I’ve always thought of tilapia as local fish and tilapia as a local word. Growing up here in Laguna, I would spend summer vacations with my cousins in our grandparents’ house in San Pablo, and tilapia – likely from nearby Sampaloc Lake – was a usual part of our meals. It came in all kinds of preparations, from ginataan to pinto, and our ever-experimental Lola Rosing loved trying out new recipes. But I especially liked it inihaw, or when our Lolo Delio or Ate Cely would simply grill it in charcoal under the rambutan and lanzones trees, wrapped in banana leaves.

Lasco, G. (2024, August 2). Tilapia, a history. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A10.