Meh• ree• YEN • dah

Mealtime is just a social construct. Merienda is what you eat in between, mid-morning or mid-afternoon—why not both?—and anywhere: in the street or at home; while sipping a soft drink, fizzy and ice-cold; or sun-bright calamansi juice; or sweet-sweet sago’t gulaman, water swirled with brown sugar syrup, tapioca pearls, and cubes of jelly. (Or tea if you’re being fancy.) To know a culture is to know its snacks, and Filipinos are serious about these tiny and not-so-tiny bites, so much so that it can be hard to tell where snacking ends and a meal begins. All of the recipes here can and should be mixed and matched, in any way you like.