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Everything with a Grain of Salt | Tatung Sarthou | TEDxUPDiliman


good afternoon then hop on sending lahat
how do you eat my right ovary oh yeah ma
was it good – yeah
could you imagine now your food without
salt you are not eating so that’s why if
you’re a hypertensive me but it’s like
hell eating as well on glasses in a Cell
vanilla bah-bah-bah and the thing with
salt is that it’s something that’s very
important for us no not just human
beings but especially for Filipinos
wearing salt is very important in terms
of our taste divine it’s the cornerstone
of flavor No so when we consume salt in
the Philippines it’s not only certain ah
I seen but it’s used to ferment a lot of
things now like I belong know I gain
emotional properties so when we eat
every time we do our food is already
seasoned GU super Latin and we want an
additional Psalter which is in the form
of a sauce oven or a dipping sauce
Wow but are you aware that et 75 to 80%
of the salt sold in the Philippines
right now is imported from Australia in
China are you aware of that and in a lot
of cases you remember Noma when when our
generation probably not your generation
was when we our synagogue it was just
simply something a bit of garlic with
some salt and it was really good now
melindam nimisha it was something that
we really enjoyed however today I think
you’d have a memory of the synagogue
with more seasoning with more power –
and all that why is that because the
Saab the PR you seeing right now it’s
not the same salt that we used to use
way back then the Saab the preaches the
Philippine market
is actually mostly industrial salt so it
has been purified to a very high level
of concentration of sodium and that is
why when they say that salt is dangerous
for your health especially if you’re
hypertensive it’s because of the high
concentration of this sodium I like
natural salts which come from mostly the
Philippines from the sea has a lot of
other minerals that not only makes it
more healthy but also makes it more
flavorful so when you eat salt natural
salt when you save her if you don’t only
taste the saltiness there’s around this
a flavor because of calcium magnesium
zinc and a lot of other things and it
was very important even if we say you’re
hungry the goo-goo thunk Inaba and you
can anion more was just simply rise with
salt
it was a bit nourishing because of the
presence of this minerals think about
that and I just like to show you a short
thumb you know documentary
the lower cost of fall is the industrial
zone these are some that are coming in
unfortunately they were able to climb it
and look like
and these are very not healthy
coming up why Allah can connect up to so
Rosa gastos in Allegan my Arab and away
that Abajo not abiding by women before
and I’m a podiatrist
the course of our
research for doing this salt we
discovered that when you use this
chemical source when you use this
industrial salts in you know the
fermenting of the bagong or the patties
in this up work very well so it ends up
smelling like you know really awful you
know something that’s almost not good
for you and for me for someone who is in
the culinary world
someone who does research a lot of
research in culinary heritage even if I
would teach the younger generation even
if I teach my students even if I teach
you to make your bagong your bull or
your patties it would appear not ripe
and you were always filled if you try to
do that experiment at home you will
really fear that there is something
wrong with you or there is something
that’s a problem in the process that you
are doing but it’s actually because of
the very ingredients that you are using
and for me I’m talking about salt right
now as a starting point but if imagine
if we are totally dependent in terms of
stock production
no salt supply from China and Australia
imagine what other foods we are
dependent on other countries for right
now there’s a shortage of bow-wow or
garlic we also have a shortage of rice
and imagine a sort of society do we have
right now that we are dependent on other
countries even simply for our meals here
a lot of you students of U P narubu
Tamara dita they were do you experience
hunger yes but do you know that when you
eat especially in a society like this
when we do not really cultivate our own
food you’re also eating things that are
not really food food namely food
non-food food
so generally think about it think about
it the majority of the things you put in
your mouth and in your stomach are
actually industrial products that of
applications in food imagine everything
every single thing you put into your
mouth in the last few days how many of
them were real food how many of them
were organic not organic in the sense in
the you know in a fancy way that you’re
buying organic food something that is
real something that really comes from
this earth just like for example a lot
of you love cheese Tom Abba we love
cheese but the sort of cheese that is
sold in the Philippines isn’t actually
cheese
they actually what you call chemistry
because real cheese just comes from four
ingredients milk
salt no a bit of flavoring and you know
but all the things that you’re eating
the most popular brand of Filipino
cheese does not contain milk at all in
the same way that the participate by in
the magic almost does not have
participated you read closely you read
but this flavor leave all the brand’s do
not sell the real things that they say
it is so when you’re reading food labels
and say nature identical flavor it’s not
it’s different from natural its nature
identical so it could be a chemical that
tastes like a fruit no it could be a
chemical that tastes like me that’s
right I’m sure you guys are one of the
biggest consumers of cup noodles and all
that and if you have it for breakfast
this morning such a big political Emma
can I just eat right see if you burp you
still have the taste of that instant
noodle why is that why is that it’s
because the oil you know the oil that
they put into these ingredients are not
organic wise they’re not real they’re
not real flavoring so we coat the lining
of your digestive tract you know so here
in the Philippines we have people who
are really hungry because they don’t
have access to food
but also people who are hungry because
they are not eating the right food they
are eating things that they think is
food but it’s not actually food I went
to this seminar one time oh we love show
my don’t we oh yes we love show my and I
went to this seminar and livelihood
seminar and they say oh with your
capital of one kilo of pork you will be
able to make one hundred thirty pieces
of Shum I imagine one kilo of pork to
130 pieces of Shammai so if you’re
eating a show might that be imagine how
many percent of that is sport and how
many percent of that is I don’t know
what it’s something to worry about
we have livelihood seminars to tell as
to you know to to make certain
concentrated drinks with artificial you
know artificial flavors and all that and
that must become part of our diet and
you know for me for a chef who really
focuses on you know Filipino food it’s
really something that you know that
makes me worry especially right now I
have like I’ve read my niece and my
nephew were trying to let them eat
dishes like a simple as champurrado or
you know or dealing that’s a yuck you
know we have lost the integrity and the
respect for real food how many of you
eat real food how many of you have the
appetite to see a vegetable and say oh
I’d like to eat that I think probably
half of you guys don’t even know the
names of this vegetables so it’s reading
so much of a worry and right now
especially for a chef we play a very
important role it’s very fancy to be in
the culinary world it’s very fancy to be
you know it’s very fancy to be
doing germane stuff you know I had the
chance to represent the country in a
Madrid fusion and I cooked for for the
some of the richest families in in Spain
and they were so impressed with my
cookies Wow you know Filipino food is
the next big thing you know you’ve read
that you’ve read that but I was so
ashamed because almost all the
ingredients I used to cook these dishes
were imported from other countries
calamansi from Vietnam
you know rise from fat land you know
bamboo shoots from Cambodia and are we
promoting our cuisine to be actually
eaten by the Filipinos or are we
promoting it just to tell people that oh
we’re also a Stalin Thetis you what our
people go hungry that’s why even a lot
of people ask me what is Filipino food
do you for me Filipino food being a chef
no I say Filipino food is what the
Filipino eat how many of you eat adobo
foie gras at home one sit pal a book
with truffles do you we do at home you
know so it isn’t real funny food of a
country food if a culture is really
reflective of what is available you know
what is grown in a land what is
harvested from your see you see peanut
Indian River we should take pride in
that and data when we were younger of a
certain generation you know you would
react to what was available in the
market so you see a beautiful fish a
lapu-lapu a Maya Maya you know whatever
and even if you cook it in the same way
every day sinigang janila
anyhow you know canola it would taste
different because we are different
vegetables
we are different fish used in making
that soup or that dish
so the lapu-lapu a synagogue would taste
different from the sinigang na burrows
right but what are we eating right now
how many of us survived with clean Dory
from Vietnam think about that and for us
to be truly independent as a nation we
have to make sure that every single
Filipino kid eat I have this from the
priority caucus from the Department of
Agriculture and we see a lot of these
products though it’s very good for our
country in terms of our economy to be
able to share it
worldwide but nothing really here is
something that we consume always you
know it doesn’t create the balance so
Filipino chefs are being presented the
opportunity to be able to educate
ourselves about the biodiversity of our
country I go around the country to learn
regional dishes why do I do that not
because I want to exactly sighs wow I’ve
eaten Tami look in Malawi
I’ve eaten you know the the crickets in
Pampanga I kitten all these things but
to be able to learn the technology and
the traditions of these regions for us
to be able to help cut hunger in the
country we know that in ela ela people
eat the trunk of the banana you know
that it’s called bad they make it into a
vegetable in some areas they use the
leaves of the cassava in the promoting
highway to make a vegetable and cook it
like lying it’s not really about
exercising these ingredients but being
able to teach other regions the rest of
the Filipinos on how to cook these
ingredients so a lot of more people will
be able to cook and utilize the food
resources we have available to us there
is a lot that can be done but if we do
not use our influence and if we do not
use our ability to be creative to be in
negative what will happen in the next
few years we will see that a lot of
Filipinos will go hungry we will gain
more dependency on other countries for
our food supply agricultural development
in the country is geared towards big
business and if you do not change the
dynamics of how things are run it’s
going to be really really scary if you
look at the map of Mindanao you will see
that agricultural production is really
extensive all over we have know some of
the biggest farms in the country in Vida
now but look what is happening there’s a
great rate of dissatisfaction there is a
higher percentage of malnutrition and
hunger where they are the biggest output
of agricultural goods we see truckloads
of bananas being thrown away because
they don’t want it to reach the local
market because it will bring down the
prices
he’ll deter programming Department owns
a Pilipinas because there is a lot that
can feed the Filipinos what we lack are
the values that will allow us to become
more generous with each other and just
to leave you with a note countries do
not need to export food to one another I
had this conversation of this chef and
he told me that you know all we have to
do is share our technology and share I
know how and for a country like the
Philippines with great soil great
weather you know so much seas around us
there’s no reason that we can make a
sustainable country and just to end
eating local is a political political
act if we scrutinize every single thing
that we buy every single thing that we
consume our economy will change we will
determine what the big stores will sell
we will determine what the big farmers
will plan if he refuse to continue to
consume
trash in our diets so thank you very
much and I hope you got something from a
cup
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