British chef Jamie Oliver has hit the headlines again. He criticized his fellow Brits by saying the quality of British cuisine has deteriorated because the Britons prefer to get drunk rather than eat. Based on comments posted in The Telegraph, some of his countrymen agree while others are furious, one even calling Oliver a “self-opinionated sanctimonious prig.”
What interests me is whether there may some truth to the observation that a hard-drinking people necessarily develops an inferior cuisine. I try to recall all the criticisms that have been thrown against Filipino cuisine — its redundancy, its lack of color, the absence of sophistication and imagination — all of which, some say, are the reasons that Filipino cuisine never made it to the global culinary stage the way Vietnamese, Malay and Indonesian food have during the last decade. Has peasant cooking not evolved into something more exciting because the peasants are more interested in their tuba, basi and lambanog? Does hard drinking totally addle a person’s brain and do his taste buds become so numb that good food and bad food become interchangeable for him? I think of Anthony Bourdain, a self-confessed former (?) alcoholic and ex-drug abuser, and I can’t say it is necessarily so.
But alcohol drinking is a part of just about every culture in the world. Even in countries with internationally celebrated cuisines like France, Italy and Japan, alcohol figures prominently. The French and the Italians have their wines; the Japanese have their sake. Yet, these countries boast of cuisines loved by the entire world. Perhaps, it is an issue of exclusion. When people fall in love with alcohol to the exclusion of food, the quality of food suffers as it gets very little love and attention. But when alcohol and food are made to complement one another, the result is the development of superior alcoholic drinks and food. The French seem to know that very well.
So, is there really a connection then between bad cuisine and a people who like to drink, or is it all in Jamie Oliver’s mind? Perhaps, he’s just drumming up publicity for his planned TV show in France.
i dont know about that, my husband would always open a bottle of wine before he’d start whipping delicious meals for the whole family; and when he’s finished, the bottle would be half full — and yes, all of his meals tastes great. am sure it’s only on Oliver’s mind
There may be some truth to it. Australians, Germans and Russians are all hard drinkers and not exactly known for haute cuisine.
jamie oliver could be right in saying that the english prefer drinking over eating. london is full of pubs with overflowing people drinking practically on the sidewalks! the last time i was in london, i did pub crawling with a group of aussies (who are ethnically the same as the brits) and boy could they drink!
although gordon ramsay has made a lot of headway in developing modern english cuisine, the average englishman on the street would prefer to eat curry over spuds. these days, indian curry has replaced fish and chips and indian cuisine has been adopted as the national cuisine .
the french, on the other hand, are not hard drinkers and a glass of wine is enough for a meal. i must say that during my stays in paris, i rarely see a drunk parisian but french peasants are known for their fondness for pastis.
i’m a huge bourdain fan. the guy’s an excellent food writer but i cannot say the same thing for his food. the new york city restaurant (les halles) where he worked as an executive chef only took off when “Kitchen Confidential” made it to the New York Times best-sellers’ list and it wasn’t exactly known for its food.
Perhaps it is because the culinary profession in the Philippines is not given the same respect (or even reverence) when compared to other countries. This discourages the most creative Pinoys from considering it as a full time endeavor, and thus opting for the more prestigous Business, Medical or even IT fields instead.
Only if we reward the culinary field with the respect and attention that it deserves can we elevate our cuisine to compete with the best of what the world has to offer.
raqgold, baka naman kengkoy is spitting wine into the dishes. remember my crema de fruta
siguro nga there would only some relevance if the food and the spirits will have to complement each other. i can’t remember (if there was to remember) what dish will go perfectly with tuba, lambanog and basi. ang alam ko lang is sisig at san mig light
but then again, not all sisig are made the same. hahaha
I tend to think too that so long as alcohol and food stay complimentary, they actually help each other out. LOL There is a world of difference between drinking and getting drunk.
Kapihan, it might be related to colonial mentality too. Most Pinoys are more ready to glorify foreign cuisine than out own. Or, perhaps, a lack of knowledge of our own agricultural produce. First and foremost, it is the indigenous agricultural produce that shapes cuisine.
I have heard ‘colonial mentality’ bandied about a lot lately. Independence was a long time ago — can that really still be a valid reason for some of the societal norms and preferences?
Independence on paper is not real independence. Considering how Philippine economy has always been on the wrong side of dependency (made worse by joining the WTO), state policies and laws are never independently made. And that trickles to the man on the street.
I agree that, most likely, drunk (as in lasing talaga) would not cook delicious food. I would not know which is harder- to drive or to cook under the influence. However, speaking for myself as a heavy drinker but not an alcoholic, I can tell you that once you’ve cultivated the taste for food, the alcohol in your taste bud will not affect your being a food connoisseur.
I think you’re right–it depends on how much you consume.
But how does that translate to a preference in appearance?
Not appearance, Miguk, but mentality. When you have an economy that says you have no real choice but to allow foreign food products to flood the market, at the expense of practically killing local industries, you have people thinking of food in terms of foreign products.
It’s cool to eat foreign cuisine but they are not all that healthy or nutritious. On the other hand, our Filipino cuisine which utilize fresh vegetables, fish, and chicken are actually less expensive to cook, in addition to being nutritious and healthy. The more we consume foreign sounding food, the less we help the Filipino farmers and fishermen, and the more richer the rich people will become. Think about it.
if i may, one has nothing to do iwth other.
like apples & oranges.(luv d’cliche )
alchohol consumption statistics of a demographic, fuzzy at best,
to overlap into a melting pot, literaly, of cusine of several thousand islands, relatively, far-flung and isolated for the most part, till early 20th century,
that somehow evolve onto the national palate,
is like what a drunk and glutton have in common, gas.?
There was something to do about appearance and colonial mentality before if I am not mistaken.
It’s in another thread, Miguk.
Dear Ms. Connie,
I love browing ur recipes. Since I was in my high school days, I am dreaming of having my own baking equipments and bake.But to no avail, I do not have even one. Until now that I have my own family, I make different kinds of desserts. I have my own version of crema de fruta, taking from what I have learned from my friends. Can you give me a good recipe for my Crema de Fruta filling.Tnx and more recipes to browse.