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Bacolod City, Philippines Tuesday, May 29, 2012
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The Good Life
with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit
OPINIONS

‘A heritage of smallness’

The Good Life
with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

Honey, they’ve shrunk the canned corned beef. First, they had it in the size of the old tubular Ligo sardine cans, then they had it in half that size. Now, what do you know, there’s corned beef in sachets! It would be interesting to check how much corned beef can be stuffed in those tiny cans and sachets, but it really is a trend that is at once surprising, and not.

Doing things small is ingrained in the Pinoy psyche as Quijano de Manila, aka Nick Joaquin, had written about in his astounding “A Heritage of Smallness” essay, so graphically illustrated by our sari-sari stores where one can buy down to a single cigarette stick.

On the other hand, the shrinking of the retail sizes of almost everything also surprises – it is surprising how small "small" can get in the context of our retailing culture.

We’ve always had shampoos in small containers, then they appeared in sachets. The last time I heard, there was such a thing as “twin” sachets, which were, I suppose, packets that accommodate twice the volume of the regular sachet – heavens forbid if that means the volume of the regular sachet split into two, although I wouldn’t discount that altogether.

More examples of the things our manufacturers have shrunk – a square-inch of margarine, or butter, a finger of mayonnaise or ketchup, a teaspoon of seasoning, a stick of coffee, a packet of cream or sugar, all no doubt, good for single servings. There are also variants where coffee, cream and sugar are included in one small packet.

Some of these things have always been here, but they were used mostly for their convenience in the plane or for picnics. Restaurants and hotels started using them, including the coffee, cream and sugar trio, I think only in the last 15 years. Some of the really upscale dining places, however, continue to shun using these sachets and still serve coffee in dainty fine-bone china.

But the sachet culture has invaded our own households, for convenience and mainly for economic reasons. It does make sense in some cases; for one thing, it is easier to monitor. With coffee for example, you know how many cups your budget can go, considering it has been packed down to serving size.

There are some things I cannot get, though. Just how economical it really is to buy a half-size can of corned beef? The contents may be affordable, but imagine the effort of having to can each of these? Aren’t we doubling the costs? The efforts, let alone the time and materials we spend having to pack 100 10-gram coffee may be more than having to do a 1,000-gram pack. The economies of scale, you know.

These new retail packaging of course fits perfectly well with our sari-sari store culture, where we buy per use. Many of our households, after all, buy things per need; we run to the neighborhood store, for example, for half a head of onion or garlic, two spoons of oil and a piece of tomato just before we sauté. Or half a kilo of rice just before lunch.

It is easy to blame economics for this. Given our short supply of cash, we turn to amat-amat, slow-by-slow, utay-utay, small by small, because we cannot afford to buy in bulk. Or the gives-gives way or installment plans that now covers even clothes and basic necessities.

And that, as Joaquin had noted, has also held us back from thinking big, from doing the grand and the sweeping. Sadly, Joaquin wrote his essay in 1966, almost half a century ago, and we continue to prove him correct to this day.*

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