DTI Clarifies: Standards for Filipino Cuisine Intended for Int’l Promotion

As the announcement for the “standardization” of traditional Filipino Food was announced and received heavy social media flak, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) needed to clarify that the initiative was for the international promotion of Filipino Cuisine and added that the standardization is not to redefine what adobo is in different regions.

“The attempt is to define what we will promote internationally and not redefining what adobo is to different people now,” the DTI said in a statement.

This comes as the the announcement to standardize Filipino cuisine by the government was met negatively by netizens in social media.

What is happening?

The Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) created a technical committee on Filipino dishes that will be tasked to standardize Filipino cuisine for international promotion. DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said that the technical committee will come up with a guide on basic Filipino dishes.

BPS director Neil Catajay said that he standardization of Filipino dishes such as adobo maintain the authentic Filipino adobo taste as multiple variations of the dish are constantly published online by food writers, bloggers, and vloggers.

The purpose of the standardization is for the regular adobo not to be mistaken for “paksiw or humba,” DTI added in their statement.

DTI clarified further in a statement that the best adobo will always be the home-cooked version that Filipinos have been enjoying for hundreds of years.

“To many Filipinos, the best adobo is the one ‘cooked at home’ or ‘cooked by their parents or lola (grandmother),'” DTI added in their statement. (GFB)