Professor, writer drew flak for insulting Filipino cuisine

But while others were slamming Pepinsky for his list, others sided with him like Indonesia-based writer Kate Walton who described Filipino food as “def[initely] the worst on the region.” (Pixabay photo)

A foreign professor and writer found themselves in hot waters over their tweets criticizing Filipino cuisine.

In a tweet last May 4, Cornell University Professor Tom Pepinsky, who teaches comparative politics, political economy, and Southeast Asian (SEA) politics, ranked Southeast Asian national cuisines, with Vietnam on the top of the list. It was followed by Lao, Singaporean/Malaysian, Thai, and Burmese.

Filipino cuisine, which perhaps does not suit his taste, was placed at the bottom.

“List is objectively correct, but ignores regional and ethnic sub-cuisines,” the professor said in another tweet, which sparked even more outrage from Filipino netizens.

Reacting to Pepinsky’s list, Twitter user @pcnsnji said, “A Caucasian–a race who were literally swimming in their own sh*t in the Middle Ages while the empires of the East thrived in cultural and culinary excellence–would actually know what good food is and have the audacity to pit the treasures of the Orient against each other???”

Netizen @dixdaxda, meanwhile, told the professor, “As someone who proclaims to know SEA politics, how did you think this was a good idea? Do you have some sort of food credential as well? By acknowledging that you’re not talking about regions and is effectively generalizing, you don’t see the irony in that?”

Twitter user @JhoannaLynnCruz, for her part, asked Pepinsky who “broke” his heart in the Philippines for him to put the Filipino cuisine last among the nine countries he ranked.

“This is so not objective,” she said.

But while others were slamming Pepinsky for his list, others sided with him like Indonesia-based writer Kate Walton who described Filipino food as “def[initely] the worst on the region.” Minutes after posting her tweet, Walton found herself under fire.

“Lol Filipino Twitter saw my reply to @TomPepinsky about Filipino food, and now they’re mad,” she said in another tweet.

“Sorry but Filipino food is bland. I’ll choose spicy food over it any day,” she continued.

Walton, later on, apologized to the Filipinos for her tweet, but stressed that her comment was about “food preferences and poorly-phrased.

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“What I meant was that Filipino food is my least favourite in the region. I apologise for my bad wording,” she said.

She added that she will be keeping her tweets regarding her opinion on Filipino cuisine because she does not want to be accused of “hiding.”

“I won’t be engaging any more on this topic, though. I’ve apologised and there’s not much else I can do,” Walton said.

Pepinsky’s tweet, as of writing, has garnered 340 retweets and 1,506 likes.