EASTSIDE PINAKBET
Eastside Pinakbet By Abraham Menor
My family immigrated to the states in the early 1960s for a better life and new opportunity. My mom had to help care for her family whilst growing up. At the age of 8, my mom was still too short to reach the kitchen sink so my grandfather made a stool for her so she could use the sink. She learned how to cook from my grandma at an early age. Grandma cooked the traditional foods from the Ilocos region of the Philippines. Although America was home, cooking Filipino food was important because it not only kept the tie to the homeland, it was our culture.
““...cooking Filipino food was important because it not only kept the tie to the homeland, it was our culture. “”
Pinakbet is one of the most popular dishes of the Philippines and is known as a dish from the northern part of the country. Pinakbet is a popular dish in our family. We usually have it at family parties, home meals, or even in tupperware stored in the freezer ready to eat at any time. It is a combination of different vegetables, flavors, and textures. You usually eat it with rice and other dishes. You can have it in a bowl on its own and enjoy the broth. It is Filipino comfort food. It is filling and good for you considering all the ingredients.
““We usually have it at family parties, home meals, or even in tupperware stored in the freezer ready to eat at any time.””
Today, many of our traditional foods are more favored amongst the older relatives and cousins in the family and we are starting to see the younger generations not eating the dishes as much. It’s hard when the traditions of cooking are not passed down from generation to generation. I hope to change this by learning how to cook our traditional dishes in order to keep them alive. My mom said food will always be a part of our culture and traditions.
““It’s hard when the traditions of cooking are not passed down from generation to generation.””
