Embracing the history
of our favorite timeless dishes
ROOTED IN THE HEART
OF INNOVATION
They say that Filipino food was prepared by Malay settlers, spiced by the Chinese, stewed by the Spanish, and hamburgerized by the Americans. I guess that just proves that we Filipinos are quite good at adapting to change, and making the most out of our situation in order to come up with something that’s uniquely our own.
SERNA ESTRELLA
PEPPER.CO
This land is our land.
We’ve invented and innovated on our own dishes using the nature of our terrain, without any outside influence for a while. In total, there are 7,641 islands that hold over 180 ethnolinguistic groups. That’s a lot of different cultures meaning there are lots of different dishes that proudly represent each group.
Others are welcome too!
Our adaptability truly shines after foreigners from China, Malaysia, Spain, and America have introduced new flavors for us to experiment with. This led to the development of new dishes and new stories to tell. Fun fact, we don’t have a national dish since it’s impossible to equally represent our vast variety of cultures.
Northern Luzon
Central Luzon
Southern Tagalog
Bicol
Visayas
Mindanao
In pursuit of the American Dream
Just like me, your courageous parents probably brought you to the United States to raise you away from the struggles they faced. Being so far away from the motherland unfortunately makes it harder to learn about our roots. Nonetheless, we’ve managed to stay connected with our roots, whether that be through joining Filipino clubs, listening to your Lola and Lolo’s stories, or persevering through the traumatizing, strict parenting. But most commonly, we’ve stayed connected through the food.
We’ve all grown up with some iconic dishes (that some may consider too common after mom/dad cooked it too many times). From coming home after a long day of school all the way to the Filipino parties you were forced to attend, you could smell the flavors that would soon reach your taste buds. And behind these rich flavors lies some rich history that has widely been left untold.
So let’s kain at kwento together.
