[As nurses, caregivers, construction workers or even entertainers, the appeal of Filipinos/Pinoys in growing numbers of walks of life is nearly universal. Why doesn’t this appeal translate to Filipino cuisine or dishes? I don’t own the video above, maraming salamat]
THE VERY FIRST proper Chinese restaurant (in New Zealand) I dined in, didn’t distinguish from what I’d come to expect from all others. The omnipresent oyster sauce or leeks aroma, the tinkle and clatter of chopsticks, ceramics and cutlery, even the chatter and buzz of different tongues and the radiant lighting everywhere in place, all reminded me of countless other Chinese eateries anytime and anywhere before in my life.
Food was as always both predictable and magnificent: fried rice and noodles, sweet sour pork and roast meats with cold cuts, every delightful point on the taste spectrum exploding without stopping, and every other sense tickled and assaulted, your eyes, nose and even skin tingling from all the pleasures of eating Chinese.
Indeed, in my long-ish life as a boy, a young man, a husband, father, OFW and migrant, the best memories, in fact the standout ones involve eating, particularly eating out. And of course, the memories of eating out are overwhelmingly dominated by eating out in Chinese restos, in both the Philippines and New Zealand.
It seems that every occasion, every triumph, and every heartbreak until recent times would be celebrated in a way that would appeal to all, and likelier than that, it would involve eating, and eating together.
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Among the countless celebrations I enjoyed with family and friends, the thought crossed me: Why did we almost always end up eating in a Chinese resto? For sure, there have been Malaysian, Vietnamese and Thai choices too (in order of frequency) but overall the overwhelming majority of our ultimate cuisine preferences have been yumcha (what we more commonly refer to as “dimsum” back home in the Philippines) or if you must quibble with terminology, Chinese takeaway.
[Note : two points: the nearly universal image most Filipinos carry with us of “Chinese dishes / cooking” is almost certainly Southern Chinese cooking, notably the Cantonese style popular worldwide. Secondly, Southeast Asian food is similar to Filipino cooking, which is itself influenced by Chinese tastes. ]
To take this thinking a step further: for the 247,770 who identify as ethnic Chinese in New Zealand, there are around 1700 Chinese establishments (hopefully most of them restos and takeaways); for the 239,193 Indians in NZ, there are more than 500 Indian restos and takeaways. But for the 72,612 ethnic Filipinos who based on the 2018 survey, identify as such, there are 20-ish Filipino themed eating places, based mostly in Auckland. (thank you 2018 NZ Census and tripadvisor for the data).
Clearly there is a disparity in availability here. Diners both Chinese and otherwise enjoy their home country’s cooking, ditto for the Indians. Pinoys need to google Filipino eating places within a five- to 10-km radius, check the pricing, and then decide if it’s worth the meal.
Put another way, for the Chinese (and those who love their cooking) who number nearly three out of 10 Asians, there is a 1:200 ratio of restos. For the Indians, a one in 400 . The Filipino relationship between potential diners and kainan (eating places) is not even one percent of the Indian armies of chefs and cooks, and not even a tenth of a percent of the universe of Chinese restos and takeaways.
[another thing to clarify here guys: there are at least eight different regional Chinese cuisines and four for Indian cuisine, so it’s probably inaccurate to generalize. ]
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Why is this so? I’ve tried to rationalize why there are compared to other nations’ offerings, so few of our own:
Eating Pinoy is an acquired taste. By pure coincidence I got an explanation of why there aren’t more Pinoy restos around from one of the most successful members of the Filipino community, who’s been trying his hand at his native Pampango cooking.
Noel, subukan mong ipatikim sa dayuhan ang pakbet o dinuguaan, sa tingin mo ba magugustahan nya yun? [ Noel, try offering to a Kiwi pakbet and blood pudding, do you think they will appreciate those dishes? ] The Indian menu has curry, Thai has pad thai, and other popular cuisines have dishes that are universally tasty so as to appear on many menus. We have adobo, sinigang and tinola, appealing to ourselves but a hardsell to others, unless you offer them in an Asian “fusion” style with less intensity. I admit I didn’t have an answer to that.
Of course I love eating Pinoy, I love my own. But I can’t speak to other races / nationalities enjoying the same, I was brought up on Pinoy food day one. Also, if the potential diner was marooned on a desert island Pinoy dishes would be a no-brainer, but if there were other choices…
“I can cook this at home” mentality. How many times have you heard your wife / yourself say while eating out,”I could’ve done this at home?” Of course the outcome wouldn’t have been as tasty or successful, but you would capture the essence of the dish. And this is the summary of the problem most kabayan have with eating Pinoy: we are too familiar with our fare of the evening, and we will inevitably compare what we’re eating with a million other experiences of the same dish in our live previous. How can the chef compete?
Crab mentality. Besides the mentality described above, you know what’s ugly about our own people right? We can’t stand to see a fellow Filipino get successful, right? HINDI PO, I respectfully disagree. It’s not that we don’t want to see our countrymen get a leg up in life, it’s alright. What we can’t stand is to see someone get TOO successful, to the extent that we can’t approach or relate to them anymore, and vice-versa.
That’s why we patronize and buy at Filipino establishments, but only while they’re Mom and Pop affairs. We don’t want them to shine too much, lest they become too arrogant and refuse to see where they’ve come from. Am I making sense?
With a mentality like this, are we surprised to see so few of our compatriots do well in New Zealand? We who are expected to support, promote and back them up, do so grudgingly and feebly, until these businesses are overtaken by their Chinese and Indian rivals. And this mentality extends for sure to Pinoy restos and eateries. As evidence, just watch the graveyard of closed-up and insolvent Pinoy businesses that started out so well.
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We just came up with this before night shift, so please forgive us for either being too opinionated or not backing it enough. Ninety-nine percent of what you just read is purely my thoughts and experiences alone, your feedback on this interesting issue would be invaluable. In advance, maraming salamat po.
Your thoughts?
Just letting you know that me and my family when we eat out we look at price, taste, healthy, a lot of choices, and quality of service. I noticed that foods in most Filipino restaurants cost more than Chinese or Indian restaurants. I can’t explain why but it’s an observation that I heard from others as well.
And if I spend more money on foods, my other main consideration is the foods be nutritious which means a lot of veges and cook in a healthy way and just right – not overcook. No offense but veges are not a common ingredients in many Filipino recipes and if you’re lucky to find veges they are over cook and swimming in oil or fats.
I don’t want to sound nit-picking so I won’t say everything. My point is is I don’t look at race and jealousy when it comes to foods. If for example I come into a restaurant with poor service , I would guarantee there’ll be no next time no matter what.
Thank you for hearing me out.
Thank you Ping. I can relate with your family’s attitude and I appreciate the comment and sharing of your experience. Apologies for the late reply and thanks for visiting our blog site! 🙂
Hahaha, thank-you Rey !
A very interesting and controversial item bro.