What’s trending now among netizens on social media is a blog entry by a tourist giving negative remarks about Filipino food.
On March 17, Agness Walewinder created a blog post she titled “I Would Rather Go Hungry Than Eat Filipino Street Food Again” which records their trip to the Philippines and their experiences with Filipino food.
Agness Walewinder, who came from Poland, is one of two “adventurous” bloggers who call themselves “tramps” because they “live without permanent home” and while they travel on budget, they always try to write something about it and share tips on how they keep their expenses low.
As the title of the blog suggests, Agness did not like most of the local food which she described as “packed with salt and oil. She said they also noticed that n the north, the vast majority of Filipino kids and young people are overweight and the reason, according to her, is due to the “poor quality of food”.
The blogger also said they were disappointed because they were not able to find traditional Filipino dishes like balut, adobo, asado, and daing. She also concluded that local food “did not live up” to their expectation but hoped to be back in the country and have a “better luck”.
The blog post has since gone viral on social media, with comments from irked Pinoys telling the tourist have gone to the wrong places to eat.
While many Filipinos, especially those on a budget, do eat only a few pieces of bread from the corner bakery paired with coffee, it is not considered as a “traditional” breakfast.
One commentator Gaki (claimed to be a Filipino), said that a traditional breakfast usually consists of pan de sal (salt bread) or rice, tomatoes, and dried fish or any one of the variety of cured meats like longganisa (local sausages) or tocino (sweet cured pork).
As of posting time, the comments section of Ageness Walewinder’s blog entry is filled with statements from Pinoys and other tourists who claimed that the local food is not all that bad. The blog post has already gained almost 700 comments.