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   Magandang araw! Handa na ba kayong makipag-usap tungkol sa pagkain? Mabuti!**

Okay, guys. That’s all the Tagalog I can offer you right now, unless you also want to know how to say “boogers,” “beautiful,” or “I love you.” 

   I grew up in a Filipino-Italian/General White household. My mom, Myla Smith (formerly Alonzo), was born in Manila, Philippines, and immigrated to the United States with her family in the mid-1980s. I have eaten and loved Filipino food since I was born. My favorite meals mostly consist of cultural favorites, with some Italian food thrown in there, like chicken cutlets and calamari. However, as I grew up, I realized that most people are unfamiliar with Filipino food, with some even not knowing where the Philippines is located. 

   This was deeply unsettling to me, and it still is. Reflecting, I remember doing an activity in preschool where we had to say our favorite food, and I said, “Pandesal!” My teacher didn’t know what that was, so I had to change it to chicken wings. Then, in second grade, we were doing a project where we shared our cultural cuisines, and I had to show my teacher where the Philippines was on a map. Six years old and having to find my culture on a map for my middle-aged teacher.

   It’s time for the general public to know and love Filipino cuisine. I may be biased, but I think the Philippines has the best food in the world. Okay, I am definitely biased, but still. Are you ready? Great.

 

A Brief History of the Philippines and Food

 

   The Philippine archipelago was formed by volcanic eruptions around 50 million years ago, with the earliest inhabitants arriving from the Asian mainland around 30,000 years ago. The Chinese were the first traders in the Philippines, introducing soy sauce, fish sauce, and the stir-frying method. From there, more countries like India, Thailand, and Japan introduced different flavor profiles with their spice trades. Ferdinand Magellan’s arrival in 1521 marked Spain’s impact on the archipelago. 

  Spain essentially took over the country, turning it into a Spanish colony that heavily relied on military leadership to control the Philippines’ indigenous population. The Spanish Colonial era (1521-1898) left a notable imprint on the Philippines, from its language to its food. Spanish ingredients like chayote, garlic, onions, and tomatoes became staples in Filipino cuisine, along with cooking styles like stews and tamales. 

   The American influence on Filipino cuisine began after the country was ceded from Spain to the United States. America brought the concept of convenient meals, like Spam and fast food. Additionally, the American occupation of the Philippines introduced boodle fights, “a militaristic style of eating where all the food is spread out on a table covered with banana leaves and eaters stand shoulder-to-shoulder to stuff their faces as fast as they could.” Boodle fights, or Kamayan Feasts, became a Filipino tradition because they gather people under one common goal: eating with unbridled excitement and joy. 

   All of these influences, and more, have made Filipino food what it is today. As New York City is called a “melting pot,” so is Filipino cuisine. The Philippines combined all the ingredients and concepts they received through trading and colonization and generated their own style of food, where you can still see the food’s origins, yet recognize it as a Filipino creation. Adobo–a stew with meat marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns–has a Spanish name and similar style of cooking, yet utilizes ingredients and flavor combinations derived from their earlier cultural influences, such as China and India. Puto has a similar history; Puto is a slightly sweet, steamed rice cake often mistaken for a confection of Spanish origin. No! In fact, it was inspired by the South Indian dish, puttu, a coconut-based steamed rice dish. Then, Spam… Don’t even get me started. I will speak more on Spam later. 

 

The Alonzo-Smith Household

 

   All my life, my family has mainly eaten Filipino dishes for meals. Breakfast: pandesal or fried rice. Lunch… we don’t really eat lunch. Dinner: adobo, chicken with pickles, bihon, longganisa. I may not be able to speak the language of the Philippines, but I can speak its cuisine. 

   Eating so much Filipino food connected me to my mother’s culture, pulling me closer to a country I have never stepped foot in. This connection makes me feel more Filipino, even though I am technically more European. After taking a 23andMe DNA test, I discovered that I am 50.6% European and 49.4% East Asian. Yes, the test is an estimate and could be wrong. After all, there is only a 1.2% difference. It still sent me into a crisis. It didn’t help that my brother is 0.6% more Asian than I am. 

   The ancestry test woke up a dormant insecurity within me: Am I Filipino enough? I never considered this question before the test, or, at least, didn’t dwell on it. But, now? Now it’s something I think about often. I look like my mom, but I am more European. I eat Filipino food, but I am more European. I know some Tagalog, but not enough. I have Filipino family, but my last name is Smith. I could go on, but this is not a therapy session. 

   Food is so important for connecting with one’s heritage. While I may not feel Filipino all the time, I know I am. It’s part of my identity, just as Italian is. While so much may make me feel like an outsider to Filipino culture, I am still part of it, and I connect with it through food. And my mom.

 

My Mom

 

   My mom, Myla Smith, was born in the Philippines in 1967 and immigrated to the United States in 1984 when she was 16. She doesn’t often talk about her life in the Philippines, but I have always had a profound fascination with learning more about her life before New York. 

   I interviewed Mom yesterday, May 4th, to hear about her experience with her culture’s food, and how she carried it into the States and into my brother and I’s lives. 

   Mom grew up in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, with her parents and her siblings, Glenn and Leah. She said that Lola (Grandma, in Tagalog) cooked all of their meals growing up, reflecting, “I guess that was her love language, to cook great food for us.” Lola and Lolo (Grandpa) had a boarding house in the Philippines, where Lola always cooked for their renters, who were usually mutual friends or relatives. She would also bring in food for her coworkers at the bank.

   Since Lola was always cooking, my mom didn’t learn to cook until she married my dad. Though Lola didn’t teach her, she told Mom what ingredients to put in the dish, and when, as she didn’t have any written recipes. (This seems to be a common theme, as my mom teaches me family recipes in the same fashion.) The first recipe Mom learned and made for Lola was sotanghon, a Filipino noodle dish made with vermicelli, and can be made either stir-fried or as soup.  

   “I was so surprised that she let me do it!” Mom laughed. “She was in the middle of cooking it, but she was busy playing mahjong, so she let me finish cooking the sotanghon.”

   I asked Mom if Lola liked it, and she immediately replied, “Of course!” Hehe. Mom is a very good cook, so I’m not surprised. 

   Mom continued making sotanghon and more in the United States, passing on her family recipes to my brother and me. The food culture our mom gave us is one of the strongest ties we have to the Philippines. Eric and I can’t speak Tagalog (which I’m still kind of salty about), but we have our cultural traditions in the way we eat.

   Our mom taught us how to cook, hands-on, making us better chefs at a young age. She taught us to eat with a spoon and fork, not a fork and knife, as per the Filipino preference. We’re adventurous in eating–more so I, Eric is picky, giving us a vast realm of food to experience. We cherish family-style meals, love rice, eat mountains of lumpia at a time, and shake with excitement when it’s time for Mom’s Christmas Ham. 

   The Philippines is present in our home every day, and I am so happy it is. That 1.2% difference between Italian and Filipino doesn’t matter; I am still both. Happily, confidently both.

 

   Now, I want to bring part of the Philippines to you, too. Circling back to Spam, one of my favorite meals is Spam Fried Rice, perfect for any time of day. I have loved this dish since I was a kid; Mom would make it nearly every weekend. I vividly remember Sunday mornings, coming back home from church with my dad and smelling the intoxicating aroma of garlic, houses away. I love Spam so much that I even have a Spam shirt!

   Spam Fried Rice consists of merely three ingredients: Spam, rice, and eggs. Simple! And, it only uses one pan! It’s a really easy dish that you can cook up in 30 minutes, and I sincerely hope you give it a try. If you don’t eat meat or pork, you can replace Spam with any protein, or simply make the garlic fried rice and eat it with anything you want. 

   There are many types of Spam out there, so you can select any flavor you please for this recipe. My mom usually uses low-sodium Spam, but we have used Tocino, Black Pepper, and others. We even used the limited edition Figgy Pudding Spam, and it was delicious!

   While my mom taught me this recipe without exact instructions, like Lola did for her, I will provide you with more detailed information so there’s no confusion! 

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Spam Fried Rice

Makes 2 servings

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Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• ½ can Spam, cubed (any flavor, Mom prefers low-sodium)

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 3 cups Jasmine rice (refrigerated leftover rice preferred).

• 2 eggs

• Black pepper, salt, garlic powder, to taste

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Directions

1. Place the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Once heated, dump the Spam into the pan, fry for 10 minutes.

2. When the Spam is crisp and has a reddish hue, make a well in the center of the Spam and add the garlic. Fry until aromatic, around 10 seconds. 

3. Add the rice, breaking any clumps. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and stir to combine.

4. Make a well in the center and add a dash of olive oil, then crack the eggs into the well. Scramble continuously until the eggs are slightly set, then combine with the rice. Season again, to taste.

5. Done! Enjoy!

 

   There are a ton of other Filipino dishes I could tell you about, but then the blog would never end. Some of my other favorites include: tapsilog, bibingka, adobo, bistek na salmon, and embutido. I also asked my mom for her recommendations for a First-Time Filipino Food explorer: lumpia, turon, leche flan, and pancit bihon. Lumpia is a big hit at non-Filipino events, such as parties on my dad’s side, and my second-grade class party (when my teacher asked me to point out the Philippines). 

   There are a few Filipino restaurants in New York City, like the Gugu Room, Kalye, Max’s, and Tradisyon, which is right near Fordham’s Lincoln Center Campus. I went to the Gugu Room for my 21st birthday, and it was delicious. If you don’t want to spend money, just call me up, and my mom and I will make you something. We do accept tips, though.

 

   Truly, the heart of a culture is its food. Food is a love language–it’s sharing a location’s history, a family’s story, a mother’s love. No matter how distant you are from a culture, either yours or one completely removed, food is transportative; with every bite, you visit its origins. 

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Take a bite into the Philippines, I’ll meet you there. 

 

Sources

Michigan in the World. “The Philippines: Historical Overview.” University of Michigan. https://philippines.michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu. 

Southeast Asia Food Group. “Authentic Ingredients from the Philippines.” https://safg.us/portfolio/the-philippines/. 

Tayag, Claude. “The Spanish origins of our Filipino food, and vice versa.” PhilSTAR L!fe. https://philstarlife.com. 

The World in a Pocket. “History of the Philippines & its Food: A Timeline.” https://theworldinapocket.com. 

Valencia, Chase. “How Traders, Travelers and Colonization Shaped Filipino Cuisine.” PBS SoCal, 2016. https://www.pbssocal.org. 

 

And my mom, Myla Smith.