Google Doodle celebrates the Pinoy favorite dish adobo!
Adobo has truly become a part of the Filipino heritage, bringing the taste of home to Filipinos here and abroad. Google celebrates this dish through an animated Google Doodle. Google displays the doodle today, March 15, 2023.
Adobo is the first Filipino food to be featured in Google Doodle. Google held a pre-launch for this milestone on March 14, 2023 at The Maya Kitchen in Makati. Gracing the event were food author Michaela Felix, food historian Ige Ramos, and renowned chef and restaurateur Claude Tayag. They joined in unveiling the Google Doodle showed for the first time to select media invited at the launch.
The dish is known for its different kinds around the Philippines. But despite these kinds, they all share the same basic element: marinated meat or vegetables braised into a stew. Its common ingredients are vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, and black pepper.
READ ALSO: This YouTuber Made Chicken Adobo Gyozas
A Pinoy Pride moment
Mervin Wenke, Google Philippines Head of Communications and Public Affairs, shares the honor of this Pinoy pride moment. He says, “Adobo is an important part of the story of Filipinos. It is an evolving, well-loved comfort food or way of cooking that crosses all economic boundaries. For adobo to be featured as a Google Doodle–the first Filipino dish at that–is a Pinoy Pride moment! It is an honor to launch this Doodle that celebrates the uniqueness and diversity of Filipino cuisine on such a global platform.”
Anthony Irwin was the artist from Google who created the doodle. Sharing his process in doing the doodle, he says, “I ordered some southern-style chicken adobo from a local restaurant to stir up some memories while working on the art for this Doodle, and the first thing that hit me was the smell. It was so bright and nostalgic, and instantly filled my apartment with that familiar feeling: this is exactly how things are supposed to be. So, I tried to capture that simple childhood joy of leaning in and savoring the kind of food that makes home feel like home. Kain nang mabuti!”
READ ALSO: A Technical Committee Will Soon Decide What Is “Standard” Adobo
A portal to Pinoy heritage
During the panel discussion at the March 14 pre-launch, the food experts have weighed in on the importance of adobo being featured as a Google Doodle.
Food writer Michaela Felix says that it allows everyone to share his own adobo story. “It has become controversial because people are saying they have the best adobo. But we want to know everybody’s story and this is a good way to do it.”
As for food historian Ige Ramos, each adobo story of every Filipino becomes a portal for each generation. This especially applies to those who have decided to settle outside the Philippines, with adobo becoming a sort of homecoming for them.
Ramos explains, “Everybody has their own adobo stories and the Filipino diaspora has been dispersed around the world. We have nurses, lawyers, engineers, architects, and some people, parang, especially in the US or UK, they settled there. They choose to leave the country not because they want to forget their culture. On the contrary, the second and third generation diaspora are looking for their roots and adobo could be the starting point. It’s a portal to the Filipino culture.
He adds, “That’s why I congratulate Google for making the Adobo Google Doodle as a portal for Philippine culture. So, when they see the image, it will resonate with them and then, like lukso ng dugo, when you see a particular thing, if you don’t grow up with that particular space but when you see it, it’s in your DNA. You will immediately relate to it, so, that’s a portal. It opens doors for you.”
A celebration of diveristy
Chef and book author Claude Tayag says that the Google Doodle celebrates the diversity of Pinoys that end up in unity. This comes from Felix’s comment about adobo being controversial.
He explains, “For me, yung sinabing mong controversial because everybody claims, that’s a given. I wrote in the adobo book that the best adobo really is the one you grew up with. Nothing else, period. The rest comes secondary. Para sa akin, yung Adobo Google Doodle is like a celebration of our diversity. Talagang hindi mo… in a way there’s unity pa rin in our diversity. We all agree to disagree to it. For me, it makes sense and that’s the essence of adobo talaga. We are celebrating our differences with this single way of cooking and the vinegar. The rest is just like us, halo halo na tayo in the race, background, that’s us, that’s Filipino.”
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