A culture of stupidity and ginisa mixes
Posted on 01-07-10 · Sassy Lawyer Tags: business, culture, foodI have a love-hate relationship with Twitter. And Facebook. I hate them because politicos are turning them into garbage bins with their campaign slogans that aren’t even too imaginative at that. I love them because the people in my network are constant sources of interesting topics and opinions.
So there I was staring at my monitor, reading humor blogger and former journalist Anton de Leon‘s post in Facebook that he “started his day with a ’10-minute Bang your head on the wall’ session to come up with a good lead-in paragraph for his story” and commenting that that made two of us. I had a column due but couldn’t think of an interesting topic. I had already written about Heath Ledger in “A Knight’s Tale”, posted it as a draft on my blog but couldn’t submit it as a column because the piece lacked the required number of words for print.
That’s one thing about writing a blog AND a column – it isn’t always easy deciding which goes to the blog or which gets submitted as a column first before being republished in the blog. So, I devised a simple formula. I write the piece then I do a word count. If it meets the minimum number of words required in the column, I submit it as a column. Otherwise, I publish it directly on my blog. Simple.
So, I had this piece on Heath Ledger in “A Knight’s Tale” that was too short for a column. I was about to start banging my head on the wall a la Anton de Leon when I decided it was a better idea to browse food blogs to refresh my mind. And… bingo! I found myself on Elise Bauer’s Simply Recipes and, on the sidebar, a link to her recent posts on Twitter, the most decent of which said she “loves this article by @ruhlman agreed, so tired of the assumption that we are too stupid to cook” followed by a link to the blog entry of food writer Michael Ruhlman. In a nutshell, he says that the message being conveyed by ready cake mixes, microwave dinners and ready-to-eat food is that Americans are too stupid to cook.
So I started writing a comment on Ruhlman’s blog but the comment got so long and something told me it was going to get even longer. Suddenly, I had the material for a column. The essence? Since America has been exporting the culture of ready mixes and re-heatable meals for decades, it isn’t just Americans that are being told they are too stupid to cook. The companies behind these products want the whole world to believe that cooking is so damn hard that we should leave the hard part to them – let’s just buy the conveniences they sell.
This culture is very much alive in the Philippines. Go to the supermarket. Check the freezers and the shelves. Freezers are filled with ready-to-serve cakes, processed meat and even pre-shaped beef patties that can go directly on the grill or pan. The shelves are filled with pouches of ready-made sauces, packets of powdered mixes, cans of ready-to-pour whatever-you-like. And while some of these products are of American origin, many are locally made. Among the imported items that come from elsewhere, many are from China and Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. Clearly, America has successfully exported not only its products but the thinking as well – making people believe they are helpless and stupid is big, big business that translates to very serious profits.
Okay, lest I start sounding like an insufferable extremist, let me say that I can understand that modern pantries have a stock of things like milk, cooking oil, patis (fish sauce), dried noodles (not instant noodle soups) or canned chick peas. I mean, heck, you don’t own a cow to milk everyday, do you? Is it realistic to say we should press oil from palm or soya or olives on a daily basis? The average household does not have vats for fermenting fish. Working people don’t always have the time to whip up a pasta dish with freshly made pasta. And opening a can of chick peas is definitely more economical than simmering the darn things for a few hours. Checked the price of electricity and LPG lately?
But including things like packets of ginisa (saute) mix as a regular item in one’s grocery list? Or even adobo mix? Oh, come on. Companies that sell ginisa mixes aren’t only promoting stupidity – they are promoting laziness as well. In fact, they might be promoting laziness first and foremost. And people are buying the idea that laziness is okay – you still get to eat and serve something with flavor anyway.
Flavor? That brings to mind a line from an old APO song: “Ang buhay ng tamad walang hinaharap ni konting sarap man lang.” Because if you think that ready made mixes will yield a cooked dish that is even near the quality of one cooked with real spices and vegetables, then, you’ve never tasted properly sauteed dishes. Or adobo. Or menudo. Or mechado. Or chop suey. And that’s really sad.
Sadder, in fact, because you have already accepted the lies peddled by (quasi) food companies that you’re too dumb to saute or cook adobo or stir fry chop suey. And your loss is their gain because they have made you dependent on them.
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The most idiotic products I’ve seen, ever:
1. Tinola powder
2. Paksiw powder (!)
I mean, come on! I can understand using bouillon cubes (to substitute stock), but TINOLA powder? And paksiw, seriously–that simple dish with more or less five basic pantry staples?
Not to mention all the extra sodium and chemicals included…
Michael Pollan, author of Food Rules, guested earlier this week on John Stewart’s ‘The Daily Show.’ The first question John asked him went something like, ‘If you had an overriding simple rule, what would it be?’ And Pollan’s response was, ‘Eat food.’ There was canned laughter after that but it’s true, eat food. Which is to say that most of what we’re eating in this day and age is not food as it was meant to be. And he couldn’t be more correct in saying that ‘right now, the food industry creates patients for the health care industry.’ Take the cereal, for example. Pollan said that if your cereal changes the color of your milk (turns it pink, I suppose), don’t eat it. How can anybody with the proper set of scruples do that to what is purportedly kids’ food?
Actually, I think man has become so smart that he has come up with more food groups than originally created by God. And like the classic smart ass, he self destructs from his creation.
Nooooo0…. I love fruit loops cereal! I love all those cheerful artificial colors-green, blue, yellow, pink, purple. I guess in moderation should be the key.
Hi Tita Connie!
Love this post! Although I’m one to buy powdered gata, I’m discovering the pleasures of cooking from scratch. Of course, I always subscribe to your Pinoycook site to learn and get some ideas.
(My family especially loves the callos! Whee!)
What really annoys me about these instant mixes is that it makes people think that these mixes are acceptable — that they are good for us because the food is, well, tasty. But looking at the ingredients of these mixes, it’s actually full of salt, preservatives, and our favorite, MSG.
Now I’m wondering. Is MSG really not as bad as we were told it is?
With every food campaign based on some company’s business agenda, it’s hard to believe anything anymore. Basta, rule of thumb ko — pag may extrang chemicals, iwas na.
At may blog ka pala! Great!
That’s the reward of capitalism, reducing everything into a money-making enterprise never mind the humans losing their humanity.
Sci-fi movies about complete meals stored in capsules and computer chips? It’s the future not just some writer’s imagination.
A, the thing about powdered mixes (aside from the chemicals, of course) is that the taste is artificial. And — what — we’re raising a generation who will grow up thinking that artificial taste is the standard? Plus, you don’t get any texture at all. And when people lose the taste for the texture of food in their natural state, a lot of things are affected — the ability to chew and swallow solids and semi solids. And you can imagine the chain reaction.
Jet, you know, Sam moved to another condo from the dorm. It’s more expensive but I bit the bullet because she has a small kitchen in the condo. I feel bad that for so many months, she had been partially subsisting on instant noodles and cereals (oh, the sugar! And her father’s family has a history of diabetes) so when the chance came up for her to have a kitchen, I said okay. She’ll be bringing cooked food from the house that she can just reheat.
Jhay, I am reminded of a scene in The Matrix when Mouse was asking why everything tastes like chicken…
Hi Coney, you seem to be a real smart when it comes to cooking food, the way you talk and make your comments but, surely want to know further… Is it really difficult to believe that companies who create instant food is more convenient than creating food from the scratch? where can you get fresh produce now a days? Isn’t true that fresh produce like vegetables, meats, and fruits are hard to find and expensive? Just simmering “buto-buto” for soup stocks to prepare nice and healthy dish is very expensive now a days? Not to mention the time you will be spending to create a good stock and should be consumed immediately because it will be spoiled in a few hours. Don’t you think it’s better or we should be honest to goodness be happy, because God created smart people to make such formulations to help people save time and money?
According to science, the ingredients used are safe and will only cause cancers or obesity or other deceases, only if we take so much of it. Cancer cells are found in our body, naturally, one way or the other, these cancer cells will find there way to multiply, not because the companies or people who created these instant seasoning or food, but because of our lifestyle. The companies or the people who created these instant food products, I believe, is or was created by God to be smart to help people, not to kill them or make them suffer. Don’t you think so?
You sound like a mouthpiece for those companies.
You even spelled my name wrong.
Business is run for profit. Companies can go as far as people are buying. So it is proven that there is demand for packaged materials.
Too busy at work, too many schedules to follow and the more technologies are bringing new gadgets, the busier we keep on going. This brings us a generation of microwave folks who have less time in the kitchen. This powered mixes is among the types that people easily grab for conveniences.
Truly, we did not stop to pause why this generation is having more cancers than those earlier generations.
Connie,
Your very last sentence is exactly how I feel about our government. They are intent on making us dependent on them!!! Says it all.
jsw
I would say that I’m a person who is sensitive to food taste and food appearance. Actually, I’m very choosy with foods particularly they’re not cooked at home.
When I was working in Singapore, I’ve initially a hard time in adjusting myself in the available foods in hawker stalls. I’ve to cook food for myself. Parating pritong isda or pork or beef (which I always overdone) ang ulam ko o kaya pinangat o kaya paksiw na isda.
My wife sent me packets of Mama Sita’s food mixes and told me that if I want quickies with other foods, just follow the instructions in the package.
I find Mama Sita’s sinigang and kare-kare mix indispensable ingredients in cooking the native foods. Both Filipino and local friends frequented our flat every Sunday to partake with us any of those two dishes which they thought I can expertly cooked. They’re not aware I was using food mixes and, he he he, I’ve felt it would not hurt not telling them, of course, unless they would ask the right question. (Dito na nagsimula ang cooking curiousness ko).
Before my very short comment—let me tell you how much better you look with that updated photo. Parang mas ok ang angle! Good shot!
I have been cooking since I was 12 years old. Believe me, that it takes a certain love for cooking and dealing with ingredients that one can transform from raw state to one that will delight the ones who will eat the work of your hands and heart. What am I saying? More than encouraging laziness, the perpetrators of these convenience items like tinola, sabaw and ginisa mixes are taking the fun out of cooking. Cooking should be fun. And to take the fun out of something that one likes to do is like jumping to the conclusion of a science experiment that one is about to perform… nawawala ang thrill of adventure and discovery.
I attended a talk at one of the more expensive cooking schools in Manila; the speaker asked the students if they knew how to make a sinigang from scratch. No one raised their hands. All of them said they used sinigang mix when making the soup. I felt sad that a cooking school (and a really expensive one at that) wasn’t teaching them how to make the broth properly.
However, I am also admitting that I am going to make sinigang soon with a packet of the sinigang mix. I live outside the Philippines, and can’t find a tamarind anywhere, so I was very happy to get a packet from a friend. I know it won’t be the same, but it will be a taste of home.
Trosp, you don’t really cook, ‘no?
Crisma, perfectly said. And not only do pre-made everything take the fun from cooking, they take away the sense of fulfillment and satisfaction too.
Mila, another option is to use tamarind puree (widely available these days) which is just pureed tamarind pulp. The difference is that it is still up to the cook to balance the rest of the flavors — saltiness, spiciness and sourness — and decide on the final texture of the broth. Ready mixes deprive the cook of learning to do that because everything is pre-measured and pre-determined.
Oh, yes, Connie… so true! Fun, fulfillment and satisfaction—they go together in this thing called “the adventure of cooking!” And the results would determine if the cook had large doses of fun, fulfillment and satisfaction —family and friends would definitely give two thumbs up!
Perhaps, there are cooks who are too concerned with the results that they forget that just like any human experience, cooking can be a source of fulfillment, enjoyment and fun. Too bad — cooking is as much about the cooked dish as it is about how it is made.
You nailed it, Connie—”cooking is as much about the cooked dish as it is about how it is made.” Walang labis, walang kulang! Thanks again!
Saute’ is one of the most beautiful words in the language. Smells amazing too.
Whenever I have a chance to cook at home, I prefer using only fresh ingredients. That goes double for stir-fry dishes and cream-based veggie soups.
I’m having a strange problem with one recipe I’m trying – traditional corned beef. I’ve grown tired of the slop that’s in the canned version. The rest of the ingredients (beef rump, sugar, salt) are easy enough to find, but my biggest problem is where to find saltpeter, or potassium nitrate. Used to give the beef its distinct pinkish hue, the stuff is also used as fertilizer, and is one of three ingredients one will need to make gunpowder.
In any case, I like cooking, and in cases like corned beef, you actually end up learning some chemistry 101 when you put the ingredients together.
Twin skies:
You don’t need salitre or KNO3 or a chemistry set to make proper corned beef. I make mine loosely based Ruhlman’s recipe from Charcuterie minus the pink salt. I brine for a couple of days, simmer the brisket in pickling spices (minus the mace, allspice & mustard seeds), shred the meat with a fork & gisa with garlic, onions, paprika, cabbage & peas. If you keep the meat as a large mass while simmering, it will retain a pinkish hue on the inside.
OnT:
Calling the consumer/s stupid does not fix the ginisa mix culture. Too easy to criticize. How about solutions (or ideas at the very least)? Maybe community cooking sessions a la Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food campaign but at a barangay level—an idealistic notion & all, but if there are NGO’s teaching less fortunate citizens mushroom growing in remote areas of Tarlac, then why not nutritional, cheap, from-scratch cooking lessons? (I mean those ginisa guys actually stage sessions like that in masa-frequented malls & who knows where else. Not such a leap when you think about it, yes?) Those Home Economics/gardening classes in elementary/HS can play a big part, too, I think, in that grand cultural/culinary overhaul…fantasy.
It’s not just the tinola powder or “with real i-swear-kitang-kita-mo granules” seasoning packs, it’s the nuclear red hotdog for breakfast or baon, the after-school “project” meetings at a nearby McDo, the noontime/primetime advertisements with their catchy 3-minute-long jingles selling convenience or “nutrition” in the form of polysyllabic additives.
Re-educating the palate is key. & re-introducing the ginisa-mix herd to what friggin’ abundant & cheap food options we/they have (& okay, since somebody mentioned Pollan, by food we mean something your great-great-great lola would recognize).
Who the heck is OnT? I re-read all the comments and couldn’t find anyone calling consumers stupid.
But I do agree that education and information campaign can do a lot. And food bloggers can do so much instead of merely promoting products and restaurants, indulging in food porn and debating about political correctness of eating, recipes and cooking.
And don’t huff and puff too much — you might blow up right here in my blog. I prefer that you do that elsewhere.
“Trosp, you don’t really cook, ‘no? ”
There are dishes that my wife would not like to cook like steak, mapo tofu, seafood soups, fried rice with tomatoes, popiah, hainanese chicken rice, etc. I’d like those foods and seldom you can find them readily available in most of the eating places in Metro Manila. There is no choice for me but to cook them myself. My wife prefers traditional local dishes like adobo, sinigang, kare-kare, tinola or sinampalukang manok.
In fact, I’ve a food stall here in our place and I’m the one cooking the majority of the dishes.
And yet you find the taste of ready mixes okay? Interesting…
We can put it this way. My CIC can when cooking kare-kare or sinigang is not using any ready mixes but I find her dish to be one of the best. She’s very good in cooking. Marami ang nagpapaluto sa kanya (mechado, kaldereta, menudo, etc.) for a fee.
On the other hand, if I’m the one to cook sinigang or kare-kare, it’s for sure, I’ll be using a ready mix ingredients instead of the traditional one. Even though I can’t replicate my CIC’s cooking by using those ready mixes, for me, it’s almost close to it and it’s a quickie one. (For kare-kare, I use ready mix because I’ve a hard time optimizing the peanut consistency and for sinigang, the “sourness” intensity. All other basic ingredients are still there.)
The way we taste food is subjective if I’m not mistaken. I can say that some of the foods where I’ve used ready mixes have a better taste than what they have in some eating places. As I’ve mentioned before, oks din naman sa ibang nakakatikim with them thinking that I’ve used traditional ingredients.
Yes, the way we taste food is subjective. I know kids who have had not eaten spaghetti except Jollibee’s and McDonald’s and they have become their standards — they can’t eat spaghetti without the artificial color. And I think that’s sad.
I once had the chance to play bahay-bahayan and luto-lutuan with some children living in Krus na Ligas, a slum area near UP Diliman. I asked them what they were cooking and one child said, “Nagsasaing ng bigas.” And then I asked, “E ano’ng ulam ninyo?” And the child answered, “Wala.” I did not at all think that I was being insensitive when I said, “Ha? Bakit wala kayong ulam?” Then finally another child answered, “Ang ulam namin [chicken] cubes.”
I’m in development work and I’m aware of how difficult life can be for a lot of people. But it’s also very difficult for me to accept that even with the abundance of resources in this country, poor families will settle with eating ginisa mixes and chicken cubes just because it will cost them less than five pesos for every meal.
I felt depressed after this incident. It was the only time that I realized that part of the market that these instant products are exploiting include the very poor. And companies that produce these kinds of products not only take away flavor from the food but also the nutrition that a lot of kids in poverty badly need.
Now it makes complete sense to me why the celebrities paid to endorse these products are those with masa appeal like Sharon Cuneta, Claudine Barretto…
It makes sense and at the same time it sickens me that these stars endorse these products knowing full well why its consumers buy them.