When I was teaching in a school in Toronto in the 90’s, a fellow Filipino teacher in the same school and I used to give a luncheon to the staff during the week of Thanksgiving. We usually served our native pansit”, “lumpiang Shanghai” and beef “mitsado”.
The members of the staff looked forward to this Filipino meal and reminded us every year, lest we forget. They all loved Filipino food.
Ethnocultural parties held by Filipino Canadian organizations and attended by different members of the multicultural society in Toronto and suburbs usually serve Filipino dishes with the whole roasted pig, “lechon” as the centerpiece.
In celebrations wherein food can be bought like the Canadian National Exhibition, there is usually a Filipino booth selling our well-known delicacies. There are also Filipino places wherein Filipino foods are available.
OF late, some of our Filipino eateries have become very popular that there are even line ups to get a table. Several weeks ago, I went with my family and friends to a food court at Brimley and Sheppard. There is a Filipino booth called Mami, wherein you can get a combo of rice, two dishes or meat and vegetables and a bottle of water or pop for $5.99. Two orders were enough for three people. (You know how most of us Filipinos are. “Ayaw ng may matatapon”.
There was a wide variety of choices- pansit palabok or pansit guisado, adobo, dinuguan, bopis, lumpiang prito/sariwa, litson “crispy pata”, minudo, pritong bangus or tilapia, okoy, kare-kare, and many more that I did not remember the names of.
It was a very filling meal. For dessert, we ordered halo-halo, a mixture of several sweets topped with crushed ice and cream. Twenty dollars covered the meal for three. We also bought pandesal and ensaymada to take home.
It was a Sunday and there was a long line-up to get the orders. But most of those in the queue were taking orders made previously to take home. A tray of pansit was $25.00; a tray of lumpiang sariwa was about $30.00 according the number ordered. On can order a chicken “relyeno” stuffed chicken with ground meat and spices, a whole “mitsado” a whole tray of “Kare-kare”. I imagine these people held parties without bothering to cook; everything was ordered.
This is a trend at present. One can hold a feast without the bother of cooking. These eateries, Filipinos and other ethnic cultural groups, have a long list of dishes one can choose from. One can order by phone and use a credit card to pay.
Still many Filipinos cook at home the way they did in the Philippines. The pinakbet, fried fish, paksiw, nilaga and some dishes from their particular region in the Philippines like “gabi leaves” with coconut milk. These are easy to prepare dishes wherein all ingredients are available in Filipino or Chinese food stores. These dishes are usually eaten with boiled rice.
Some Filipinos still practice a habit commonly done in the Philippines. They fry the left-over rice of the previous evening and serve it for breakfast with sausage, fried egg, and dried fried meat (tapa).
I am just wondering if second generation and succeeding ones still retain the Filipino eating habits and dishes.
I have a niece who was brought up in the Filipino way of eating. She ate all Filipino dishes including “dinuguan” and took leftover food for lunch in school. I used to pack her lunchbox with rice and the meat or fish dish at the top. AT times, I gave her chicken wings and French Fries, or lasagne and other pasta dishes. She grew up seeing us her elders take the leftover food. When we ate in restaurants, she ate potato salad with left-over chicken. In our home no food was wasted.
Now, this niece of mine, a second generation Filipino Korean Canadian is married and has a twenty two month daughter who often comes to our place. This adorable kid loves pansit and adobo on rice. My niece still loves Filipino foods and her husband who is a Canadian with British origin eats our dishes also with gusto. But this family eats Filipino food only when they visit us or their Filipino aunts, uncles and cousins. They do not cook Filipino dishes at home except one or two which do not need too much preparation. This family and their friends love “lumpiang shanghai”. My niece prepares them in batches and freezes them.
The Filipino habit of eating boiled rice almost every day, at least at suppertime still continues in first generation homes. The meat/fish and potato meal or pasta has become common place in many younger generations especially where there are children who have gotten sold to hamburger/fries or pizza meals.
Filipino dishes are often well-balanced with all the food groups in them. Take the kare-kare; meat, vegetables like eggplant, string beans, cabbage, banana heart, peanut-butter and toasted rice. Eaten with rice, one does not need a salad to start with.
Another very delicious dish is “lumpiang sariwa” with “ubod” which comes from the trunk of a coconut tree. This is a very nutritious dish of meat, shrimp and vegetables laid on a fresh leaf of lettuce and wrapped with a thin sheet of pastry and eaten with a sauce and crushed garlic. You do not even need rice to eat this dish with.
Many of the younger generations of Filipino Canadians do not speak any of the Filipino languages. So our languages appear not to be one of the legacies of our people. Filipino foods remain a favourite not only by our people but also by members of other ethnocultural groups. We do not even need to prepare them if we find the task too long and complicated. WE can just order them from one of these Filipino restaurants or take-out places.
Let us remain proud of our Filipino food and promote eating them.
