#MINDANAO

If, like me, you've spent a good amount of time watching Filipino food video blogs, you will not be surprised at how deeply they are now rooted in popular culture. As social and online media have become a pervasive hourly pastime for many, the content provided by these individuals has become part of the daily viewing habit.  

Their knowledge of food preparation and their eagerness to explain preparation techniques also demystify the complexity surrounding food preparation, helping us understand, appreciate, and imbibe the various techniques that once was the almost exclusive domain of professional chefs inside large kitchens. This makes it not only entertaining but very informative and empowering. This is because there is learning to be obtained, and that makes it interesting for a growing number of people. Skills learned from watching these vlogs have improved kitchen capabilities, which can also be used to start new or added livelihoods.

These popular food vlogs show us the variety of Filipino food selections that reflect the diverse origins of many culinary traditions of the locales. From seafood selections of our coastal cities to the fermented delights of inland towns to the flavors of highland cuisines, the Philippines has much to offer the world with pleasing blends of taste and texture. To describe Filipino food, imagine a mélange of east and west, fresh and grilled, stewed, boiled and stir-fried. This makes Pinoy food delightful, yet exotic to the Western tongue. The vloggers make this real for many of us.

Moreover, with the diaspora of Filipinos around the world, the dispersion of Philippine recipes will surely lodge many of our favorite dishes among the preferred cuisines in many countries. With an audience in the millions, these vloggers are key to spreading Pinoy cuisine worldwide.

Moving forward, it would be nice for food vloggers to explore heirloom recipes using ingredients from the southern regions such as the Visayas and Mindanao. Examples are souring agents like batuan and tamarind, calamansi and Philippine lime, chili, and lemongrass.

We can inspire more of our growing culinary experts and food vloggers to develop recipes using coconut milk, desiccated coconut, and coconut oil. Note how these commodities are already products of the value chain, wherein the process of producing them already created jobs. Imagine how many more Pinoys were employed as a result of the processing, marketing and distribution of the products.

Apart from coconut, they can also use other high-quality ingredients such as coffee and cacao, avocado, pineapple, mango, and banana. The popularity of the banana “turon” is an example. We can have banana cakes and bread, avocado toast, and pineapple cakes as part of an expanded Pinoy food menu. The advantage of using local ingredients is that they are readily available in most stores.

Since we can grow these cash crops very well, encouraging more of the 110 million Pinoys to consume products derived from these crops will spur demand as well and create more downstream jobs.

In this light, I would like to encourage you, dear readers, to buy more locally-made coconut products and derivatives inspired by food and culinary vloggers. As the popularity of our Filipino food rises worldwide, demand for local ingredients is also likely to rise, leading to increased exports of such products.