Still Filipino at Heart and Buds

          In the Philippines, when one talks about traveling, the most definite thing that comes out of a Filipino mind, including me (of course!), is going overseas. But it is impossible for a traveler to encounter some forms of hassle along the trip. So when I found a literary article that tackles a certain trouble when going abroad, I immediately read it. The title of the article is “Where’s the Patis?” by Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil.

Here is a summary of the article:

          "A Filipino’s greatest dream is to be able to travel different countries. Once he/she steps on foreign soil, he/she could immediately cope up with the new culture, including the way the foreign locals dress, act, eat, etc. But one thing that a Pinoy will have difficulties coping up with is food. While in a foreign country, a Filipino will definitely long for the delicious taste of Philippine cuisines, for his first sense of security is his/her local sense of taste. The big problem is that there is no “patis” available abroad.  There are foreign dishes that are quite similar to some Filipino dishes like the venison, which is similar to the tapang usa, and the escargots, which are similar to snails, but the tastes are still far different. A Filipino will also have trouble finding a restaurant overseas that serves rice as a part of the main dish because in most countries, particularly in Europe and America, they consider rice as a vegetable, and the preparation of rice in such countries is not the same as how we prepare rice in the Philippines. Having no available Filipino dishes in a foreign country’s local restaurants, a Pinoy searches for a Chinese restaurant because Chinese dishes are deeply inculcated within the Filipino culture, but only to find out that the dishes are also different from the ones available in the Philippines. But better than a Chinese restaurant, a Pinoy will definitely search every busy sidewalk for a Filipino restaurant managed by, of course, a fellow Pinoy.” (Full essay available HERE)

        A creative technique used in this selection that caught my attention is the use of the word “patis”. For most of you, the word patis will just look like an ordinary word that describes a Filipino-made condiment, and doesn’t actually have a deep meaning in the text. But for me, “patis” was used to symbolize the love that the Pinoys have for their country’s delicacies, which contains distinct tastes from foods available abroad.

          I think, the message that the writer of the essay would like to convey is that, even though there are Filipinos who would choose other countries such as those in Europe and in the Americas over their own country, which is the Philippines, and to practice foreign traditions over their native ways, the good thing is that there will always be a part deep inside them that will always make them a true Filipino. In the essay’s case, the “part” that makes a Filipino always a Filipino is their taste for food. Wherever they are in this world, they will always remember the taste of their native land, and will always crave for it. Other people might also think that the message that the writer would like to convey in her essay is homesickness. A Filipino thousands of miles away from home just wishing to get back to his/her native land, instead, satisfies his/her loneliness through the different Philippine cuisines that are available abroad.

          But the “Pinoy” in the essay doesn’t necessarily represent all the Filipinos that are currently overseas. It was not mentioned there that there are also Filipinos who hold a grudge for their country. If most of them would like to remember the taste of their native land, other Filipinos actually prefer to remember nothing about their origin. For them, it brings them pain whenever they remember that they have the blood of a Filipino.

          Back to the topic. I think, the reason why the writer of the essay would like to convey this kind of message is to give hope to the nationalistic people of the Philippines who are losing faith to their countrymen abroad, in order to give them light that the Filipinos in other countries, who seem to have traded their native culture to some foreign traditions, are still Filipinos at heart and buds.