Filipinos in America, who are the first Asians to come here in 1587 via the Spanish Galleon Trade, have two wishes on their bucket list so elusive despite their large numbers and relative affluence: achieving political empowerment and elevating authentic Filipino cuisine to the mainstream American palate. 

Why non-Filipinos in the US would associate us with adobo like it’s our national food is a reflection of our failure to raise the stature of our cuisine to mirror our own identity as Filipinos in America.

I love adobo, but tying Filipino cuisine in America to a dish loses its uniqueness as our own indigenous recipe. Without its own identity, it’s not exotic enough like Chinese or Indian food. To many Americans, it’s even bland compared to the spicier recipe of the Mexican adobo, reeking in oregano’s fragrance.

Our only similarity to Spanish and Latin American adobo is the primary use of vinegar and garlic. The Mexican carne adobada, which is spicier and infused with oregano, can’t compete with my own adobo — with its characteristic saltiness and sourness, complemented by a savory tinge of sweetness from the cocktail of soy sauce, herbs, and spices simmering the pork belly until it sizzles while swimming in its own lard. Or, like in my “bagnet adobo,” the deep-fried pork skin-top glistening on its fat. Yum!

Though it’s to die for, Americans don’t want to see their chicken and pork swimming in oil when served in adobo, even if they love their chicken deep-fried.

We need a dish, like the “Pho” or a “Pad Thai” to differentiate our own Asian cuisine which we cook in a “deranged, but alluring” way, to quote the late food guru Anthony Bourdain. Like Jollibee’s spaghetti, Pinoy style. More ketchup, please!

Food and politics

Our frustrations to elevate the Filipino cuisine to wider acceptance is no better than our inability as a large ethnic group to muster enough political clout in America.

Though there are more than four million Filipinos in the US, second only to the Chinese, we’ve been fence-sitters for so long in American politics that we’ve allowed those who came here after us, like the Indians, to gain a political clout we can now only dream of.

Though relatively newcomers in the US political arena, the phenomenal rise of Kamala Harris who is of Indian-Jamaican descent solidified the political empowerment of the Indians as an ethnic group.

As diverse are the ways we cook adobo, so is the diversity of Filipino-Americans that’s manifested in clans and barrios, disuniting us in our parochial pursuits to suit our personal and religious prejudices. As they say, the only time you’ll see Filipinos in America acting as one is in a line dance, gyrating in unity to the pulsating beat of “APT.”.

Must Read

[Time Trowel] Adobo, and why ‘authentic’ is overrated

If two’s company, and three’s a crowd, then four’s a breakaway Filipino-American organization incorporated with a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. 

Given the thousands of Filipino associations in the US, it seems we are only good at organizing groups but are unable to put up a solid voting bloc to elect one of our own or open our wallets to fund candidates, just like what the Chinese and the Indians do. And now the second generation Vietnamese politicians are already dominating in places where they are predominant, like in San Jose and Orange County, California. For example, even if Filipinos are the largest Asian ancestry group in Hawaii, we are still underrepresented in the state House of Representatives. 

Could it be apathy?

“We lack quality leaders. We had a few promising ones, but they lacked the finances, the networking with other groups, the experience, and the solid support from the Filipino community. We have upcoming young leaders, but they still need a lot of experience before they can aspire for higher offices,” Serafin Colmenares, Ph.D., a community leader and state employee in Hawaii, summed up our uphill battle to make our presence felt in American politics.

It could be apathy, why we are underrepresented in American politics. Most of the time, Filipinos are too lazy or tired to go the nearest polling place or walk the precincts to solicit votes for Filipino candidates.

Our reluctance to take risks while sitting pretty on relative affluence from good-paying jobs seem to have made us indolent and indifferent to flex our large numbers and stunted our desire to venture into entrepreneurial pursuits, aside from putting up the usual “turo-turo” restaurant, serving — what else? — adobo.

“We were not raised to be entrepreneurs. We were raised to be doctors, lawyers — risk-averse careers,” said Nicole Ponseca, a restaurant owner based in New York City, who attributed the “Filipinos’ supposed lack of entrepreneurial skills necessary to make Filipino cuisine recognized in the international market.”

We are risk-averse to entrepreneurship that we’ve allowed the same Mainland Chinese taipans who control our economy back home to capitalize on our basic needs in America like food and remittances, and then profit some more from the money we send home to our loved ones, who, it seems, we have all turned into mall rats.

Maybe it’s the adobo in us. So neutral in taste, it needs more “siling labuyo” (wild chili) to spark active participation in political and entrepreneurial pursuits. – Rappler.com

Oscar Quiambao is a former business reporter at The Philippine Daily Inquirer who now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.