November 5, 2023: Cultural Food Traditions Project: Philippines
Thank you to Cleodia and Ryan from MidSummer Kitchen, Yana from Salo Series and the members of Sama Sama Cooperative for a wonderful and delicious evening!
For our next stop, we visited the Philippines and featured two chefs dedicated to flipping the narrative on the stereotypically pork-filled Filipino dishes. Cleodia and Ryan Martinez of Midsummer Kitchen presented beautiful and delicious plant-based food, with Cleodia having authored Ay Sus! Whole Food Plant-Based Filipino Cuisine, a cookbook that shared the very recipes she and Ryan made for their family at home. Its intention was to bridge well-loved Filipino flavors with food ingredients that support the health of those who seek it, without losing out on culture.
Our moderator for the conversation was Yana Gilbuena, chef and storyteller at Salo Series. They discussed the influences on Filipino food from migrant and colonizer’s cuisines (Spain, America, and China, among them), and explored how foodways are changing due to climate change, rising oceans, stronger storms, and the economic and political hardships forcing migration.
Our partner nonprofit for the evening's donation was Sama Sama Cooperative, an East Bay nonprofit focused on activating Filipinx youth and families to know self through a summer camp that includes Tagalog language immersion, indigenous music, dance, and exploration of ecological heritage.
Slow Food East Bay’s Cultural Food Traditions Project series of events celebrates the cultural food traditions of immigrants, refugees, and displaced people, learning how food helps people stay connected to their homeland and also engage with new communities. Attendees were inspired by stories from chefs and community organizations, learning how diversity and migration have helped shape our food system... and, frankly, made it delicious!
The menu for the evening was entirely plant-based:
Passed Appetizers: Singkamas, Manggang Hilaw & Bagoong (Turnip and green mango skewer, plant-based bagoong), Ukoy (Sweet potato, carrots, papaya, and cabbage fritted, spiced vinegar)
Family-Style Dinner: Munggo & Inihaw na Talong (Mung bean stew with smoked tempeh, shiitake mushrooms, spinach) ,Grilled eggplant marinated in soy sauce and calamansi, Ginattan (Green bean and acorn squash coconut stew), Garlic Rice (Jasmine rice sauteed with toasted garlic)
Dessert: Ube Maja Blanca (Coconut pudding with sweet corn and toasted coconut)
Pricing: We're committed to being and building an inclusive community while also making the event sustainable for the chefs. Everyone is welcome at our table and to help that happen we offer sliding scale tickets prices which include dinner, drinks (alcoholic & non) and stimulating discussion. For this event, pricing was as follows:
$90 — A portion of this ticket subsidizes someone who can pay less.
$75 — If you earn a living wage this ticket helps the chefs do the same.
$45 — Join Us! We are grateful that you choose to spend your money on this important work and are excited to have you at the table!
Those who felt inspired to come but for whom $45 doesn’t work were encouraged to email us at slowfoodeastbay@gmail.com
As our political discourse gets more polarized, it becomes ever more important to have places where we can have meaningful connection discovering inherent connections to one another. Guests left the evening with both their bellies and minds full, after enjoying a night of delicious food paired with equally delicious conversation.
