origins of the Pinoy queso de bola

Holland shop with assorted Edam cheeses

What’s shiny, red, and almost always bound to make an appearance around the holiday season? Not Rudolph’s nose, but queso de bola - a cheese hailing from Holland, where it is known as Edam - named after its city of origin. 

In the Philippines, though the labels on balls of Edam still tout the marker “Imported from Holland,” queso de bola is inseparable from Noche Buena, and Noche Buena is just Filipino tradition - though it came from the Spanish, Filipinos have made it our own. 

Though the story of queso de bola is part of a much larger history, at face value, queso de bola is definitely distinctly Filipino.