On standardizing or baselining 'adobo'

THIS issue went on to become a topic of national interest after news came out that our trade agency, the Department of Trade and Industry, is considering to standardize or baseline the very famous Filipino adobo dish. In their media interviews, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez further reiterated that "baselining the traditional recipe would serve merely as a guide and is not mandatory... and that this is part of their economic recovery efforts to develop more creative industry exports and own or brand of Philippine cuisines for international promotion." This effort is to help promote our local cuisine to the international community. I am not exactly sure if this is more of a compliance requirement that they need to meet but, in any case, I am reminded deeply of acclaimed historian Doreen Fernandez and her views on food, snippets of which I am sharing below:

"The process seems to start with a foreign dish in its original form, brought in by foreigners (Chinese traders, Spanish missionaries). It is then taught to a native cook, who naturally adapts it to the tastes he knows and the ingredients he can get, thus both borrowing and adapting. Eventually, he improvises on it, thus creating a new dish that in time becomes so entrenched in the native cuisine and lifestyle that its origins are practically forgotten. That is indigenization, and in the Philippines, the process starts with a foreign element and ends with a dish that can truly be called part of Philippine cuisine."