreigners in attendance but we have never gone there. Some people we know went this time and they enjoyed it.
We established the family tradition of having Thanksgiving at our home every year and everyone looks forward to it.
I made turkey salad for lunch but took a break this evening from turkey and had fish and chips, er fish and grits! A good southern dish and it really hit the spot. I am arned with 2 1/2 pounds of grits and 2 1/2 pounds of corn meal, so Southern style dishes live on in the Bacolod Area, as I can do a lot with both.
Have a great day!
~ Gary ~
Maybe you could send us all the pineapple pie recipe? Next year I hope to have a full size oven so I can roast a turkey in Pangasinan (because I’m not sure how the stuffing would work out cooked lechon style). Oh for some cranberries so I could make home made cranberry sauce. That is not at all difficult if cranberries are available. Here on Mindanao we see Butterball turkeys in SM and other malls and hope that when relocated to Pangasinan I can still find one next year, in fact I can eat a turkey any time of year.
Grits are readily available in our local public market, but I leave them to people who eat such stuff.
Hello Jerry,
My wife doesn’t have time for baking pies, so the pineapple pie we had came from Merci’s.
The stuffing probably would not turn out well in a lechon turkey. We have a full size oven but I think the turkey is better lechon style and everyone really enjoys it, including us. Nice crispy skin. I also enjoy turkey year round.
I enjoy eating duck, which is very cheap here. Duck is popular at birthday parties in the province and I’ve had it many times.The imported ducks in the supermarkets are P900 or more but a fresh duck here is P300 tops.
I’ve tried those grits from the public market and they leave a lot to be desired. I buy Alber’s brand enriched hominy grits, milled in Seattle, Washington, but sold here in Bacolod. Many people in northern Negros Occidental, which was once known as Negros del Norte, eat the ground white corn instead of rice and they call it “corn rice.” I can actually enjoy it better than plain white rice!
Good luck finding a turkey in Pangasinan but maybe available.
Have a great day!
~ Gary ~
I will be raising turkeys in Silay City starting next month so your Turkey problem in the future is solved š
That sounds great, Raden! Please keep us informed.
Have a great day!
~ Gary ~