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Best Ginataan in Chicago
“Ginataan means 'done with coconut milk'—a simple instruction that spawned countless Filipino dishes.”
What the real thing tastes like
Ginataan (pronounced: GHEE-nah-ta-AN), alternatively spelled guinataan, is a Filipino term which refers to food cooked with gatâ (coconut milk). Literally translated, ginataan means "done with coconut milk". Due to the general nature of the term, it may refer to a number of different dishes, each called ginataan, but distinct from one another. During the Spanish colonial era, ginataan was brought to Mexico through the Manila galleons which docked in Acapulco. Today, it has become naturalized in the regional cuisines of Guerrero and Colima, like the zambaripao or the tuba. In Spanish it is called guinatán.
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Ginataan is the Filipino umbrella term for anything simmered in gatâ—coconut milk—and the word itself is a straightforward instruction: 'done with coconut milk.' Because coconut milk is such a foundational ingredient across the islands, ginataan doesn't point to one dish but many, each distinct, each bearing the same creamy, aromatic signature. The technique traveled as far as Mexico during the Spanish colonial period, where it took root in regional cuisines like Guerrero and Colima, proving that coconut milk's richness needed no translation.
Order it here when it has
- versatile across many dishes
- culturally traveled and naturalized
- literal, descriptive naming
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