Beware: You might be sued too
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NY nuns sue Pinay over 'tuyo'* *
By Cristina DC Pastor Philippine News - Jan uary 15, 2009 12:00 AM
NEW YORK – It may be a cultural thing, but when you're up against a
congregation of nuns and your neighbors in an apartment building in
Manhattan , a lawsuit would make an interesting anthropological study in
ethnic tension.
The Missionary Sisters of Sacre d Heart (MSSH) in Manhattan has filed a
complaint against a Filipino-American couple, Michael and Gloria Lim, over a
Filipino delicacy called tuyo (dried fish), and its funky cousin, the
tinapa(smoked
fish).
The case is now with the Manhattan Supreme Court.
Reports say Gloria was smoking fish outside her apartment window when the
smell – noxious stench to the nuns, divine aroma to the Lims – of the salted
fish wafted throughout the Gramercy apartment building.
The "foul smell" was too strong the nuns suspected it was coming from a
decomposing body and called in the Fire Department.
According to reports, the firemen searched every unit of the building and
were able to trace the source of the smell to the Lims' unit.
They knocked, and when no one came to the door, the NYFD came barreling in.
Gloria, a nurse, found her door knocked down and was obviously peeved.
It appears the MSSH leases the unit to the Lims and may have authorized the
assault.
"I cook dried fish," Gloria defiantly declared to the NY Post.
The average American may find it puzzling how one can derive pleasure of the
palate from dried fish. Foodie Andrew Zimmern, who has been to the
Philippines and braved balut (fertilized duck egg with an embryo) and Soup
No. 5 (bull's rectum and testicles soup, believed to be a powerful
aphrodisiac), might be able to share the gustatory experience.
Gloria was referring t o the tuyo, a Philippine staple usually eaten with
steaming hot rice and fresh tomatoes. Some eat theirs dipped in vinegar and
crushed garlic paired with fried rice an d sunny side up egg.
Dried fish is not a Philippine exclusive. It is an essential in the
traditional Chinese and Malaysian fried rice along with chopped spring
onions, garlic and chili. Sometimes, it is pulled and sprinkled on chocolate
porridge or champorado.
Food with a strong salty taste like tuyo or tinapa might be too intense for
the morning stomach, but many Filipinos would never leave for work in the
morning without having it for breakfast.
In the lawsuit filed by the nuns, Gloria was even more adamant. She was
quoted as saying that "she is causing the smell by cooking and/or smoking
fish, and she is going to continue to do it."
The complaint appears to divide the apartment tenants, some finding
themselves squarely on the side of the sisters who find the smell
"potentially dangerous to life and health," and some defending the FilAm
family's right to eat their own ethnic food in the privacy of their home.
"This is plain racist," comes a shout-out from a supportive blogger.
The complaint says some tenants closer to the Lims' unit have moved out, and
that the Lims have been warned repeatedly about the smell emanating from
their 16th floor apartment unit. Gloria, a 30-year resident of the US ,
denies this.
Which side to take, u ndecided tenants turn to what's stated in the housing
rules: Cooking smelly food is not allowed.
The nuns are seeking $75,000 in damages. They made it clear that t hey have
nothing against Filipinos as a people.
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Friday, February 13, 2009
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