It's undeniable.
Pinoys, whether born in the Motherland or not will always have their brains and taste buds wired for the distinct taste of Filipino food. The flavors of home-cooked meals come at you from all directions, at once savory and sweet, hot and cool, pungent and sharply salty or sour.
However more than the food, I am attracted to this video for the way it globalizes the local -- glocalization, that business and political buzzword that has been used so liberally the past decade. Culturally it is used to define how new communication technologies are catapulting otherwise unknown aspects of a community onto the global stage. Sociologist Anthony Giddens defines it as "not just an 'out there' phenomenon, but an 'in-here' phenomenon" as well.
This video, by a Filipino living overseas named dvalix (according to his YouTube channel) must have created this video on a recent visit to Manila, to see family. Here I am particularly interested with how glocalization has permeated the everyday: using the catchy pop song "California Girls" by Katy Perry, he tries to organize his experience of the culture by focusing on food. Matching his created lyrics to the beat, and creating the particular video to illustrate his meaning, he uses the same device as Perry does in her song: singling out particular practices, activities, even manners of dressing and mundane, everyday experiences to heighten a particular Californian's identity.
Visuals of home-cooked meals and the set-up of the family table with plates stacked high, several cuts of scenes with big broods around a table, eating. Endless visuals of standard Filipino vayan, especially fried lumpia, pepper the music video. People in the act of eating and chewing, and in some instances holding up the food to their faces as if happily presenting it to the world and equating the foodstuff with their identity, seem to underscore just how important or how central food is to Filipino culture. He pays particular homage to the Filipinos' "national food," singing:
"you can travel the world, but nothing comes close to chicken adobo."
Sharing a meal, anywhere, has been considered a social event. dvalix however zooms in on how socialization with food in the Philippines takes them to the beach, where they eat pancit, or how one is sure to eat all the time because of the many parties a balikbayan is invited to. Panning shots of food set up in restaurants imply that family outings are anchored on food.
It is also family that seems to have defined for dvalix what good food is. Video of extended family gathered around the table, and close-ups of them savoring the bites of their food emphasize how lutong-bahay is a phenomenon that many overseas-born Filipinos find particularly quaint -- having no sense of the kasambahay who cooks for them on a daily basis. In one part of the video, he sings about how, when "mama tries to cook, everyone grabs [the food]." He implies how sinigang should be served ("be careful! Don't touch the bowl"), and lays down the proper pairing for "fried fresh fish" with the video showing the no-frills presentation of mangga, itlog na maalat, kamatis at sibuyas.
dvalix doesn't miss out on some unique Filipino practices as well: he mentions drinking coconut juice from its shell and juxtaposes it with drinking Coke from a "plastic bag." Visuals of fresh fish, typically stacked the way they would be in a wet market imply he had a close encounter with a palengke. Activities such as riding a jeepney and tricycle, using a magic mic, and even mixing msg in a pot of water serve to highlight the peculiarities of the Pinoy. All these are only possible outside of tourist-y travel deals, home-grown customs and activities that can only be passed down by family members and the communities they grew up in.
Though some may find these mundane, I believe these are the "everyday" things balikbayans and overseas-born Filipinos crave. These scenes are from experiences that are rooted in the culture of the everyday, the culture that is lived and is struggled with in order to survive. The phenomena of the everyday are alien to these overseas-born Filipinos but they need to find a way to connect to the experiences. The best way for them is to use familiar memes ("California Girls," t-shirts with the words "adobo" and "sinigang") to construct their idea of Filipino culture in the Motherland. As a unique kind of visitor, the experience is compounded on many levels (being a Filipino born overseas, rediscovering roots, discovering unique customs for the first time, similarities with customs practiced "at home" in the United States, etc.).
Taking available forms (pop songs, video, music) to "adequately" express their feelings and insights about the experience as it happens allows them to transmit these "raw" data. While this opens up questions of exoticization and welcomes discussions on constructions of Filipino identity, I believe it is videos like these that will serve to document and create for the global (even nomadic) Filipino a sense of knowing that there is more to what even our local media present the Philippines to be. It is from personal experiences and individual stories that we get more raw, less conglomerate-mediated perspectives of what it is to be a certain identity, or not, having been born/living in one place but struggling with a strong sense of being from a totally different lineage.
The new media and the technological tools allow us to tell those stories, and sing the songs that help define, or redefine for us the Filipino identity. It's also a constant negotiation. Many may agree with dvalix's presentation/interpretation of the Filipino culture, and others may not. In fact the creator may even change his tact after another visit. But I believe it's all right for our identities to be fluid. These content provide markers for us, buoys if you will, in an ocean of information and reconstruction. It's the exercise that matters, the opening up of the discussion, and the exchanges that will allow communities, online and offline, to keep these artifacts of Filipino culture (or any culture fort that matter) alive.
