For readers of this food blog who do not read my other blog, I write a twice-weekly op-ed column for a broadsheet. Cultural differences and acquired taste was my column yesterday.
Cultural differences and acquired taste
As expected, after the column about the American blogger who went to the Texas branch of Barrio Fiesta for a Fear Factor experience, Americans made it a point to post comments in my Web log describing Filipino dishes in very colorful terms. “Stinky†was a favorite adjective.
To put this entry in context, I have to say that the comments came from long time readers who absolutely hate my guts. These Americans read my Web log and posted comments regularly to bicker with me and other commenters, but now limit themselves to reacting on entries that make no bones about my views on the modern-day version of American imperialism. In other words, while it is probably true that they do not particularly like Filipino cooking, it is also true that the use of words like stink was merely meant to annoy me. But, I am not an immature kid who regards every negative criticism against my culture as a personal affront — unlike them who take as a personal insult every disagreeable word written about their beloved country.
Knowing they will read the online version of this column (love me or hate me, they read me anyway), I feel the need to discuss the issue of cultural differences in an adult manner. See, a mature adult with a modicum of intelligence knows that there are no universal standards for a good cuisine. There is badly cooked food, yes (some fastfood junk come to mind), but there are no bad cuisines as a whole. We may not like the cuisines of other countries but that has nothing to do with their being inferior or superior. It has everything to do with their being different and our being unfamiliar with their aromas and flavors. That’s how an intelligent adult will see it.
For instance, I am not particularly fond of Indian dishes with their strong spices. But I have come to love lamb biryani almost as much as I love adobo. I find American steaks and burgers downright plain and unimaginative yet I enjoy the Creole rice dish jambalaya just as much as our own paella. I like Italian dishes in general but I still find some Italian dishes not as attractive. Japanese cooking is an all-time favorite yet I have not mustered the guts to try what would be considered the most exotic of their dishes — not yet, anyway. In short, I have acquired the taste for some foreign dishes but not for all the food in any particular cuisine. If I say that I don’t like them because they stink means that I am suffering from a very bad case of cultural superiority complex and have totally no respect for anything that is different from the culture that I know and am a part of. In a way, the ability to acquire the taste for food has to do with a person’s ability to assimilate a culture.
When I posted a recipe for bulalo steak (cooked like bistek) in my food blog, book author and agriculturist Tom Hargrove (of the Proof of Life fame) e-mailed me to say I must have used specially cut bulalo for the dish because it was too meaty. Tom lived in the Philippines for 19 years and was a habitué of Batangas bulalo joints which he described as more like “truck stopsâ€. When I told him that I used machine cut cross cuts of beef shank to make the bulalo steak, his response was amusing and endearing at the same time. It made me smile:
“But I also see losing a lot of the romance (???). And I have to wonder, some of the flavor. I mean, can you enjoy eating bulalo in those small and often not-too-clean Batangas roadside joints without being paranoid about choking on a bone shard that was left when the butcher hacked the shank apart by machete? That’s sort of like going to war, knowing that no one will shoot at you. Or beer with no alcohol.â€
Tom’s reaction perfectly illustrates my next point. The “acquired taste†for food goes beyond a taste bud experience. It has a lot to do with what a person associates the food with. In Tom’s case, the love for bulalo is associated with his love affair with Batangas and Taal Volcano (he wrote and published The Mysteries of Taal: A Philippine Volcano and Lake, Her Sea Life and Lost Towns). Similarly, many of us find our mothers’ cooking (father’s, in my case, my mother couldn’t cook if her life depended on it) incomparable. We compare everything with “how Nanay cooked itâ€. But that isn’t necessarily because our mothers were the best cooks but because we associate their cooking with the warmth and comforts of home.
It is the same when we try dishes from a foreign cuisine for the first time. It is the same when we find ourselves in places and circumstances very much different from what is comfortably familiar. We balk. We reject. We declare them unacceptable. A wise person will open his mind and his heart and widen his horizons. He will integrate the new experiences with the old familiar ones. In short, he will choose to grow as a person. The not too wise will continue to judge everything new and unfamiliar based on the limitations of what is familiar, and lose the chance for growth.
So, will I learn to love the less familiar but more exotic Japanese dishes and the unpronounceable Indian dishes? If I can get the chance to become more familiar with them, I’m sure I will, in time.
***Note: You might be interested in the separate discussion on this column in The Sassy Lawyer’s Journal.
Potato raisin scones
relly
02/24/2006 at 2:46 amSassy, earlier i just happen to have read about a chef who throw opinion about another Nationality. Don’t know if you have gone to his blog already.. i’ll e-mail you the blogname if you wish.
Anyway,” cool”, i suppose you know Indonesian cuisine, they are also using ingredient similar to us,i mean some because some Pilipino recipe’s was patterned to Indo-Malay. We have some Pilipino dishes which americanized like the macaroni salads. Our culinary culture have a multitude of origins and i’m still asking myself what is a real Pilipino Cuisine.
But since we grew up i suppose on the same generation, then this is what we are calling for as Pilipino.
As i have said to my last comment, I am quite amaze how culinary venture expands in our country since i just i came home last March 2005 and just got back lately,we are also changing in terms of cuisine culture. Like the French, they are more exposed to Asian food just about 2 to 3 years ago but i’ll tell you difficult it is to impose our food to the “Troisieme age” meaning third generation people of 50 and above and those who never leave the country. They will not even touch the food.
If you have seen my post on Rabbit Stew the feedback i do not even have to think, as i already know because the same thing as the French will reacted if i put Stew of Dog meats! LOL I respect both our culture and theirs.
I’ll talk more later ..haha.. i want to leave space for other comment… sorry ha.. do not publish this if it is too long! Thanks sa visit sa aking blog!
I still got a lot of things to say! :wink: Cool lang!
Penelope
02/24/2006 at 4:38 amI hope I can sound as calm as you are if ever I get a ‘not so nice’ comment.
All I can say is, The stink that we are talking about is the same stink that brings a smile to a lot of Filipinos. That brings good memories when we are down. To make fun of it is just being insensitive. Some people loves the smell of pork fat. I am a vegetarian. I dont go around saying its disgusting. Or its wrong. (maybe I should). Or I would probably use a better adjective. The issue is not the ‘stinky’ food, its the ‘stinky’ attitude.
Tom Solon
02/24/2006 at 7:08 amI’m curious to see the exact responses of your readers, the pejorative ones. I’ve come to realize, that many readers who post antagonizing replies in blogs and forums, have a lot of time on their hands, and love to pick fights for the sake of fighting. They don’t have much substance to their arguments and conclusions, and can only spew out easy vitriol, i.e., stinky Filipino food, etc. Obviously, many of these people are ignorant Americans. But many of them, believe it or not, are just kids. Or, they are angry adults with huge chips on their shoulders.
Hmmm. chips, shoulders… do you have a recipe for chips and pork shoulder?
romina
02/24/2006 at 7:08 amI’m sorry to hear that you have haters houding your site. I am perplexed that people who say they hate Filipino food would keep reading a Filipino food blog. If I don’t like a website, I just don’t go back. Duh!
I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments about different cultures and different tastes. I’m sad that there are still people who are too ignorant to know any better.
Thank you for your wonderful blog. Please keep up the great work!
Beng
02/24/2006 at 8:23 amVery well said Connie!!!
Connie
02/24/2006 at 8:42 amSige, Relly, say it all and I’ll be there to read everything. :)
Penelope, sometimes staying “cool” can be such an effort. That’s why I let a few days pass before writing anything. :)
You know, Tom, that’s why I opted for moderated commenting after two and half years of free for all bickering in comment threads. I started feeling that I was just providing free bandwidth for people with nothing to do.
At any rate, those kinds of comments… only a few land here. The majority land on my other blog. Guess it’s a magnet having been a political blog for so long until I changed directions.
RE: chips and pork shoulder. I’m sure there’s something in my archives that will serve the purpose. :)
Romina, that perplexes me too. In fact, it really goes beyond food. Many readers… they read and comment just for the sake of disagreeing. Just to be contrary. And they do it with very personal attacks. Some people, really…
THank you, Beng. May kilala kang mangkukulam? :twisted:
dina
02/24/2006 at 9:01 amThat makes me sad and not so proud of my “adopted” country :sad:! But oh well, you can’t please every body. Just like you stated they are probably using this forum to rile u up! But stand proud and stand tall – it probably irks them more that you can remain so cool!
Connie
02/24/2006 at 9:32 amYeah, I agree. Walk tall. Always walk tall. And always keep your feet on the ground. :)
lee
02/24/2006 at 9:41 amof what use are our tastebuds if we do not allow them the experience of the heavenly pungent saltiness of bagoong and dried fish? How can we reach the heavens without tasting a dollop of bulalo marrow on hot steamed rice? Where do we get our energy if not from balut? I am who I am, an offal devourer with an adventurous palate. My senses are glad they came in a person like me.
Connie
02/24/2006 at 11:07 amin fact, lee, of what use is life if we have not the guts to live it to the fullest? :wink:
relly
02/24/2006 at 1:46 pmConnie i had the hard time getting off from the jet lag, this is the first time in my life. I woke up 3, 4, 5 and untill now, eh ikaw kumusta ka na..
“Amalgame” or generelized, an important word that people must understand that not 100% of Pilipino foods “Stinks”.
A filipino trainee came here and we went out to eat with him. It was a self service restaurant, he pick up a sausage like dish, and i’ve been observing him because what he get is a sausage made of tripe… so i suppose you can imagine the smell of it. What is funny is when he dip his nose on that sausage and made a grimace from his face and he hand back the plate to french cook who was looking at him and i smiled, and explain to the cook he did’nt like the smell! LOL, and he smiled. This is just an opinion! French food is popular but like any other culture some are(more gentle word to apply “smelly”) my son do not eat cheeses. I always tease him to dip on his nose whenever we had strong cheeses after our meal. He will say MAMA!!!!!!!LOL
I hope i made you laugh with this Pinoy’s experienced. And i understand your reaction.. don’t think i am so cool, I attack too.
Connie
02/24/2006 at 4:13 pmLOL Did you make your son put his nose in blue cheese? It’s one cheese I can only eat with a LOT of effort. :lol:
logtar
02/25/2006 at 12:29 amWonderful write up… I will have to talk about it myself.
april
02/25/2006 at 1:29 amms. connie!
hey ya. gone and back again. i am becoming a habitue in your blog. but i have one little request. first, i understand that you have diabled right clicking. but could you please, please, make it so that when I click the links, it will open in a new window?
hope you consider it. thanks!
april
Beng
02/25/2006 at 3:04 amMangkukulam? Ah eh…gusto mo gawin ko yan sa haters mo? Hmmm, I’m going to change his sense of smell a bit. I have something meaner in mind but I’d rather not say it :lol:
Kats
02/25/2006 at 3:26 amMadam Sassy,
What can I say. I have been enjoying different cuisines since I turned fifteen (I’m 20ish now) and never in my life did I speak of words against the food’s whole history. Somehow, I grew up making sure that culture and history is respected whever possible even if you really don’t like the food itself. I realized just be reading your post that not everyone thinks that way. I’ve read another article rumored to be written by an american despising everything Filipino. I don’t know but it seemed to me that most “hate” letters came from Americans. I am not saying that all. The ones I’m pertaining to knows who they are. I usually keep my cool about things like this. Although sometimes the vocano just erupts.
I think though that these people (i’m not naming any nationality) are just utterly mean. There said it.
sha
02/25/2006 at 5:54 amstinky? eh what about M love affair of stinky cheeses?
oh well let them call our food stinky.. some people are just ignorant really.
M eats horse meat.. how would the other people react to that?
The Greeks eat LAMBS BRAIN…..
OH dear….am proud of my bagoong!
Leah
02/25/2006 at 7:12 amSpeaking of cheese, my 5-year old Filipino-American niece used to turn up her nose on patis and bagoong, but would eat ‘stinky’ cheese in almost any form. Lately, she has began to acquire the taste for patis and such. We did it by surreptitiously adding a few drops of patis on her food. Now she asks for it. Goes to show that ‘stinky’ or ‘gross’ can be un-learned. I admire your level-headed and mature reply to those vitriolic comments.
Gerald
02/25/2006 at 1:00 pmVery well said Connie! I really enjoyed reading this post. The thing that makes all of us foodies love food so much is the emotional experience it brings us back to. Anytime I eat fish balls, which I think is somewhat of an acquired taste (and texture and shape and appearance) like in Vietnamese pho, it takes be back to one of my first visits to the Philippines where a street vendor would be yelling “pish bolls, pish bolls” and selling them 3 to a skewer.
I love “stinky,” give me a sour green mango and some bagoong to dip it in and I’m a very happy camper.
sachi
02/26/2006 at 3:08 amhaving filipino restaurants in the US that care more about screening filipino channels and karaoke singing rather than serving good filipino food that we can be proud of does not help. we are lagging behind the thais, indonesians, malaysians, and vietnamese in terms of promoting our cuisine.
my work requires me to travel all over Europe and the US and i could only think of two filipino restaurants in those two continents that do not have big projector TVs and blaring karaoke singing. the filipino restaurant in paris has attracted a substantial local following and this has been attributed mainly to good food. its clientele consist mostly of parisiennes which is unusual for a filipino restaurant in a foreign country. the other filipino restaurant, on the other hand, which is located in new york does not serve food as good in paris. i must say that the chef knows basic techniques but in his attempts to fuse filipino cuisine with some other cuisines, it has led to confusion. service can also be so snotty and clearly lacks the egalitarian charms of a lot of western restaurants.
Anne
02/26/2006 at 8:16 amI couldn’t agree with you more! People sometimes are so narrowminded that they cannot see past what they are accustomed to. I’m glad you made this post!
Connie
02/26/2006 at 11:42 amapril, i’ll install a check box to give readers that option.
beng, “meaner” sounds exciting! hehehehe
kats, there is an ongoing campaign by some American catfish vendor against my blog because she THINKS I MAY have cooked a fish that MAY have come from a Vietnamese river which SHE calls the “toilet bowl of Asia”. Nice huh? Way I see it, she’s just trying to sell her catfish.
lamb’s brain, sha? ummmm, i like pig’s brain frittatta. :)
you’re right, leah, if adults don’t show prejudice, chances are the kids won’t learn prejudice.
Gerald, your comment just gave me a craving for fishballs. :lol:
hayyy, sachi, you said it about karaokes and videokes. They detract from the dining experience. They’re better off in real karaoke bars but not in restaurants.
Anne, I’m glad I did too. I felt relief at finally saying it all publicly.
M
02/26/2006 at 3:22 pmI sometimes find it difficult to eat some things when my friend and I go out to eat Chinese food. She’s Chinese and often orders things that are not on the “American” menu. I have to remember to “open my mind” especially since I’ve always been a picky eater. But she knows me and I trust her to order for me. Often times, if I don’t like something right away, I’ll try it again later, unless it’s an instantaneous dislike. Anyway, people should try more foods, they don’t know what they’re missing.
Sam
03/01/2006 at 10:28 amFirst-time commenter, long-time reader
My comment will not be so highbrow as the others’ – I will let your well-written blog entry speak to them!
As a married person I now find myself scrambling to “relearn” my mother’s home cooking. (I often refer to your blog for recipes!) It’s challenge when my husband is reluctant to try some of the more exotic dishes (burro, anyone?), especially bagoong, adidas and patis. Thankfully he is open-minded – I’ve been able to slip the patis in while cooking. One dinner at my Mom’s and Sister’s place, under peer pressure (all of us were happily digging in), he put a few drops of patis on his sinigang and rice. At his second helping, he was voluntarily adding it. There is hope for the naysayers yet. You sure said it, sister!
Connie
03/01/2006 at 12:40 pmSam, I do believe that “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world”.
And, additionally, hubbies are just big babies. Mine is. :)
Pinoy pa rin ako
06/13/2007 at 11:25 am“Stinky?”
Simply calling another culture’s food “stinky” is purely ignorance on one’s part. One does not live on burgers and french fries alone…but then again…maybe some actually do. The new world was discovered along time ago, and this new world is at your neighborhoods by way of their very own different foods and delicacies. However different they maybe from what we all grew up from eating, they simply do not stink. What stinks is one’s inability to assimilate with other cultures and their own surroundings and their hesitancy to try new things. Sometimes we just need to try new things. Where is one’s sense of adventure?
Meili
06/16/2009 at 12:30 amWell actually some Americans I know, mostly the young ones, do complain that Filipino food is stinky. I’m talking real life here, not comments on the internet.
The thing is, a lot of Filipinos are addicted to patis and bagoong. Yes, they do stink. :P People, don’t deny it, it’s true.
Like you, I am actually allergic to bagoong and we never have it in our house. I see a lot of people make comments on your recipes when you don’t add bagoong (your pinakbet and Bicol Express recipes, IIRC). This is actually a very common attitude as well.
When I eat kare-kare without the requisite bagoong, people will just stare at me in disbelief. Sometimes, some well-meaning people will actually spoon the bagoong on their plates onto mine without asking, thinking I forgot to get it at the buffet.
Lol when I explain that I deliberately did not get any because I am allergic they *always* say “But you CANNOT eat kare-kare without bagoong!” They simply cannot believe kare-kare is still enjoyable without it.
We just love those strong fishy smells, what can you do? *shrugs* It’s definitely an acquired taste and young people who have never been exposed to other cuisines will find it stinky.
BTW for those parents who have young ones going to school in the U.S., have mercy on your kids and give them money for lunch (or sandwiches) instead of making them sit in the cafeteria with stinky food…
Connie
06/16/2009 at 8:33 amIf you really think about it, combining bagoong with a peanut-based stew is kind of strange. Like they don’t really go together. It’s just habit that makes most think they’re inseparable.
Cass
03/28/2010 at 1:53 amHi all,
I am an American AND i embrace all the different cultures of America, but I live in a condo above my Pilipino neighbors and the food scent permeates into my condo and does not go away!
I’m not saying our culture’s food is superior, but our food is not strong enough to seep through walls. I’m not being closed minded, I have to live in a state of nausea. I have learned a lesson though, don’t ever buy a condo. Please understand I don’t wish to offend anyone, but when you are sharing walls with someone, you need consideration for your neighbors; Just as I don’t play really loud music at 2a.m., I wish they wouldn’t cook fermented fish at 7a.m.
Connie
03/28/2010 at 11:35 amAren’t range hoods a building requirement in condos?