3 months ago I just learned that the common Taigi word in Southern Taiwan for tomatoes, kam-á-bi̍t, actually came from Tagalog. It essentially has been corrupted 3 or 4 times, from:
That got me thinking, if the word and possibly the fruit came to Taiwan from the Philippines, could the Southern Taiwan’s favorite tomato dish kam-á-bi̍t ùn tāu-iû (tomatoes with a ginger and thickened soy sauce dip) also have originated in the Philippines?
Then I came across Filipino Salsa, Kamatis, Sibuyas, at Patis, which is a salsa made with tomatoes, chopped onions, and fish sauce. A very similar dish, ginisang kamatis just stir-fries the ingredient.
If you change out the onions with ginger, and the fish sauce with soy sauce, that’s already very close to kam-á-bi̍t ùn tāu-iû.
So that would mean ultimately kam-á-bi̍t ùn tāu-iû came from a line of Mexican salsa through the Philippines?
