I have just recently discovered your show and have taken a deep interest in what Anthony Bourdain tries to do in one hour....for one country. I think it is a show with great intentions.

I saw a re-run of 'Philippines', read the blogs of disappointment (all the way back from February) from the Filipino-Americans on the feature. I am myself a Filipino-American, know the Philippines as well as the next Filipino, and found the feature not encompassing enough to show all the good things about the Filipino culture. But, I don't fault your show. You can only show so much in one hour. I am not even opposed to choosing Augusto as a guide for Tony because I think Augusto represents the Filipino as the Filipino has become over the years of foreign occupations. Augusto was the very answer to Tony's question: Who is the Filipino?

Augusto is the product of a Filipino couple who came to the United States aspiring for a better economic future. Augusto is the Filipino who has taken on a new 'face', the face of the environment where he was brought up... a New Yorker talking and thinking like a New Yorker.

That's what the Filipino is...a chameleon, taking on the color of the stimuli around him. The Filipino has taken on as many personalities as there have been world powers who occupied the Philippines. Inspite of all this endoctrination, Augusto looks unmistakeably Filipino, and from the enthusiasm he showed on his application video, is unmistakeably proud of his Filipino heritage. It is hard to decipher what is originally Filipino, but I assure you that culture is there, deep within.

The easiest way to figure out the original Filipino foods is to look towars the Malay food culture. The Indonesian migration to the Philippines created the beginnings of the Filipino culture. The lechon, sinigang, kare-kare and most of the food you featured are all really Indonesian in origin. Over the years, those foods have taken local colors due to local taste preferences and product substitutions. Soy sauce availability, for instance, resulted in the soy sauce-flavored adobo instead of the salted anchovy-flavored original of this dish. (My parents cooked this variation a lot.)

I am hoping Anthony can read my insights into his feature on the Philippines. I get very clearly what he is trying to do on his show: digging for insights into a country's culture from the grassroots, and that's how it should be. The travel show feeds the mind as well. From one CIA graduate to another, way to go, Tony!

i have just watched the Philippines episode. And I agree there are more places in the Philippines to be explored. The one thing that I remember is the episode is mainly kapampangan not that i have anything against it, but their are a lot of regions in the Philippines that have very different cuisines like for example ginataan recipes which the bicolano's are famous for. i guess what I'm trying to say is t heir's a lot more to taste, nice places to go and nice people to know in the Philippines.

And for the question "Who are the Filipino people?" i Remember what an old woman told me when i asked her if she really is a Filipino, she said I'm a Filipino at heart but not in blood. She said also that almost everyone in the Philippines isn't a pure blooded Filipino. I guess that's why Filipino people adjust so well in any country they go to because the truth is Filipinos is a mixed of different nations.

thank you for Mr. Anthony Bourdain because of his good review of our country the Philippines. I've been a fan of the show for years now and ever since i have wished the show would tackle the Filipino Cuisine. hope you can come again and go to other regions or islands in the Philippines. And hope you find a better guide for your next trip here in the philippines.