Philippines is a country that culture and lifestyle is very much patterned in the Hegemonic US. One of these lifestyle is the heavy existence and dependence of we Filipinos eating in food chains rather than cooking. Other may say, we eat a lot in food chains, because we are so rushing with our lives that cooking is such a heavy task to do, additional burden so to say.
But in reality, eating in food chains is not because we are so in rush, but it is a dictation of one’s status in life on a Filipino perspective like: how often can you pledge and drain every cent in your pocket to socialize and chitty-chatty with friends in restaurant XXXX across Tomas XXXX. A social climber stance that I have to go fine dine with friends, let the credit card be swiped to have my new elite photo save as my new gorgeous profile picture, status my location in Facebook, tag people around and wait for good blubbering comments and likes, till it’s too late that I am the new Isla Fisher drowning in debt in the movie “Shopaholic”.
These situations are seriously affecting some part of the nation. Filipino movies and luxurious entertainments can make some of our beyond minimum wage earners affected in such psychological way. They are striving to send their family to do “fine” dines more than necessary to lift the emotional standard of way of life. Jollibee might be a food chain that some of our fellows are tired of eating but that experience is precious to many. I eventually remember a good first hand story to me “my daughter was four when she first visited Manila. I brought her in Jollibee, asked what is it that she likes? She said ‘Puto’”. Second; “my father asked a honey bee in Jollibee’s counter, and when the lady said ‘none’, my dad turned mad and uttered ‘this is Jollibee yet there’s no honey?’”. It maybe extra funny for many of us; however, those are true to life stories and not part of my imaginative mind to narrate and beg for attention.
At the end of the day, let “Jabee” continually makes John happy, but hope that our government would stop covering their eyes with emotional imbalance that our society has between the dictating and the follower duo of good and bad trend.
*Attached image is not under my property but Hemophilia United Foundat=ion of Illinois.
