Filipino Food

My mother, a native of the Philippines, has always had a deep connection with food. Looking back on my childhood, I feel that her connection has not only taught me to respect and be thankful for my food, but has given me a taste of my family’s history and culture.

Back in the day, my brothers and I would anticipate the unpredictable aromas that would waft from the kitchen - smells that would inevitably lead our exploring noses to the table, no matter what we were doing. My dad, a military man who had traveled pretty much everywhere learning the ropes of each nation’s food culture, had always concocted a multitude of dishes. On the daily, my taste buds traveled to Vietnam, India, Cuba….
But while I became familiar with these foods, what was perhaps the most familiar and uniting was my parent’s Filipino food. This was the food I loved and hated the most: loved because they taste so great and hated because on paper they sound entirely disgusting.

To begin with, lumpia, an addicting dish, enlists each family member in the cooking process. Lumpia is similar to a spring roll and is usually made in large batches, the recipe slightly altered for each family. The children, with their nimble fingers, take part by peeling each wrapper from each other carefully so as to not rip them, while the elders fry the meat, chop the veggies, and roll the wraps. Coming together like this helped us find time to bond in our busy schedules and was a manifestation of how much family was stressed in the Filipino culture.

On the other hand, there are other favorites, such as balut (duck fetus, considered a delicacy), dinuguan (pork blood and heart stew), or menudo (tripe) that didn’t sound too great. But despite these ingredients, or how they look, these foods are what I grew up on, and are part of my culture. These traditional foods not only left me satiated, they left me with a relationship with my native culture that I could engage in daily and that I loved. All in all, I will always appreciate food, and its abilities to remedy my hunger, bring a cultural aspect to the table, and engage a family.