Philippine E-Journals

Americanization of the Filipino Food and Kitchen: Promoting Refrigeration and Ice Cream in the 1920s

Fernan Talamayan

 

Abstract:

Curricula, cookbooks, and advertisements published in the early 1900s provide a means by which we can see the various ways that the Americans attempted to influence all aspects of Filipino life following their colonial agenda. How did the Americans use food and technology so foreign to Filipinos to entice them to participate in modernization? Through the use of alternative sources, this study offers a socio-historical narrative of the American rule in the Philippines as it explains how the Americans tried to colonize the Filipino taste and palate by (1) teaching Filipinos the American ways and ideals in schools and (2) portraying the “American” as modern and cosmopolitan in advertisements. In discussing the implementation of the American colonial project, this paper looks at the popularization of American imports such as the refrigerator and ice cream in the 1920s to examine the role of education and media in the creation of new desires and the promotion of a new lifestyle in the country.