Voices United finds food is the cultural common ground during their visit to Kabayan Filipino Café.
Vicki Baker
If a random group of people was asked to name their favorite dishes from Japanese, Thai, or Chinese cuisine, we’d probably be met with a flood of diverse responses: ramen, sushi, Pad Thai, dumplings, or Peking duck, to name a few. But if those same people were asked to name some Filipino dishes, there would likely be silence.
Filipinos have been immigrating to the United States in large numbers for more than a century. Today, there are nearly two million residing in the country. But Filipino food remains largely misunderstood and has been relatively slow to catch on. To broaden our appreciation for other cultures, Voices United members visited Kabayan Filipino Café as part of the Diversity in Action Committee’s initiative “Bridging Cultures through Food.”
Our own member, Arlene Johnson, of Filipino heritage, arranged a private lunch with the family-owned restaurant Kabayan Filipino Café and personally selected a variety of traditional dishes incorporating pork, chicken, beef, rice, and noodles.
How to describe the delicious foods we dined on? Well, that’s not so easy. With over 7,000 islands making up the country, the Philippines is home to a vast number of cultures. The food reflects its history as indigenous islanders who adopted ingredients from Chinese, Arab, and Indian neighbors and settlers. Influences came from Mexico and South America through the spice trade. Then add 333 years of Spanish colonization, 47 years of American rule, and three years of Japanese occupation. The resultant flavors lending to this multi-cultural cuisine are sweet, salty, tangy, bitter, sour, spicy, and every combination of those tastes that can be imagined!
In short, Filipino cuisine is food fusion even before fusion came in vogue. So, when you’ve exhausted all the Texas BBQ joints in the Lone Star State and want to try something more adventurous, Filipino cuisine is a must. Dive into Kabayan Filipino Café for an authentic dining experience where the food is affordable and appetizing, traditional, and tasty. Kain tayo! (Let’s eat!)
Interested in expanding your own awareness of diversity through restaurant visits, museum exhibitions, book discussions, festivals, and more? Join Voices United, a 501(c)(3)organization of progressive women, on the first Saturday of the month at 11 a.m. in the clubhouse. For more information, visit www.voicesunitedrr.org.