Great Everyday Meals Magazine | By Momma Cuisine April-June 2016 | Page 27

Growing Filipino

Food Trends
Offal is really not that
awful. Pork isn’t bad either.
The first glimpses the general
public had of Filipino food
was on Fear Factor and Bizarre
Foods. Though the latter made
the effort to show the richness of
Filipino food, the former did the
opposite. Eating a fertilized duck
egg was deemed inhumane and
pig’s blood provoked Carrie-like
nightmares. “Chocolate meat”, better known as dinuguan and sisig,
are gaining fans because of articles
on BuzzFeed and appearances on
travel shows like Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.

zation and outside influences, the
dishes we enjoy today are a result
of that.

With the farm-to-table/headto-tail models many restaurants
use these days, offal has become
more “acceptable” to the Western
palate. Let’s face it, dinuguan has
ALWAYS been good. Lechon, too.
Pork is frowned upon because of
its fat content but it’s outstanding,
especially the roasted pork belly
by Chef Dennis Villafranca of
Jeepney Guy in the Bay Area.

All hands on deck with
“kamayan”. The big trend started
when Nicole Ponseca of Jeepney
in New York had to think of a way
to get bodies into her restaurant
during Hurricane Sandy.
“Kamayan” translates to “eat with
hands”; the most primal method
to do so. Many have even said
that there is a special connection
between the eater and food when
there is direct contact, as if it tastes
even better.

Filipino cuisine is becoming an
inclusive global food. The term
“fusion” used to be dirty word as
it often equated to “bastardizing”
the cuisine. Overtime, many have
come to realize that due to the
Philippines’ long history of coloni-

Filipinos abroad are taking a
bolder approach to sharing our
food with the masses and have
taken our favorite proteins like
sisig and adobo, and marrying
them with the starches of other
cultures (e.g. Mexican tortillas, American french fries, and
Vietnamese banh mi rolls). Señor
Sisig of San Francisco appeared
on the Food Network and various
tv shows. The lines outside their
truck can get very long.

Kamayan dinners are available
at Pampalasa in San Francisco,
Milkfish in New Orleans, Skip to
Malou in St. Louis, and of course
at Jeepney in New York City.

Joanne Boston,
Vice President of the
Filipino Food Movement
There are two parts to our
movement:

One.

The Filipino Food Movement
(FFM) is a volunteer (501c3)
non-profit organization with
the goal of bringing Filipino
food to the forefront of
American culture and cuisine.
We help organize various
community events such
as fundraisers and pop-up
restaurants. Though FFM is
based in the San Francisco Bay
Area, our reach is global.

Two.

This part is bigger than what
we are. This movement is a
culmination of all the time and
effort chefs and Filipino food
enthusiasts have put forth over
the last few years to promote
Filipino cuisine. Several notable
chefs have claimed that Filipino
food is the “next biggest food
trend.” FFM hopes to utilize
this momentum to bring our
food, culture and people the
recognition they deserve.