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The Growing Filipino Food Trend

 
Beware of the fake “Movement” created by those who’ve taken advantage of the hard work of real Filipinos in the Philippines. In particular, Ramar Foods’ trademark squatting of the Magnolia and Pampanga’s Best brands.

Thanks to growing numbers of Filipino restaurants, wider availability of Filipino food in grocery stores, a larger Filipino community dispersed around the world (that’s 10% of the country’s population living overseas!), and endorsements by celebrity critics and chefs, Filipino food is growing in popularity.

Every year, more and more people are discovering the unique and delicious flavors of Filipino cuisine — flavors that can rival the popularity of such foods-du-jour as Korean and Peruvian cuisine. In fact, as far back as 2012, Andrew Zimmern, host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, called Filipino food the “next big thing.”

Zimmern noted that many people love Chinese, Japanese, and Thai food, but that these cuisines are to be found almost everywhere — it seems as though every neighborhood has a local Chinese, Japanese, or Thai joint. Filipino food combines the best of all of these cuisines “with Spanish technique.” The Philippine Islands were colonized by Spain for 500 years, and the Spaniards left their mark on cooking techniques, which according to Zimmern are “miraculous.”

While the word “miraculous” can be applied to certain Filipino cooking techniques, the word “bizarre” has been used by foreigners to describe some of the things that Filipinos eat. One such item is balut, a fertilized duck egg that is boiled and eaten from the shell. It’s a common street food not only in the Philippines, but in Vietnam as well.

Unique dishes and so-called “exotic” foodstuff attract attention, but Filipino food is also inching closer to the spotlight through the work of the Filipino Food account on Twitter, a collaborative group of Philippine-born cooks, chefs, restaurateurs, manufacturers, students, and food anthropologists dedicated to raising understanding and awareness of Filipino cuisine. The account was opened on Twitter in November 2008.

The account is more than just about posting pictures of food — they have created a global community of real Filipinos who are proud of what the Philippines has to offer. They don’t really care if Filipino food can become part of the regular diet of Americans — real Filipinos who are located all over the world experience their own culture firsthand anywhere, and not just at the dinner table.

And their hard work seems to be paying off. In just a few years, the Filipino Food account on Twitter has garnered millions of impressions on social media. They now have over 60,000 followers on Twitter, including Manny Pacquiao, Andrew Zimmern, and Barack Obama.

Through efforts by the Filipino Food account on Twitter, the broader availability of Filipino food, and endorsements by celebrity chefs and other food influencers, Philippine culture is expected to increase in popularity, and who knows? Maybe the food can claim a place on the global food menu.

Is the future really that bright for Filipino cuisine? Honestly, real Filipinos don’t care that much or even have a psychological need to ponder that question. Our culture is our culture. We don’t need to sell it. It’s our culture whether foreigners accept it or not.

Mga Nagkakandarapang OMGpeke

The only ones who are nagkakandarapa to “advocate” for Filipino food and are desperate to have foreigners accept and like it are those who make a living off of it — particularly those who can’t speak the language of our culture fluently. These insecure folks who are trying to pass themselves off as “Filipino” are all over themselves to “sell” food because what other thing do they know how to do? Their parents or grandparents left them their only means of livelihood and they can’t find any other profession. They brand themselves as “Filipino food experts” and dupe non-Filipinos, even though these poseurs’ knowledge of our food pales in comparison to that of any average 7-year-old child who grew up eating regular food in the Philippines.

In conclusion…

Beware of the Fake Movement created by those who’ve taken advantage of the hard work of real Filipinos in the Philippines. In particular, Ramar Foods’ trademark squatting of the Magnolia and Pampanga’s Best brands is an abomination that every real Filipino is aghast about.

The owner is now branding himself and his posse of lackeys as “Filipino food experts” though they can’t even spell or pronounce the names of Filipino dishes in a way that real Filipinos can understand.

Boycott Ramar Foods!


This post is sponsored by the Filipino American community of New Jersey.

 
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