Farm + Filipino + Food

A farm gathering of real food love.

When I first left the Bay Area to farm in Santa Cruz, I hoped to take back tools to communities of color, and in particular Filipino/Americans, who have been disconnected from our foodways. I imagined the ways to document this journey: twitter, email, pictures, this blog. But as the season closed, I realized I didn't want to just bring back tools, or photos, or words to the city.

I wanted to share something you could touch and taste and feel. Being on the land itself is the journey, so why not share that? I invited some folks with a deep love for the future of Filipino foods to come over to find out what kinds of flavors and conversations could emerge. The results? A delicious and thought-provoking gathering. (And yes, I'm sorry I couldn't invite you, too)

Cindy Mendoza's roasted tomatoes w/bagoong and heirloom Philippine rice

The instructions were simple: bring a Filipino/American dish with at least one seasonal ingredient and a story behind it. Our potluck was a balancing act. Some cooks replicated remembered dishes, keeping ingredients intact to those remembered from lola. Others reinterpreted dishes, with vegetables suited to a northern California climate and salt from the tropical coasts of Pangasinan. From banana-wrapped sisig, salted egg and heirloom tomatoes, to vegan bagoong, to sweet-sticky biko with fragrant latik, our potluck of food and stories was both rich and colorful.

Dennis' banana leaf wrapped sisig, cherry tomatoes and rice.

I couldn't wait to share delicata sa gata. It's my favorite winter squash.

Latik-topped biko from Jun Belen. Photo by Joanne Boston.

Like the potluck itself, this gathering was abundant and diverse - we had food bloggers, chefs, filmmakers, and educators, and the youngest of our up-and-coming next generation. I felt excited and proud to show off my baby ampalaya and patola seedlings. The group seemed to really connect with the concept of seed-saving, as we entered the greenhouse full of drying tecomari and Hopi beans. In the orchards, we scooped up fallen green-skinned Mutsu apples to later press for cider. The kids harvested yellow wax beans and took their pick of carrots pulled straight out of the soil. 

On the soil, where it all begins.

Sharing food and stories grounds us back to the land and back to each other. I was reminded how even for those of us who living in cities, we are still never impossibly far from eating in ways rooted to the seasons and the earth.  And as I watched the kids race around feeding chickens, and pressing apples into sweet juice, it reminded me there are so many possibilities for the future.

More:

Jo Boston is a Foodie's post includes pictures of our farm fresh picnic
Adrien Salazar at Ground Theory writes on Fil/Am History Month and visiting the Farm  
FilAm Nation cross-posts video on The Filipino Channel at the farm! 

Check out the sites connected with some of the awesome folks who made the trip. I may be missing a site, so do let me know!

Leroid David
Jo Boston is a Foodie
Jun-Blog
Mercury Lounge
Ground Theory
Kay Cuajunco
kapamealya
inuyaki
Aimee Suzara
Best Pesto
Asian Culinary Forum
Jim Espinas
Angela Angel
Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity