Before I explain what sawsawan is, let me paint you a picture.
You're sitting at a Filipino dining table. Dishes are laid out in the centre — grilled pork, fried fish, steamed rice. Before anyone takes a single bite, something quietly extraordinary happens.
Someone reaches for a small bowl. A splash of vinegar. A squeeze of kalamansi — a tiny citrus fruit that tastes like a lime crossed with sunshine. A few slices of chilli. A stir. A taste. A small adjustment. Then a nod of satisfaction.
No recipe was consulted. No one gave instructions. That little bowl belongs entirely to them.
That is sawsawan. And once you understand it, you'll never look at a meal the same way again.
So what is sawsawan, exactly?
Pronounced sow-SAH-wan, it's the Filipino word for dipping sauce. But that translation doesn't do it justice — not even close.
Sawsawan isn't a specific recipe. It isn't one bottle on a supermarket shelf. It is a practice. A philosophy. The deeply Filipino belief that a dish isn't truly finished until the person eating it has made it their own.
At every Filipino table, you'll find the building blocks: vinegar, soy sauce, kalamansi, garlic, chilli, fish sauce, and sometimes fermented shrimp paste. Everyone uses them differently. You might go heavy on the vinegar; I might want more citrus and a little heat. The person next to us might add a pinch of sugar to round everything off.
Same dish. Completely different experience. Both are entirely correct.
This tradition is centuries old — and it tells you something important about Filipino culture.
Sawsawan predates Spanish colonisation. Long before the 16th century, indigenous Filipinos were already using palm vinegars, fermented fish, and local citrus to season their food at the table. It was practical — vinegar preserved food in a tropical climate — but it was also deeply personal.
When Chinese traders arrived, they brought soy sauce (toyo), which was adopted and woven into the tradition. The Spanish came and reshaped Philippine cuisine in countless ways. And yet, through all of it, the Filipino table held onto this: the diner finishes the dish.
Food historian Doreen G. Fernandez wrote that one of the ways Filipinos have always indigenised foreign food is by applying local flavour to it. Sawsawan is exactly that. It doesn't matter where a dish came from — once you've dipped it in your own sawsawan, it's yours.
Here's what I find so striking about this, especially as someone bringing Filipino flavours to a British audience.
In the UK, we tend to treat the cook's finished dish as something sacred. Adding salt before tasting raises eyebrows. Asking for ketchup alongside a carefully prepared meal can feel like an offence.
Filipino food culture turns this on its head — and I think there's something genuinely beautiful in that.
The cook cooks. The diner finishes. It's a collaboration, not a presentation. A Filipino host isn't offended when you reach for the vinegar or mix your own dip. They're pleased. It means you're eating properly. It means you're comfortable. It means the meal is doing what it's supposed to do.
Sawsawan is passed down not through written recipes but through watching. You copy what you saw your grandmother do, then your mother, then quietly adjust it over years until it becomes — unmistakably — yours.
That intimacy, that personal ownership of flavour, is what I want people in Britain to understand about Filipino food. It isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about what happens next.
Building your own sawsawan doesn't require a trip to Manila.
It starts with a few key ingredients — many of which are more accessible in the UK than you might think.
A good vinegar is your foundation. Filipino coconut or palm vinegar has a mellow, slightly floral quality that's quite different from malt or white wine vinegar. Worth seeking out in Filipino or Asian grocers.
Kalamansi — the small, intensely citrusy Filipino lime — brings brightness and a floral tang that nothing else quite replicates. If you can't find it fresh, a good kalamansi marmalade stirred into your dip gets you surprisingly close.
Soy sauce (toyo) and fish sauce (patis) build the savoury, umami base. Garlic, chilli, red onion, and ginger add aromatics and heat.
And if you want to skip the from-scratch approach and go straight to the good bit — that's where we come in.
At RoniB's Kitchen, we make small-batch Filipino sauces, pastes, and condiments that are designed to bring these flavours into British kitchens without the faff. Our Garlic Chilli Oil, Black Bean Chilli Paste (a three-star Great Taste Award winner), Garlic Chilli Paste with Scotch Bonnets, Banana Ketchup, and Kalamansi Marmalade are all built to work beautifully as sawsawan components — either stirred into a dip, drizzled on top, or used on their own.
They're a way in. A starting point. Because the best sawsawan is always the one you make your own.
A few classic pairings, if you want to start somewhere:
🥩 Grilled pork belly → spiced vinegar + garlic + chilli (or stir in our Garlic Chilli Paste for a quick, brilliant version)
🐟 Fried fish → soy sauce + kalamansi (or our Kalamansi Marmalade for a slightly sweeter, deeper citrus note)
🍢 Spring rolls → Banana Ketchup. Non-negotiable. Try it once, and you'll never go back.
🥜 Kare-kare (peanut stew) → fermented shrimp paste (bagoong). The funkiest, most essential pairing in Filipino food.
🍗 Grilled chicken → soy sauce + our Black Bean Chilli Paste. Earthy, spicy, deeply savoury.
Filipino cuisine is having a moment in Britain — and I think sawsawan is the key to understanding why it resonates.
It's not just about the food. It's about the generosity of it. The invitation. The idea that you don't have to eat what you're given — you eat what you want, and the table gives you the tools to get there.
That feels very relevant right now.
So next time you sit down to a Filipino meal — whether that's at a restaurant, a pop-up, a friend's home, or your own kitchen — don't wait to be told how to eat it.
Reach for the vinegar. Squeeze the kalamansi. Add the chilli.
Make it yours.
Curious about Filipino flavours? We'd love to help you explore. Visit us at ronibkitchen.co.uk — and if you've ever made your own sawsawan, or have a favourite combination, drop it in the comments. We'd genuinely love to know.
#FilipinoFood #FoodCulture #FilipinoCuisine #UKFood #Sawsawan #FilipinoFlavours #RoniBsKitchen #FoodDiscovery #SmallBusiness #GreatTasteAwards