Kultura Festival & Filipino Kitchen

By: Aeron Lancero

 

Magandang araw sa inyo lahat. And for you, Cubs fans, I wish you all a good luck. It has been too long but it’s nice to see them in the playoffs and playing still in October. With that said, let’s all not just celebrate the Cubs this month but a great recognized event that celebrates us Filipinos. October is officially “Filipino American History Month” and we should participate in all festivities.

As promised from my last column, I am writing about an organization that has truly taken the responsibility of showcasing Filam and what our heritage is all about. The group is called Filipino Kitchen. I will share more about them towards the end, although let me share the interview I had with them and the past event I had the privilege of experiencing named Kultura Festival.

Let me first share Kultura Festival. This was an event that happened on 10/4/15. There were 11 food vendors and an array of artist and fashion designers sharing and selling items they had to offer. Some of the food menu items were ube waffles with chicken, halo-halo, kare-kare potstickers, lechon lettuce wraps, crispy pata tacos, adobo chicken bowls and many more. There were also paintings, shirts and fashion accessories that were showcased. It was held at the Emporium in Logan Square and the expectation of the amount of people to show up was about 250 – 500.

Well it was definitely underestimated by all that participated. Yes even myself…Also the many guest who RSVP’d. Why, you say? Because many of them didn’t come down until 1pm and when they had to wait in line, many were shocked, some upset and most of all impressed! Over 1500 people showed up and the line literally went five blocks long.

What does that mean? The Filipino food movement is for real and not just by us pinoys but there were so many non –filipinos who attended as well. Now this format is very different than what has been done and unfortunately I was involved in an event a week ago that has been going eight years long and it was the lightest I have seen it. Is it because the event was older, or maybe the same and nothing new. That could be the case. As for the success of Kultura, what was it? Here is why I believe it was a success.

1. It’s new and edgy.
2. Definitely more variety, especially with food. Some traditional, some new style or version and some more Filipino American.
3. It was indoors…
4. The event attracted more than just traditional Pinoys or just the young. They promoted and invited anyone and everyone.
5. The group, the team, the supporters are all on the same drive… Bring people together and what better way than to leverage food.
6. They received more support on marketing than just social media and traditional media outlets, but mainstream like DNAinfo, WGN and ABC,
promoted the event. But for all media outlets out there, keep in mind these outlets now want Filipino support and are marketing and reaching out to our outlets.

All that said, my kababayans, continue to support these events and our fellow Pinoy businesses because our culture does matter to the world.

Here are pictures of the event.

About Filipino Kitchen: Our mission is to raise the profile of Filipino food in the US and beyond through blog content, social media, speaking engagements and pop-ups.

We share recipes and write about restaurants, markets, chefs, home cooks, personal stories and world history. Politics, too! (Yes, we are going THERE.) We post photos of our mouth-watering dishes, our adventures in grocery shopping, travel and much more.

We love healthy debate! Share your thoughts by directly commenting on the posts. (Check our blog comment policy.) To make sure you don’t miss our latest blog posts, you can subscribe with your email address. It’s free and delivered hot and fresh right to your inbox. Pinky swears we won’t share your email address with anyone else. Before you leave, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

The contributors of Filipino Kitchen:

Sarahlynn Pablo CO-FOUNDER, WRITER, WORRIER EXTRAORDINAIRE

I grew up between two worlds: too Filipino for suburban America, yet too American for Quezon City. But “home” is now several places: Chicago, and the Philippines, too. You second generation folks feel me out there.

For Street Food Around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture (2013) I ate balut in dark alleys, dirty ice cream. The best first assignment I could have asked for.

I write about food and travel on my personal blog. Recently, I walked 500 miles through Spain, and I’m documenting that trip, too.

Even more recently, I sat down with uber-podcaster Nathaniel Boyle of the Daily Travel Podcast to talk about exploring heritage through travel. Take a listen to our chat and subscribe to his amazing series.

Natalia Roxas- Alvarez CO-FOUNDER, PHOTOGRAPHER, POSTRES QUEEN

Born and raised in Metro Manila and in Laguna, Philippines, I grew up in a household that loves food (cooking, baking and eating) but, ironically, I was one of the pickiest eaters as a child.

Exploring my love for food — especially Filipino food — didn’t by AERON A. LANCERO come around until college when my,beloved Pinoy food was suddenly out of reach.,Lesson learned–you don’t know what you have until it is gone.

Filipino Kitchen is my outlet to creatively educate people that Filipino cuisine isn’t restricted to adobo or pancit… It goes beyond that, and there is always a story behind each dish.

There are more of them that are involved and are not Filipino by birth, injection or marriage. But are honorary because of the work they do. They do the research and make sure what they share is legit, backed up by facts. Just check them out Filipino.kitchen. They have their blogs out and obviously the events that they are hosting so you can bring your friends and family to enjoy them. I know I have and am excited to share more.

When I asked Natalia what does Filipino Kitchen stand for and was very impressed on her response! “I am an activist.” What do you mean?

Natalia’s response: We fight for sharing who we are and what we are about to the world.

How so? Natalia’s response: By stating the facts, research and sharing intelligent and responsible information about our heritage.

How do you get people involved? Natalia’s Response: We make sure we remain credible. We do the work and we prepare accordingly and is why we have chefs, artisst, businesses, etc… that work with us. And not just Chicago, but all over the U.S. and even Europe. Today, we can pick and choose who we work with and hustle the right way but moreimportantly, have fun with it.##

One of the vendors

The long lines

The crowds