Kanto Journal 3 Volume 2 2017

The debate of relating a food brand to one’s nationalism as a good
thing or a bad thing is an open open-ended question.
Their products? Halo-Halo Sundae? Hainanese Chicken?
Maple Iced Coffee? All of these brands embrace their
respective and serve their local cuisines on their menu, it’s
pretty hard to miss the nationalism there.
While memes are not (yet) accepted as a basis for
building one’s case, allow me to do so just this once. The
Twitter-verse reacted to this year’s Miss Universe Best in
National Costume. After all, Ms. Malaysia did have her own
backdrop with her dress that weighed around five kilos,
points for her. What shocked me however is that one suer
said that next year, the Philippine candidate fighting for the
crown should wear a Jollibee costume. A beautiful lady in
a red bee costume is far from the maria clara gowns with
the Imelda Marcos hair-do, but who can argue? Putting
our candidate in that costume just might win over Filipinos
around the world, and hopefully the panel of judges would
get the inside joke. We have related this brand too much to
the point that we could consider the kiddie-party costume
a national attire. And mind you, Jollibee also has worn a
barong Tagalog during formal occasions.
Another thing to consider is that these stores have
somehow turned into tourist attractions. I could remember
so well posing in front of a Tim Hortons in the middle of
Calgary when I went for my first #TimmyRun. Hawker
centers in Singapore? If you’ve been, chances are you took a
photo that you ate there. As tourists, we consider these places
and the food they serve as a way to connect with the local
culture. It helps us become less foreign and more familiar
with their customs. If you’re a local, it’s a way to reconnect
with your nationality.
Even when I head out to other countries in Asia or
Northern America, the sight of that red bee reminds me of
Manila. It might be the fact that the cashiers are Filipino too,
the people who eat in are Filipino, or the strong aroma of
ChickenJoy, whatever it is, it is more of a “home base” than
the Embassy of the Philippines in that country.
Localizing one’s brand from one nationality to another
is also something we see nowadays. With KFC’s First
Filipino Colonel campaign taking everyone’s newsfeed
by storm, localization is also something to consider in this
conversation of nationalistic branding. Everyone knows that
the colonel is a Caucasian man in a white suit but in this
recent campaign, the Caucasian man is localized by Ronaldo
Valdez, a local Filipino actor. But let’s allot that topic for a
different issue.
Every time I come home from a long trip abroad, I
instinctively look for the closest Jollibee to get my ChickenJoy
fix with a side of a sundae. Not my grandmother’s cooking, not
lechon, not kare-kare. I was looking ChickenJoy with a sundae,
with their very oily fries sometimes. Why? I’m not quite sure
but it warms me up and reminds me that I’m home once I do.
I wouldn’t say that these big corporations are capitalizing
solely on emotionally relating their brands to their respective
nationalities, but they are using it somehow to make you
fall in love and connect with their brands. Does it make you
consume their products more? I can’t be quite sure because
there’s no numbers to prove it. Is it a bad thing that they’re
using nationalism in their brand agenda? Not necessarily
because these brands have stuck with each country in a
special way. The debate of relating a food brand to one’s
nationalism as a good thing or a bad thing is an open openended
question. But one thing is for sure, you get slightly
offended and get on the defensive side when someone tells
you Jollibee smells pungent.
For more foodi-cisms and flatlay goals, follow Patricia on
Instagram @littlemissteapat
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