Food Differences in an Intercultural Marriage

I usually cook for myself during the day. It’s my time to enjoy Filipino food that my husband dares not touch. It’s my time to cook some thing without worrying if the smell will bother anyone. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that Filipino food stinks. Being a Filipino, the smell of fish paste does not bother me, but it just smells different for my husband’s foreign nose.

And before you think that I am consenting my husband’s somewhat hostile attitude towards Filipino food, let me explain.

Forcing or tricking somebody to eat what you eat because you think it tastes great is just ignorant and rude. If a person is refusing to eat a certain food, there must be a reason why. It could be because of religion, culture, or simply because the person does not like the smell, the look, or what’s in it. It could be because of the way he/she was brought up to see what’s a food supposed to be. For example, in Europe it’s unthinkable to eat a meat dish with bones in it. They could eat a steak or any piece of meat with one big bone but that’s it—no chopped poultry with tiny bones just like what we put in chicken adobo. They can eat friend chicken drumsticks and chicken wings, but I think that’s the farthest they can go with bones. They also don’t eat fish heads. Most households won’t serve a fish dish with the fish head. Normally, fish are fillet before they’re cooked and serve. For many Austrians, it’s just weird to eat something that is looking back at you. There are more food that are considered delectable by Filipinos but are considered unthinkable and even disgusting by Austrians, and I don’t like to go into that now.

All I want to say is that, you can offer a food to a person, if he/she refuses then show respect and don’t force the person to eat it.

I don’t force my husband to eat Filipino food he does not like, the same way he does not force me to eat any foreign food I don’t like.

Austrian Bretteljause

Buttered Crab with Rice

My husband is not a food snob; he actually likes a number of Filipino food like rice cakes, tapang bangus, tocino, beef tapa, longonisa, bibingka, tupig (almost all food with coconut in it), pininyahang manok (without bones), buttered shrimps, banana-cue, camote-cue, dried pusit, and a lot more. He also does not have a problem with fish. He can eat fish and other seafood with his hand. He specially likes them when they’re just salted and barbecued. BUT balut and all food with animal insides in them disgust him.

And I can eat just about anything. Here in Europe, it’s difficult to find a food I can snob. They have really good dishes here that are not only delicious but are, most of the time, presented so nicely as well.

Tagged as: Cultural Differences