The Passionate Pilgrim’s Musings and Ramblings

Oh, so drained from Yemagate (coined by fellow food blogger Ting of World Class Cuiscene) I could sleep for a week! But, oh, but no it is not the time to tarry!

When I started posting about food on this same blog, did it ever occur to me I’d get involved in this much trouble? Oh no, not at all. Back then the only food blogger I knew was Minnette who had Lafang List. We were just a few former schoolmates hanging out online on each other’s blogs. It was fun and non-stressful. On hindsight, that I would call the age of innocence in blogging.

A little later we got linked to a few other Filipino bloggers. It was still fun and cosy, having real-life and virtual friends comment and laugh together. And then was born the food blog which brought more readers and a larger community. Not that I don’t enjoy the interaction but I have always taken that as a bonus. My main agenda was to document our local cuisine, which nobody writes about. Perhaps born to dig up data, I loved the research - both archival and on the field. Sometimes I wished I had all the time to do just that.

As I got more material, I also got involved in organising a project with the Filipino food blogging community which would later on be called Lasang Pinoy (LP). We had discussions on culture and identity, on food pathways, indigenous cooking methods, migrant history and the like. We were focused on food but were actually on the question of what makes us Filipino. I also had these long discussions with friends. Bea and I concluded how difficult it was to find material on Filipino food anthropology. Doreen’s was seminal but she unfortunately passed on to the next life before the discipline could be developed.

In an attempt to help fill the void, we thought Lasang Pinoy entries should not only talk about taste sensations but let our readers have a sense of Filipino culture. Our strength was in our number and geographic and cultural diversity. We had bloggers from many parts of the archipelago and from the Filipino diaspora. The project is so inclusive that we even invite non-bloggers to participate.

It is this which brought us Filipino food bloggers much attention as a group (not that we didn’t have any following prior to LP). After the 21 August launch, LP got a mention on Newsbreak, A Taste of Culinary Identity in between Bird Flu and the Kamikaze Memorial. Hmmm… the sequence probably makes the project of national significance! Hehehe!

Pretty soon, the Filipino food bloggers combined readership made up modest numbers of visitors who also engaged us in animated and enlightening discussions. More readers meant greater responsibility. That translates to more research, more conscientious kitchen-testing of recipes and a whole lot of other input. It was fine. After all, I used to work for a national government agency and knew the repercussions of innacurate data. I also taught for a while and know what RESPONSIBLE thoughts and words concretely mean. I believed people and institutions who have a wider reach understand and uphold the principle better. But then again sometimes press releases just mean that - on paper but not put to heart.

And so, Yemagate has opened up a lot of things to scrutiny. Letters have been exchanged. Some may treat it as yesterday’s news. Some bloggers and readers are fomenting a revolution because of dismissive and condescending statements. Worry not, bloggers do get infuriated but our angry words will not get out of hand. We are individuals who have a powerful resource on our hands. Thus we know that this comes with a great responsibility - that of writing ethically, without systemic misrepresentations.

We may not have toques nor degrees from culinary schools, do not have a retinue to mind our recipes and to carry out the research but we do contribute to the understanding of our cuisine. Hmmm… perhaps more diligently than those who are paid to do so.

Wake up Birdcat! We need to get back to work.