Filipino Food / Pinoy Food: History and Influences

Ever wondered how your favorite Filipino dish came about? Noticed how the cooking methods and use of ingredients in one region differ from the other? Have you seen similarities of Pinoy Foods with dishes from other countries?

There are a lot of questions to ask regarding the origin of Filipino Food but I think that it would really help if we first define what Filipino Food is. So, how do we define it? We all know that it comes in different names such as: Filipino food, Pinoy food, Pagkaing Pinoy, Pinoy dishes, Filipino dishes, Lutong Bahay (though this is general). Whatever term we use, Filipino foods (in my opinion) can be any of the following:

Foods that are native to the Philippines (Authentic Filipino foods)
Variation of foreign foods modified to suit the Filipino taste (e.g. Pinoy Spaghetti).