Pilipino American Unity for Progress (UniPro) Expands to the West Coast with the Launch of its San Diego Chapter

San Diego, CA – Pilipino American Unity for Progress (UniPro) is proud to announce the launch of its new San Diego chapter. The official launch, scheduled for Friday, February 6th at the United Domestic Workers of America (UDW) Community Hall in San Diego, will coincide with a town hall dialogue and will touch on UniPro’s role within the thriving Pilipino American community in San Diego. The official UniPro San Diego launch and town hall event – co-sponsored by UDW, National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), and Silayan Filipina – will feature guest speaker Hon. Consul General Audie de Castro as well as an introduction by the members of UniPro San Diego. The town hall dialogue following the launch will then consist of small group discussions on the importance and meaning of communities to individuals and what UniPro can do to serve this community.

“UniPro has always been interested in expanding beyond the metro-NY area. How could we work towards our vision of a unified and engaged Pilipino America without a presence in other major Pilipino American communities?” asks UniPro NY president Iris Zalun. “The answer came when we became involved in the Empowering Pilipino Youth through Collaboration (EPYC) conference, held in San Diego last August. Through EPYC, we met a group of passionate leaders whose values of collaboration, advocacy, and education aligned with ours. That team then approached us, expressing a need for UniPro in the San Diego community. Thus, UniPro San Diego was born.

San Diego has been identified to have the second largest Pilipino American population in the nation. UniPro San Diego aims to identify and potentially resolve any needs of the community while providing support, resources and networks to organizations and individuals, most especially the youth.

UniPro San Diego Official Launch and Town Hall event details:

Friday, February 6, 2015

6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

United Domestic Workers of America: Community Hall

4855 Seminole Drive, San Diego, CA 92115

Calling All Balikbayans (Kaya Collaborative)

Every summer, Kaya Collaborative brings 10–15 emerging leaders from the Filipino diaspora to listen, to learn, and to rediscover the Philippines alongside local leaders in Manila.  Rexy Josh Dorado shares some of their learnings - as well as a new manifesto for balikbayan reconnection.

Snippets from our summer scrapbook: the huddled intimacy of our daily MRT commute; the stinging sun that prefaced the roar of rain; the swirling view of rice terraces zooming in, zooming out as we gripped the jeepney roof, Sagada-bound.

It’s a scrapbook of sounds, senses, and textures as much as it is about the visuals. There’s a mix CD taped to the back cover that plays modern hip-hop, eighties power ballads, and Alfred singing karaoke to nineties OPM rock (Original Pilipino Music).

“Nakakatindig balahibo…”

And then: Post-it notes on post-it notes. Sketches and non-sequiturs on plain white paper. Google Docs capturing the cascading thoughts and uncertainties of another discussion about identity and social change.

Our experiment in using design principles to facilitate cultural dialogue has left us with a mountain of moments and ideas memorialized in ink and graphite. Let’s pull up one scene in particular: 15 of us gathered around pizza, scribbling questions into colored paper and passing it along. The loud chatter begins to idle, corner by corner, as the mood shifts toward real talk.

Fil-Ams and the Philippines

This was seven weeks into Kaya Collaborative’s balikbayan (returnee) fellowship – seven weeks into our group’s summer engagement with Manila’s social innovation community. With less than a month left on the clock, that “closing chapter” sensation was beginning to drip into the scene. It was a time for reflection, dialogue, and synthesis — for sketching out our personal and collective ways forward.

In just seven weeks, we had learned more than we could recount about our motherland. We learned about the social issues at play, about the political and economic factors that fed them, about the different parties that were moving to rewrite the country’s future.

About the strength of the Filipino people.

Most importantly, we realized just how little we knew coming in, and just how much there remained for us to learn. A summer wasn't even close to enough. Years and miles stood between us and a full understanding of ourselves, the Philippines, and where the two narratives come together.

Diaspora Privilege

And yet: doors opened for us. We found ourselves in conversations with decision makers, presented with a wealth of exciting opportunities, and touching upon spheres of power and influence that we likely never would have known if we had stayed in the States – or if we had stayed here.

As members of an organized Filipino America that has built its voice fighting racial injustice in the States, it’s odd and uncomfortable finding ourselves in a position of such clear privilege. It’s difficult to talk about, and even more difficult to know what to do with. But as we've learned in our resistance against white privilege and Western imperialism, oppression finds its power in uncomfortable silence and silenced discomfort.

We, the children of migration, need to work towards a better understanding of ourselves in terms of power and privilege. The vibrant potentials and the quiet dangers of our work. The possibilities and the tensions that we find ourselves entangled in.

We are positioned to play a powerful role as transnational actors – but we need to do it with care, with respect, and with true solidarity at heart.

We at Kaya Collaborative offer our own rough take on a new balikbayan manifesto. It’s much easier said than done, but we hope that our community of returnees and circular migrants can take some of the points below to heart.

Towards a New Balikbayan Manifesto

As balikbayans, we recognize that our lives and our identities have positioned us to find success in our homeland, and to make an impact for others around us.

We recognize our strengths. Through a mix of active decisions and accidental circumstance, our skills and our education have opened doors for growth as an individual and as a citizen. Our perspectives can give birth to new ideas and drive cultural exchange. Our international networks position us to funnel global resources, understanding, and allyship to our motherland.

We recognize that our struggles as Filipinos in the diaspora are real, and that returning to the Philippines holds the promise of unearthing parts our histories and our voices that we lost along the way. Our connection to the Philippines, though incomplete, is genuinely personal, and it gives us a stake in the equation that we cannot shake off.

We recognize that the Philippines contains opportunity, culture, ideas, and people who can add tremendous value to our lives. At the same time, we recognize that we are privileged in our ability to enjoy these opportunities without having to know the struggles that created them.

We recognize that life in our new land comes with an unspoken security that is absent to too many here, and that being outside the Philippines has placed us closer to certain opportunities and relationships that have helped us along the way. We recognize, furthermore, that this privilege has instilled in us biases that shape our interpretation of life and culture in the Philippines.

We recognize that this is dangerous. If left unchecked, we can become the vehicle for the perpetuation of a culture that favors the foreign over the local. If left uninformed, the stories we tell can feed damaging stereotypes of the Philippines and its people. If done without care, the resources we bring back can grow or sustain inequalities that exist within the Philippines.

We resolve, then:

First and foremost, to listen and to learn;

To never profit off of struggles we do not know, financially or otherwise;

To never speak for cultures and communities that we are not fully in touch with;

To always use our privilege to redirect resources, understanding, and attention to communities outside our circles;

To always work in partnership with the Philippines, never as a misguided savior or an unintentional colonizer;

To always check our motives, actions, and impact regarding all of the above;

And to always do our part in telling a story of the Philippines that stars the Philippines — a story that grows the dreams and capacities of its people — a story that’s already playing out, right here and right now, but finds itself sadly ignored by those holding the pen.

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Article written by Rexy Josh Dorado (Originally posted on Kaya Co's Medium)

Kaya Collaborative (Kaya Co.) aims to inspire, educate, and mobilize the young Filipino diaspora as partners to long-term, locally-led social change in the Philippines.  Stay tuned for more updates on the upcoming summer 2015 fellowship.

It comes, it goes, it stays #FKEDUP

We started off the year with Filipino.Kitchen's list of best Filipino eats of last year.

The second collaboration post with #FKEDUP featuring The Errant Diner is here! Let's explore what "Filipino Food Trends" really means. Most trends seem to be one-hit wonders where others are just too DAMN good that they stick around for a while. There is a reason why some trends are trends and why some dishes remain classics not only within a native culture, but in the mainstream food realm.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on Paolo Espanola's 5 biggest (Un)-Trends in Filipino food for this year. Which ones definitely belong on this list? Which Filipino food "trends" should have made it instead?

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The 5 Biggest (Un)-Trends in Filipino Food for 2015

(originally published on The Errant Diner)

by Paolo Española

Every year, a group of tastemakers and trenderati pontificate on what they believe are going to be the top food trends for this year.  Whether or not these trends are actually just self-fulfilling prophecies is beyond us.  However, one particular “trend” that’s consistently made it in recent years, from Andrew Zimmern proclaiming it the “next big thing” in 2012 all the way up to this year’s list, is “Filipino Food."  It’s supposedly going to gain a huge following, an increased appreciation outside of the iconic adobos and halo-halos, and ever more restaurants pushing our heady flavors to the hungry masses.

But what exactly does saying Pinoy food is a 2015 trend mean?  Filipino cuisine is such a rich topic, full of historical context and ripe with stories that to say it’s a “trend” this year is quite an oversimplification and implies we’re being given a limited time on the proverbial stage to strut our stuff!  What does “trendiness” look like?  Prolific to the point of cheap Pinoy takeout via Seamless?  A Filipino Michelin-starred restaurant on Park Avenue?  Whatever your opinion is, we’re just as excited as you for the opportunities Filipino cuisine faces this year!

Elected by a not-as-secret sect of foodies (us….duhhh), we’ve tasked ourself on compiling the next stages in the evolution of the Filipino cuisine and why we believe this is one “trend” that’s going to be around for a while.

1. BEYOND ADOBO

Any respectable restaurant attempting to bring Filipino cuisine to the masses has at some point offered their version of Adobo, the dish that’s become as synonymous to Pinoy cuisine as General Tso’s Chicken is to Chinese-American eateries.  It’s been covered by the New York Times and with Americans falling in love with that soy sauce-vinegar elixir of life that the choice meat is braised in, the market is hankering for more.

 Dishes as daring as Dinuguan (offal stewed in pig’s blood) and as loved as Lumpia (various egg & spring rolls) are being incorporated into a wider range of menus.  Perhaps we’ll begin to see restaurants specializing in regional cuisines, such as that of the predominantly Muslim areas of Mindanao that eschew pork but use the more abundant coconut milk of its surroundings, or introducing dishes not as well-known outside the motherland.

2. PORK BELLY, FRIED RICE, AND…VEGETABLES?!

Filipino food, even among us seasoned Sinigang-slurpers, has never enjoyed the reputation of being healthy (or at least is usually known as being very meat-centric) outside of the Philippines, what with our rich stews and belt-busting desserts.  While food trends for 2015 make our dishes more popular as people begin to fall in love with flavorful, fatty foods again, there’s also a good amount of support for healthier options that have been around for a while.

Chefs such as Richgail Enriquez of Astig Vegan and Jay-Ar Pugao of No Worries Cuisine prepare vegetarian/vegan versions of traditionally meat-heavy dishes likebagoong (fermented seafood paste) and bistek (sauteed beef and onions).  Perhaps this will also bring more vegetable- and seafood-based cuisines such as that of the Visayas region to the forefront.

3. FROM RAMEN-YAS TO PANCITERIAS

2014 was the year of the ramen, from the obligatory stop at Ippudo from visiting friends to modernist takes by ramen scientists like Yuji Haraguchi of YUJI Ramen to even far more outlandish inventions like Keizo Shimamoto’s ramen burger.  The noodle craze is still going strong and there’s nothing stopping us from joining the party with our own plethora of noodles.

From the basic Pansit Bihon to the regional variations of Molo, Miki, Canton, Luglug, and Palabok, we’ve got enough to open our own noodle houses complete with OPM songs playing in the background, colorful plastic chairs, and bottles of ice cold Royal Tru Orange soda.

4. BOLD DESSERTS, BOLDER FLAVORS

The Cronut, strange cupcake flavors, and savory ice creams (Maharlika and Morgenstern Ice Cream’s Ube with Latik collab anyone?).  Desserts defied logic this past year but we gobbled them up all the same.  Of course, our now famous Halo-halo (once described by Anthony Bourdain as not making any sense) has gained some traction but we have a whole spread of desserts that aren’t the typical sweet pastry.

 Imagine new takes on the puto bumbong (steamed heirloom sticky rice topped with shredded coconut), Maja Blanca (coconut pudding with corn kernels), Keso Ice Cream (yup…the controversial cheese-flavored ice cream) and while we’re at it, might as well mention that creamy fruit salad with *gasp* macaroni your Tita Girlie brings to every gathering!

5. SAY NO TO THE PACKET

There was a time when every Pinoy recipe included the step: “add 1 packet Sinigang (or one of the innumerable other seasonings) mix to the pot”.  Mystery powders no more!  More and more Filipinos are waxing poetic about their ingredients, providing a level of education that transcends the usual “it’s my lola’s secret recipe”.

Milkfish in New Orleans makes their own cocktail bitters featuring ampalaya (bittermelon) and sampalok (tamarind), Amy Besa of Purple Yam drops the knowledge on our various rices, plants, regional dishes, and other culinary gems on her Instagram (@amycbesa…I swear you’ll learn more from her feed than anywhere else), and gypsy chef Yana Gilbuena of SALO has been highlighting the various farms and purveyors she’s partnered with (Bison Tapa in Montana! Mmmmm….).  We’ve only begun to showcase just how much of our identities lie in the ingredients and techniques we’ve used for years, and from the looks of it, things are looking tasty!

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At the end of the day, there aren’t so much trends as they are our wishes; our interpretation of recent events that give us hope for the evolution of the Filipino Food Movement.  There’s a reason critics have been calling us “the next big trend” for several years in a row now and we believe it’s precisely because we aren’t a trend in the traditional sense of the word.  A trend by definition after all, is a fleeting thing, and we believe Filipino Cuisine is here to stay.

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ABOUT OUR #FKEDUP COLLABORATORS!

With this collaboration Pilipino American Unity for Progress (UniPro) aims to push forward the Filipino Food Movement. Engaging Filipino Americans in not only dialogue, creation but also consumption of some of their favorite and least favorite dishes will explore where Filipino Cuisine stands and where Filipino Cuisine is heading.

Throughout Paolo Espanola's childhood years in Saudi Arabia, his teen years in a seminary in rural Wisconsin, his collegiate tribulations in Minnesota, and finally in the concrete jungle of New York, food has always been a large part of his life. Paolo has dabbled in blogging, catering, and throwing pop-up dinners as The Errant Diner.  Check out his blog for all things food, from philosophical rants, culinary techniques, event reviews, and the occasional recipe.

Through our cuisine, Filipino Kitchen connects Filipinos everywhere with our cultural heritage and the possibilities of our shared future. Filipino Kitchen documents with photography, interviews, stories and recipes, the makers and appreciators of Filipino cuisine and its continuing evolution. Currently based in Chicago and Southern California, we cook our delicious cuisine and share it with our communities at pop-up brunches, dinners and other food events. Through connecting across the diaspora with our shared love and pride of our food, we hope to lead a long-coming renaissance. The masterminds and masterhearts behind Filipino Kitchen are three Filipino Americans: writer Sarahlynn Pablo, photographer Natalia Roxas-Alvarez and chef AC Boral of so good & delicious. Filipino Kitchen is online at http://filipino.kitchen and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The Errant Diner: Twitter/Instagram: @errant_diner 

Filipino Kitchen Twitter/Instagram: @filipinokitchen

UniPro Twitter/Instagram: @unipronow

Best of last year to start off this year! - # FKEDUP

Happy New Year everyone! This is the first post of our collaboration with Filipino.Kitchen and The Errant Diner. What better way to start our New Year and new collaboration than with a look at the best of 2014! It's a delicious compilation of the FK's best Filipino foods from last year. Try not to get too full after reading through it, there is more than just seconds on its way!

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HUNGRY FOR MORE: BEST EATS OF 2014

(originally published on Filipino.Kitchen) by: Sarahlynn Pablo & Natalia Roxas-Alvarez

Though all our meals of 2014 were amazing in their own right, a select few dishes stood above the rest. Whether the dishes were new-to-us Filipino dishes, interesting twists on familiar classics or the classics done masterfully, certain ones we replay in our memory with a genuine desire to experience those dishes again and rejoin with friends, new and old alike.

NATALIA AND I ARE HUNGRY FOR MORE OF THESE TOP DISHES OF 2014 (HT ANTHONY BOURDAIN). WHAT WERE YOUR TOP FILIPINO DISHES OF LAST YEAR?

CRAB FAT FRIED RICE BY SUNDA, CHICAGO

Do we need to say more than CRAB FAT FRIED RICE?! (No!) At Chicago’s Sunda, Executive Chef Jess De Guzman’s brunch menu offers an ‘assemble yourself -silog’**… with the crab fat (or aligi in Tagalog) fried rice as an option to the standard and much-beloved sinangag, garlic fried rice. The aligi imbues the rice with a reddish-orange tinge and the sharp taste of the crab with its concentrated umami, even as the sweet, tender torn chunks of crab meat are nestled within. Sarahlynn and I had our first taste of this amazing dish during brunch at Sunda for Filipino-American History Month and since then we’ve been hooked!

** Explainer! -Silog is the latter half of the portmanteau used to describe a Filipino breakfast combination dish. For example, tapsilog is tapa (thin-sliced, cured steak), sinangag (the garlic fried rice), itlog (eggs). Tapsilog = TAPa + SInanag + itLOG. Other -Silogs include longsilog (with longganisa, a sweet spicy sausage), bangsilog (with bangus or milkfish), spamsilog (yes, it’s what you think it means!).

GRILLED EGGPLANT KULAWO (BURNT COCONUT CREAM) BY PURPLE YAM, NEW YORK CITY

KULA-WHOA! According to Chef Romy Dorotan of Purple Yam, kulawo [burnt coconut cream], pronounced koo-lah-WUO, originates from San Pablo, Laguna. Said Natalia, “It is such a shame that my maternal side of my family is from Laguna, and I didn’t even know about this! I was a picky eater.” Kulawo is not a well known Filipino dish, but we think it should be. Who says Filipino food is all about meat?! This tasty vegetarian dish will not leave carnivores wanting. The savory appetizer takes the smoky flavor of grilled talong (eggplant) and cuts it with the creaminess of the coconut. How to burn coconut cream? Take freshly grated coconut flesh and place the embers of burnt coconut husk directly on top. With a cheesecloth, squeeze the milk from the mixture. The burned coconut cream is served as a warm dressing to the grilled talong, thinly sliced ampalaya (bittermelon), cherry tomatoes and greens. Brilliant.

MAJA BLANCA (CORN & COCONUT PUDDING) PANCAKES BY SO GOOD AND DELICIOUS’S RICE AND SHINE

Chef AC Boral’s amazing reinterpretation of a Pampangan holiday dessert is a creamy, sweet, coconutty corn kernel syrup on a stack of warm, fluffy pancakes, with a perfect counterpoint of blueberries. Trust me, we wanted to lick the pot clean after Chef AC gave us a sample. Chef AC’s traveling Filipino brunch takes American brunch classics and puts a special Pinoy twist.

SMOKED BANGUS BY MILKFISH, NEW ORLEANS

When in Rome… or New Orleans, in this case. When a chef/owner stakes her name on a single ingredient or a dish, that is what you have to get. In some restaurants, it’s a bit of a gimmick to get customers to order the house special, which is sometimes overpriced and not that special. Not in this case. You will order the eponymous bangus [milkfish] from Chef Cristina Quackenbush’s restaurant in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood, and you will love it. A whole bangus is smoked to a pearlescent gold. The firm, tender meat [hardly} is so well-flavored, it’s transcendent. Add some drops of the thai chili vinegar sawsawan (dipping sauce), to level everything up. You will eat the skin, too. Nothing was left for the cats (as my late father used to joke) except the fins, a little pile of the bangus’ fine, long bones, and the skull. Take the streetcar from the French Quarter to Milkfish. You will thank me.

SINIGANG BY MILKFISH, NEW ORLEANS

Rich and layered like the way of a great jambalaya built on a dark roux and great andouille. Soured so good, it hurts so sweetly. These are the words that come to mind when I think of Chef Quackenbush’s pork rib sinigang at her New Orleans restaurant, Milkfish. Heavy on the tamarind, the dark broth packs a punch to your pucker. Quackenbush’s childhood at the apron strings of her mother on her grandmother’s Indiana farm, where she learned how to grow and raise product and livestock and the practical, frugal ways of agriculturalists. No waste of the scraps from the butcher’s table or the vegetable cutting board. In they go, into the stock.

SINIGANG BY PURPLE YAM, NEW YORK CITY

There is nothing more comforting than a bowl of sinigang (lobster, leeks, gourd, lemon, tomato, guava) with steaming jasmine rice on a cold day/night. Purple Yam’s sinigang is clean, sour, fresh and educational. At least for me, as all thesinigang I have ever known is out of a packet, while this was made with fresh ingredients to develop the sour taste instead of relying on freeze dried seasonings. This delicate balance of flavors was very refreshing and comforting.

ADOBO BAO BY KUMA INN, NEW YORK CITY

To anyone who needs an introduction to Filipino cuisine, you will always — and I mean ALWAYS — be served adobo, usually a chicken or pork adobo, to be your first ever Filipino dish. Kuma Inn’s adobo bao is just a party in your mouth with some tender shredded pork adobo nuzzled in between a steamed rice bun and topped with shredded pickled carrots. Just writing this makes me want to have some. Thanks, Chef King!

TAPA NORI TACO FROM PURPLE YAM, BROOKLYN

As I type this, I am salivating for one! — Tender garlicky beef tapa, with heritage rice from the Cordilleras mountains in the northern Philippines, pomelo, orange, persimmons and spring greens on top encased with crispy fried nori, seaweed instead of tortilla. This is a taco that I can definitely eat a lot and all the time.

BIBINGKA FROM CHEF CHRISSY CAMBA OFMADDY’S DUMPLING HOUSE

Nothing spells Christmas more in the Philippines than bibingka (a type of rice cake made of rice flour, and coconut milk). The only reason I love going to church during the yuletide season is I look forward to eating after it. During Chef Chrissy Camba’s pop-up dinner last December 15, 2014 we were served some bibingka,leche flan and her lola‘s (grandmother) fruit salad for dessert and I wanted more…a lot more of it!

LONGGANISA SCOTCH EGGS FROM SGDFOOD’S RICE AND SHINE

If Voltes V were actually Voltes II and instead of an evil fighting robot collective it were a breakfast food collective, that would be longganisascotch eggs. (You 70s and 80s Pinoy dub anime peeps feel me.) Chef AC Boral of so good and delicious and Filipino Kitchen (ahem!) is the auteur of this slightly sweet & spiced pork sausage encasing a soft boiled egg, panko-breaded and deep fried.

ADOBO RAMEN BURGER BY LUMPIA SHACK, NEW YORK CITY

Here is another variation of adobo in form of a ramen burger. The ramen burger phenomenon started two summers ago in Smorgasburg byKeizo Shimamoto who also supplies Lumpia Shack’s ramen buns! This tasty burger partnered withsinigang chips (made of kropek, shrimp cracker made out of pulverized shrimp and rice flour, and sinigang powder flavor dusted on the chips) is a craving that will never be sated until I go back to NYC.

BELLYCHON BY CHEF CHRISSY CAMBA OF MADDY’S DUMPLING HOUSE, CHICAGO

If you can’t have a full pig, well why not buy the best part and roast it just like how you would roast a whole one — introducing Pork Bellychon! (belly + lechon = bellychon) This dish, which we enjoyed at Chef Camba’s recent Filipino Pork Christmas dinner, doesn’t take away any flavors of a traditional Filipino whole-pig lechon.

SUNDA SUNDAE A.K.A. HALO-HALO FROM SUNDA, CHICAGO

GAME-CHANGER! The Sunda sundae is the holy grail of Halo-Halo outside the Philippines. We have tasted our fair share of halo-halo and came to a conclusion that Sunda’s version is just simply divine. Layers of calamansi granita, flan, red mung beans, nata de coco, jackfruit strips, condensed milk, 3 scoops of ice cream (avocado, ube, maiz con queso) … I do not care if it is in the dead of winter, I want it.

CRISPY PATA FRIES BY LUMPIA SHACK, NEW YORK CITY

My heart says ‘no,’ but my tummy says yes! The crispy pata** fries are a perfect beer-match on a hot summer day. It is decadent, crispy and succulent. Just make sure you follow the motto: “Sharing is caring”

**Crispy Pata = Filipino dish consisting of deep fried pig trotters or knuckles

UNIPALABOK BY MAHARLIKA, NEW YORK CITY

Pancit palabok, my favorite noodle dish, is staunchly, unabashedly fishy. Normally it’s a multi-layered dish, with head-on shrimp and tinapa or dried fish flakes, annato or poor man’s saffron, chicharron (fried pork skin) and some sliced hard boiled eggs for garnish.  But sometimes less is more. From the kitchen of owner Nicole Ponseca and Chef Miguel Trinidad at New York City’s Maharlika,palabok takes on the very sumptuous uni, theyellow-orange gonads or sex organsof a sea urchin. It’s briny fishyness combined with its peanut butter-like creaminess, as the palabok sauce that covers the round rice noodles, is something either you love or hate. The uni palabok is garnished with more luxurious whole uni and a dusting of tinapa and microgreens. For me, it’s love.

WHERE TO FIND THE HUNGRY FOR MORE LIST

CHICAGO

Sunda, 10 W. Illinois, Chicago, IL 60654. (312) 644-0500

NEW YORK CITY AND SURROUNDS

Purple Yam, 1314 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn, NY 11226. (718) 940-8188

Maharlika, 111 First Avenue, New York City, NY 10003. (646) 392-7880

Kuma Inn, 113 Ludlow Street, New York, NY 10002. (212) 353-8866

Lumpia Shack, 50 Greenwich Avenue, New York, NY 10014. (917) 475-1621

NEW ORLEANS

Milkfish, 125 N. Carrollton Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119. (504) 267-4199

SO GOOD & DELICIOUS RICE & SHINE (POP-UP)

Check Chef AC Boral’s Facebook page and our Filipino Kitchen Facebook page.

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ABOUT OUR # FKEDUP COLLABORATORS!

With this collaboration Pilipino American Unity for Progress (UniPro) aims to push forward the Filipino Food Movement. Engaging Filipino Americans in not only dialogue, creation but also consumption of some of their favorite and least favorite dishes will explore where Filipino Cuisine stands and where Filipino Cuisine is heading.

Throughout Paolo Espanola's childhood years in Saudi Arabia, his teen years in a seminary in rural Wisconsin, his collegiate tribulations in Minnesota, and finally in the concrete jungle of New York, food has always been a large part of his life. Paolo has dabbled in blogging, catering, and throwing pop-up dinners as The Errant Diner.  Check out his blog for all things food, from philosophical rants, culinary techniques, event reviews, and the occasional recipe.

Through our cuisine, Filipino Kitchen connects Filipinos everywhere with our cultural heritage and the possibilities of our shared future. Filipino Kitchen documents with photography, interviews, stories and recipes, the makers and appreciators of Filipino cuisine and its continuing evolution. Currently based in Chicago and Southern California, we cook our delicious cuisine and share it with our communities at pop-up brunches, dinners and other food events. Through connecting across the diaspora with our shared love and pride of our food, we hope to lead a long-coming renaissance. The masterminds and masterhearts behind Filipino Kitchen are three Filipino Americans: writer Sarahlynn Pablo, photographer Natalia Roxas-Alvarez and chef AC Boral of so good & delicious. Filipino Kitchen is online at http://filipino.kitchen and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The Errant Diner: Twitter/Instagram: @errant_diner 

Filipino Kitchen Twitter/Instagram: @filipinokitchen

UniPro Twitter/Instagram: @unipronow

#FKEDUP

The UniPro blog is proud to announce its collaboration with Filipino.Kitchen and The Errant Diner to give you, our dear readers, a delicious tour in the next few months of the deep and rich realm of Philippine cuisine.

When you go on the unipronow.org homepage, the three mission statements can be seen below the image banner -- issue identification, information dissemination, collaboration.

Filipino food has stories. Not only are they generated around the table but they are also embedded within the very recipes. It is oftentimes from these very stories that we as a culture identify and uncover underlying issues that need resolution within our families, our communities, and within ourselves.

The information required for resolution comes in many forms, and we believe the medium of food is a powerful and predominant one in our culture.

Food is almost always at the center of collaborations in the Filipino culture. Think of festivals within and between barangays, towns, and cities; fiestas, the unions in large family marriages and "lolo't lola, tito't tita, pinsan"-filled family get togethers during holidays.

Over the next few months, as we go into the world of Filipino food together, we want to hear from you. There will be writing prompts, twitter chats, polls, and many other ways to engage. Share your recipes, photos, thoughts... all to not only share each other's stories but to create new ones together.

Kain na tayo! Let's eat!

#FKEDUP

Filipino Kitchen Twitter/Instagram: @filipinokitchen

The Errant Diner: Twitter/Instagram: @errant_diner 

UniPro: Twitter/Instagram: @unipronow