Foods Used by Filipinos in Hawaii - ScholarSpace - University of ...

FILIPINO FOODS 11
Negros. The large nlajority from each section came from a low economic
class whose diet was simple and restricted.
From Lasker's data we have estimated that approximately 70 percent of all
the Filipinos who came to Hawaii were Ilocanos, that about 30 percent were
Visayans, and'that less than 1 percent came from Tagalog and other linguistic
and geographic groups. However, by 1930 most of the Visayans in Hawaii had
returned to their homeland or had gone to the mainland United States, largely
as a result of labor difficulties on the plantations. Therefore the estimates on
emigration are not a reliable index of the division of the linguistic groups
now resident in the Islands. Dr. Romanzo Adams estimated that in 1941 about
80 percent of the Filipinos in Hawaii were Ilocanos and that the remainder were
from otJ.:1er linguistic groups, with Tagalogs and Visayans predominating.
The number of Filipinos in the Territory of Hawaii gradually increased
from 1908 to 1931. In 1910 Filipinos constituted 1.2 percent of the total population
in the Islands; in 1920, 8.2 percent; and by 1930, 17.1 percent. A
peak of 17.6 percent was reached in 1931. From 1931 through 1941 there was
a fairly steady decrease because nlany returned to the Philippines. According
to the 1940 census,2 the Filipinos in Hawaii (including both citizens and aliens)
comprised about 12 percent of the total population.
Since 1933 Filipinos have tended to move from plantation work into other
types of employment, and consequently the number on the plantations has
decreased.
Diet and Health in the Philippines
BEFORE THE WAR the food habits of families in the Philippines of relatively
low economic level were investigated by Filipino scientists (19,24, 49, 50, 51,
52), and some of the studies were made in the regions from which Filipinos
now resident in Hawaii came. From all available published data, we may summarize
the character of these food habits and their nutritive significance.
In normal times polished rice constitutes the bulk of the diet for all groups
studied thus far and, with other grain foods (especially corn in some sections),
furnishes 60 to 90 percent of the total calories in the diet. Except in some rural
areas, most of the rice (see pp. 21-22) is polished; consequently the vitamin
B i intake is generally low and beriberi is widespread. Beriberi most often
occurs in pregnant and nursing mothers who, being under unusual nutritional
strain, show the results of the deficiency of a diet which is marginal for vitamin
B i • Rice and other cereals furnish the greater part of the vegetable protein,
which commonly constitutes 55 to 70 percent of the total protein in the
diet. The most important sources of animal proteins are fish and shellfish,
which Filipinos generally prefer to beef and pork.
Dietary studies in the Philippines indicate that vegetables and fruits furnish
a smaller proportion of calories in the diet (about 7 percent) than in the
2 UNITED STATES BUREAU OF THE CENSUS. HAWAII: POPULATION. SIXTEENTH CENSUS OF
THE UNITED STATES: 1940. Racial composition of the population of Hawaii. 1 p. 1941.
[Mimeographed press release dated March 10.]