Straight up oob-noxious

Isaac Gabriel Samaniego

Leaving the homeland in search of the kaginhawaan might have been counterproductive for me after all this time. Although this might not come in the sense that such a dream did not materialize, my alienation from our land has left me to appreciate previously-deemed mundane things more deeply, like Ube–and now that it has started to feel the effects of its global spotlight, it requires a heightened discussion over its impact on our people and culture. 

Last June 13th, Canadians in Calgary witnessed their first Ube Fest in the downtown core to commemorate the Filipino roots behind Ube’s growing popularity in Calgary’s gastronomic scene. This marks a massive win for the diaspora as we garner an international foothold, showing heritage beyond mundane stereotypes. Ultimately, it presents our case to stand on par with the ‘Matcha wave’ witnessed years before. 

However, things are not all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to this newfound phenomenon, because similar to what has happened with the Matcha craze in Japan, its implications lie in huge spikes in its demand, leaving its locals with shortages in their supplies, which then creates an incentive for competitors to close production gaps. 

Such implication slams more to our already-troubled agricultural sector, as our country only accounts for the 0.7% of the global trade of Ube through its export shares, which roughly translates to missed opportunities, systemic neglect, and untapped possibilities that will remain frozen in place, should we continue to permit generational and cross-institutional underperformance.

And despite the desire to satisfy the world’s craze for ube by increasing our global presence, realities do not always align with the current state of our nation’s economic stability, confidence, and competitiveness, as it overshadows the significance of how developing this overlooked sector can offer to us in a greater run. 

For instance, farmers across Northern and Southern Luzon report hardships in keeping supplies stable to the world market, since ube has a notoriously meticulous cultivation system that requires care and assistance from the agricultural and research arm of the public sphere to allow for the implementation of better methods, practices, and logistics that will ensure a bolstering of our pride in our culture and reputation in agricultural capabilities. 

To add more salt to the situation, local production has actually decreased significantly, which is absurdly counterintuitive to think about, knowing that high demand should incentivise supply creation in a hypothetical situation. Instead, our country has to resort again to one of its best playbooks when supplies go short–a mass importation scheme from neighbouring countries.

Add this supply problem to the never-ending backlog of agricultural neglect, like cuts in the Department of Agriculture’s funding, the continued lack of strategic farmers’ mobilization, and an absence of plans to unify the fragmented agricultural market system, and then we can expect a perfect environment to brew shortsighted micro-level and macro-level consequences.

Additionally, this problem also permeates how, as described in a dialogue with one of my colleagues, big-chain companies’ ube products here in Canada can be described as overpoweringly sweet, far from the earthy palette that we all collectively remember as what ube really is. This raises a serious question about the value we ought to infuse into and relate to Filipino culture. 

Such cultural vanguarding also opens the discussion on the shared meaning of these displays of Filipino culture. Its meaning beyond economic terms reflects deeply for someone like me with an immigrant background, as it symbolizes a piece of home that brings its warm tropical embrace a mile closer, which is something to be cherished. 

Although it is important to note that, indeed, cultural symbols like Ube are meant to be shared on a greater scale of people across the world, there remains an undeniable sentiment that, with the publicity that the ube craze is tied to, there needs to be a mechanism that sufficiently gives the conditions to help our economic and cultural conditions to flourish without any fine print. 

The recent event in Calgary is a testament to the fact that Filipinos are more than ready to position themselves as key players on the broader international stage through meaningful showcasing of our tangible and intangible wealth.

And with this embrace for readiness, there exists a huge responsibility to hold our institutions accountable in making these dreams a genuine reality. Putting an end to the straight-up oobnoxious incompetencies that prevent us from realizing the Filipino collective at its best.