The American image of a food fights is crafted largely by after-school TV specials and frat party films, with food lobbed across a cafeteria, igniting the type of mass retaliation that seems like a fun fantasy of teenage boys.

Throwing food around is quite different from the Filipino-style “kamayan boodle fight” offered by Dana’s Restaurant and Catering in Waipahu. Here, it is a bountiful spread of food laid out over foil and banana leaves, with diners invited to grab and devour all that catches their eye. If you have a big family or lots of hungry friends, it can be considered a fight to get your fill before all the food disappears.

The feast actually incorporates two ideas, the first being the kamayan style of dining “with hands,” as was customary in the Philippines prior to 16th-century Spanish colonization. It also involves feeding each other by hand as a demonstration of love.

After spotting my Instagram post of the kamayan feast, Fern Palabay Kanda recalled, “I have very fond memories of my grandmother feeding me from her plate in this manner when I was little. I see it as a celebration of Filipino culture that predates the coming of Europeans.”

The Philippines military carried on the kamayan practice as a way of sharing food between officers and soldiers. American soldiers adopted the idea and introduced the boodle fight aspect during the World War II occupation of the Philippines — somewhat controversial because of its roots in imperialism. The American phrase “kit and caboodle,” meaning everything in a toolkit, is said to be the origin of the name “boodle fight,” when contents of soldiers’ care packages were laid out on tables and they’d skirmish over the spoils, standing shoulder to shoulder on both sides of a long table.

The two ideas merged, so today’s community celebrations in the Philippines often involve a utensil-free foodie melee.

Wartime politics aside, the boodle fight is a fun, fulfilling way of sharing a meal with family or friends. Three set-menu boodles are offered, and if none appeals to you, create a customized menu. Think of it as a buffet coming to your table, at a great value.

A SEAFOOD menu ($69.99) comprises shrimp, calamari, two crabs, mussels and pompano or tilapia; or a selection of grilled squid, tilapia, pork belly, shrimp, chicken and pompano ($69.95). I opted for the meat combination ($59.99) of pork adobo, Western-style barbecued baby back ribs, barbecued chicken, lechon kawali and fried chicken with Buffalo sauce. It breaks down to $15 to $20 per person when shared by four. To this we added a order of garlic shrimp ($15.99) that wasn’t particularly garlicky but did offer a bit of variety to the meaty meal.

Filipino food can be healthy if you order the right dishes so we also added an order of stewed mongo beans and now-trendy malunggay (more widely known now as moringa), which included a healthful dose of bitter melon. That bitterness was too much for my palate, so I would recommend the sari sari. Here, it’s a soup of chicken broth full of squash, eggplant and green beans, that can include shrimp ($8.95), lechon ($7.95), or a combination of shrimp and pork ($9.95).

Another good veggie option is a soup of chicken and green papaya with glass noodles ($8.75).

The food arrives with disposable gloves that allow you to grab and go for it.

Some items we’re accustomed to eating by hand, such as ribs and fried chicken. Saucy adobo definitely required gloves, and once we had our fill of the boodle items, bowls, forks and spoons were definitely required for the soups and stews.

Although the idea of a kamayan boodle fight appeals to foodies who have seen everything, the reality is that for most people, it is a special-occasion feast. With advance notice, Dana’s can arrange customized feasts for large parties, but on a daily basis, diners tend to go the traditional route of a la carte dining.

This menu is full of Ilocano and American specialties, although most of the American dishes are relegated to evening orders or daily specials, such as a hamburger steak plate ($6.95) on Fridays or spaghetti with garlic bread ($7.99) on Sundays.

A sampling of a la carte prices: $9.25 for pork adobo and $8.95 for lechon kawali.

For breakfast you can get omelets of adobo fried rice ($8.50); steak, onions and mushrooms ($9.25); veggies ($8); or a Denver-style combo of ham, onions, bell peppers and cheese ($8.50).

ONE OF my favorite dishes here is the shrimp sarciado ($8.99), the shellfish tossed with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, onions and patis, to be enjoyed over rice.

For a more filling dish, try the pancit bihon ($8.95), made with rice vermicelli that gives it a watery, slippery consistency. The noodles are tossed with cabbage, carrot slices, green onions and chopped lechon, and is topped with calamansi halves for a bright finishing touch of citrus.

Calamansi also accompanies fried bangus ($7.75), a fishy fish that’s not for the faint-hearted. When I visited the rib-eye steak (8 ounces $14.95, 10 ounces $16.95) wasn’t available, so I was offered a substitute of butter-fried New York steak that was dry.

A scoop of ube ice cream brings meals to a sweet finish.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.