Food & the Filipino
Book mark from Filipino Food Crawl
Filipino food is…
In most cultures, people would greet you with a question of ‘how you’re doing’ as soon as you’re ushered in to their home. However, where I’m from in the Philippines, the first question to be asked is ‘have you had something to eat?’ Your response, either way, won’t matter because you’re eating what we’re eating, whether you get just a bite of it, or the whole kaldero, us Filipinos won’t mind. We’ll even love you for it, and make a mental note to cook more for when you come again next time, not because we think you’re greedy, but because we want to make sure you have more than enough to eat.
In the social circles I move in, I always get asked what FIlipino food is like. Unlike most Asian cuisines, I struggle to describe the taste profile that highlight our dishes. I often describe it as a confluence of Chinese, Spanish, and American flavours. This would often be followed by questioning looks, so I would end up explaining the convoluted history of the Chinese trade routes, the Hispanic occupation, and the American take over that followed. Phew!
What now?
A friend once emailed me a Rural Arts event in Thirsk featuring a kamayan style Filipino supper club hosted by the dynamic duo of Let’s Kain. It kickstarted an almost feverish trawling through instagram of groups, and individuals that are promoting not just our food, but our culture. I pretty much stalked Let’s Kain’s IG to find out who they follow, and have come to realise one thing- the Filipinos are very active down south, but where are the PInoys in the north?
It was that experience that started a slow burning passion for making Filipino food known to my local community. I started following Chef Rex de Guzman, who is making waves in the London food scene, and has also got an amazing blog about the exact same struggle on describing Pinoy food.
So my little passion project was born. I made a decision to learn all I can about my taste bud’s heritage. My mum used to always tell me that if you know how to eat it, you know how to cook it. She may not be the best cook there is, but she is right. I decided then that I will teach myself how to cook. I decided that 2021 will be the year that I will champion Filipino cuisine in however way I can, and it starts with this.
