The March 17 blog post of Agness Walewinder, a Polish travel blogger, reviewing their Filipino culinary experience as “something not worth repeating” became viral at once. We all know that most Filipinos are patriotic that way. If a foreigner (or even a Filipino) said or posted something bad against the Philippines or its culture, expect a massive retaliation. This combination of patriotism and excessive number of Filipinos active in the online world would equal to a huge wave of response.
For those unfamiliar with the post, I would rather give you a brief background than encourage you to visit their site. You will soon know why. It started with their expectations about Filipino food and how a typical Filipino would describe how great and heavenly our food is. They claimed that before setting off to their new adventure, they also did proper research so they would know what to expect. Then went on to discuss the poor quality of food, how it is unhealthy, extremely cheap and the lack of restaurants around. So I have decided to make this post in response to theirs.
I am not a travel blogger. In fact, I have never been on an airplane before. But I could tell you a thing or two about Filipino food, mostly because I have lived here all my life unlike those two who only stayed here for a few weeks. First things first, I don’t eat apples, oranges and bananas for breakfast. I and most of the people I know here prefer pan de sal, garlic fried rice, eggs or rice cakes. Secondly, if you wanted to eat the best food, you should also need to pay the best price. I guess this part would be true in any part of the world. As their blog describe, they travel cheap. Cheap like $25 a day. That is roughly one thousand one hundred Philippine pesos. I am really not sure if that included their lodging but if it did they would be left with only a few bucks to spare for their food. Anyone in their right mind would not expect a king’s buffet for the price of a peasant’s wage. Last but not the least, restaurants, food stalls and fast foods are everywhere. The real challenge lies on where to find the most delicious food.
I am not a food enthusiast either. I could not claim to have tried many kinds of international food. My idea of “delicious food” might be different from any other people. But one important tradition that my parents and most Filipino parents teach their children is not to say bad about someone else’s cooking. When you visit someone’s home, you eat what they eat. No matter how bad it tastes, the polite response to every meal would be, “Thank you, that tasted really good!” You should never repay other’s hospitality with insults. Thus, I expect a Filipino visit another country and not write how horrible their food experience was. I guess it’s not the same in Poland.
Filipinos, you just have been trolled (again)!
A troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people or by posting inflammatory with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response. Anyone with a keen eye could separate a constructive critic from someone who is just provoking responses from people. Sadly, they have chosen the best target: the defensive, patriotic Filipinos. What could two Polish blogger benefit from this? You could just brand them as innocent travelers who just had one hell of an experience in our country. These tramps wanted Internet traffic; thousands of angry Filipinos visiting their site everyday and commenting on their post. This means banking in more dollars from their site. Hopefully, with our help, they could up their $25 budget to $100 dollars a day so they could get more decent meals.
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!
As more and more Filipinos are reacting against this matter, more and more trolls would look at us as the best target for Internet Trolling. Only a few days after the controversial post, it was even featured in a local news program. We basically gave them what they wanted and fed them even more. Ignore these people. Let other foreigners speak about their experiences regarding our food and culture themselves. No matter how badly, one talks about us, the truth would always come out.
And to Agness Walewinderv, it has been a pleasure providing your blog site the attention it badly needed. Until next time!
