The Pinoy food question

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If you were the only Filipino attending a pot luck get-together of none-Filipinos and you wanted to bring Filipino food, what would you bring? Add to that, the complication that most of these folks are vegetarian and health conscious?

(The money shot of the lechon which my tita said looked like a giant rat to her…more on this after the cut.)

I’ve been in LA for some time now but I have never been in this situation, owing to the fact that (a) my mealtimes are usually spent with Pinoys, be it friends or relatives; (b) the none-Pinoys I have met so far are more or less familiar with Filipinos and Filipino food; (c) if they aren’t familiar with Filipino food, they are adventurous enough to try it.

I actually didn’t realize how hard it was to explain our cuisine to someone who totally didn’t have an idea of the Philippines and its history, let alone its influences. Food is most basic and yet explaining why we have the food that we do requires going back in history. Our cuisine obviously has influences from the Hispanics and our Asian neighbors, most notably the Chinese. And to one not familiar with Filipino food, it may be a little weird, especially to the average American whose dietary staples consist of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, steak and salads.

I was at a Chinese lauriat once and the Caucasian lady beside me wasn’t even familiar with most of the dishes served (and to think Chinese food is as basic as it gets with cuisine unfamiliar). During Christmas in San Antonio, Texas, we had a whole lechon, complete with the head. The lechon was skinny though and resembled a giant rat. As my tita had none-Filipino guests, she panicked and had us chop the pig into pieces so we could hide the head (Which my tito inadvertedly threw out even if we were supposed to make it into paksiw because he was grossed out. My tito is as Filipino as it gets).

During a fellowship I attended, one of the speakers was Fil-Am and he was telling the fellows about going to the Philippines and eating with the person he was interviewing because eating is so much part of the culture, especially if you want to put someone at ease. What they were having? Balut and San Miguel beer. When explained what balut was (duck embryo, with the chick still developing inside the shell), everyone was cringing and extolling animal rights.

One of the people going to the potluck emailed me asking what I was going to make. Make? There’s nothing that I can make really, maybe except hotdog on a stick with marshmallow. Haha! Okay, I’m not serious about that. My cooking is limited. Living on my own, I can now make edible spaghetti and after months of practicing and eating what I cook because I have to sometimes, I can now make adobo, Amee’s version, just the stewing without the frying. A friend demo-ed how to make pork sinigang with the sinigang mix but I have yet to try it. And the mentioned food items are not food to bring to a potluck with none-Filipinos who are mostly vegetarian.

I could chicken out and bring something “normal” that I can buy from a “mainstream” grocery store or a restaurant. Or I can resolve to stick to my guns of wanting to share our culture with those unfamiliar with it by bringing something Filipino. So far, I’m thinking of buying something from Goldilocks or Red Ribbon (yes, we do have versions of these bakeshops in LA). Unless I think of something between now and Sunday.

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