The Halo-Halo Principle

In the Philippines, halo-halo is the treat to have on hot day. Kids, adults, teenagers...everyone loves this concotion. Take a bowl half full of shaved ice, add some condensed milk, Jello, sweet beans, shaved coconut, an assortment of tropical fruits, a strip of flan, and top it off with a scoop of ice cream. Now you've got halo-halo. Once it is served to you, take your spoon, and mix it all up until it's one big bowl of sweetness.

OK, I'll admit, it's not my favorite dessert. Filipinos tell me that it's because I haven't gone to the right restaurant. I've gotten it at Chow King in downtown Manila, and I've gotten it handmade out in some remote areas of the country. So, I feel like I've gotten a pretty good cross-section of the dessert. It's still not my favorite.

However, when I do an orientation to the Philippines for a team, one of the last things that I do is take them on a field trip to get some halo-halo. The big reason for this is that I want them to try to understand something that is very unique about Filipinos--but more than just eating bowl full of mixed sugary treats.

You see, halo-halo literally translates to "mix-mix", and you see that reflected in the physical landscape. An open-air market will be situated right next to a high-scale mall, or a mansion-type home nestled between some lower-income housing.

More importantly, "halo-halo" can represent an attitude of acceptance--the dessert itself has evolved over hundreds of years, and has influences from the Spanish, the Chinese, and the Americans.

Here's an interesting quote about halo-halo from SEAsite, a section of Northern Illinois University's website that is dedicated to Southeast Asian culture:

"To say that Filipino culture is primarily Western is like taking the ice
cream as the main ingredient of the halo-halo, thereby missing the Asian
substance of the whole mixture. Likewise, to say that Filipino culture is
essentially Eastern is the same as taking only the Asian tropical fruits in the
halo-halo and failing to drink the melted ice cream in the mixture."