Monday 24 October 2016

Spam? Ma Ling? DELIMONDO!

SPAM? Ma Ling? DELIMONDO!

Or ramblings after reading posts about canned meat wars
(And how this person introduces a once unfamiliar product for an "alternative")




At first, this person is ought to say that this post is more than just about food, but after how people take time to make humorous moves such as after President Rodrigo Duterte dealt with the Chinese and pissing off the Americans.

Such as choosing between two canned meats like Hormel's SPAM and China's own Ma Ling, it seems that most people be like forgetting its own brand of canned meat, be it the familiar PureFoods to the unfamiliar one such as Delimondo.

And in it, this person asks that why on earth you have to choose between SPAM or Ma Ling when you have your own Delimondo? He should have said PureFoods instead, but for now let's talk about the unfamiliar one made known for being expensive as as being owned by Juan Ponce Enrile via his food-loving daughter, Katrina.

source: whattoeat.ph

At first, Canned meat, be it "the solid block of flesh" called Luncheon meat or those of "strands and meaty chunks" called Corned beef, is being consumed both by the elite as well as the masses. Many brands of canned meat, be it local or imported, are available everywhere but with that unfamiliar brand such as Delimondo, this person and others conerned can only see that brand being sold in Trinoma, Landmark, ShopWise, S&R, and other grocery outlets except those of Robinsons, SM, 7-11, and even MiniStop.

And to think that most people equate canned meats as those of SPAM and Ma Ling, as well as other ones like Palm, Armour, and local varieties like PureFoods and CDO, only few would afford and taste Delimondo's version of those canned meat products, and perhaps, one really can't help but feel proud that there's a great tasting canned meat to compete with both international and even local brands.

Quite interesting isn't it? Especially from its humble beginnngs as a corned beef enjoyed first by the Enriles, for as according to an article from the "Philippine Star, it said:

"The specialty corned beef was initially produced for the sole enjoyment of the Enrile family. That enjoyment would eventually be shared — a box of the corned beef became the Enrile family’s signature care package for close friends. Needless to say, those friends just couldn’t have enough. They began ordering the corned beef for their own use. “That was when I decided to make our corned beef available to the consumer market under the ‘Delimondo’ brand. We call it Delimondo Ranch Style Corned Beef,” said Katrina (Katrina Ponce Enrile). This is the same corned beef that is getting rave reviews from patrons of the Saturday Market in Salcedo Village."

Eventually, that corned beef enjoyed by Enrile and friends paved way to other products such as luncheon meat, and other deli products including those of Longganissa, sounds breakfast-ish isn't it? But tasty and proudly Filipino.


But anyway, back to a semi-serious topic, that as oligarchs and its middle class supporters are debating about changing foreign and socioeconomic policies, reading posts such as "SPAM vs. Ma Ling" reflect a hurmorous side since these two familiar brands also corresponds to its country of origin, such as United States versus China, and in it also includes Filipino's unforgettable Cold War views such as those of "democracy" versus "communism."

The latter one may still find it strange but most Filipinos sees China and United States be that way, as if foreign relations in the Philippines has to be in the 1950s and Duterte's moves with China be deemed anathema to the country's presentation as "one of the free world" even in this era where the focus is mainly on making money than in making missiles.

And China's "claims" over Scarborough and Spratlys has nothing to do with Communism at all! Even the Filipino communists like José Maria Sison disagrees with China's so-called claims.


But of all the posts, humorous face offs between two familiar brands (as shown above) has been commonly shown in social media sites especially after Philippines' president Duterte visited China as well as called for an "Independent Foreign Policy" in surprise of his own American-oriented subjects.
And because of those events, these subjects, mostly oligarchs and its middle class supporters, have been debating about Duterte's "radical" intentions, that sometimes meant putting harm against their interests, while others take Duterte's move in a pragmatic manner all for the sake of dialouge and perhaps, investment.

Yet with all these face offs and even hysterical commentaries related to Duterte's Détente, this person and others concerned may say that why settle on foreign brands such as SPAM or Ma Ling when there is an locally made yet export quality product such as Delimondo? Is Duterte's détente a wrong move while Aquino sending Trillanes to China be seem as just? Or even why should an average Filipino see things as black and white as in the good old cold war days? In the end, Duterte tries to create an alternative to a mendicant foreign policy at the expense of the oligarchs the way Delimondo tries to make a Filipino enjoy a really good taste of corned beef and luncheon meat more than what Hormel and Ma Ling can offer to them.