FILIPINO FOOD MONTH – BAON KAINAN

The word “baon” can bring about countless memories for Filipinos from all backgrounds. For some, it could be the carefully prepared school lunches a family matriarch or caretaker would make. “Baon” could also be as ordinary as lunch money. During house parties and fiestas, one might pack up leftovers to take home as their “baon.” “Baon” is something you take along with you for your journey ahead, and Baon Kainan packages up creations that bring back delicious memories.

Speaking of packing up and journeys, Geri and Ethan of @baonkainan embarked in exactly that, from Seattle to Portland, after meeting and receiving encouragement from Richard and Sophia Le of @mattapdx. With Ethan’s impressive culinary background (he was named Seattle’s Next Hot Chef in 2019) and Geri’s established creative marketing foundation (clients have ranged from small businesses to Microsoft), the duo was more than ready to take the leap of faith by opening a food cart together in a new city. And did they make a splash!! Splash = @theoregonian Food Cart of the Year ‘21, @eaterpdx Best New Food Cart ‘21, @eater Local Pick for National Best Restaurants ‘21, and @pomomagazine Food Cart of the Year ‘21 🏆

All their hard work has not only won them acclaim, but also continues to solidify Filipino cuisine’s place in our culinary landscape. With their own unique experiences with and connections to Filipino food, they’re bringing us food that are both new and nostalgic. As Geri has said, “[their] food isn’t your tita’s cooking, but it will remind you.”

Visit @baonkainan to get your @FilipinoFoodMonth fix here in Portland. You can find them at the @concoursecoffee cart pod. Follow them on IG for their most current hours. Also, stay tuned for something special coming from BAON & TIKIM on Friday so you can have a little “Baon”with you at home.

#tikim #tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinofoodmovement #filipinofoodmonth #filipinostories #baon #baonkainan #filipinofoodcart #kainnatayo #kainna #theeatguide #eaterpdx

FILIPINO FOOD MONTH - FAMILY GET TOGETHERS

Growing up Filipino, chances are you are raised Catholic (whether we all still practice or not is a varied spectrum). The colonization by the Spanish for a few hundred years brought this over making it the dominant religion in the country.

Many get togethers are centered around Catholic holidays where there are also traditional fiestas back home. Beyond Christmas, the Lenten season is another such holiday. From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, there are traditions that are observed and a lot of it also brings family together with food at the center.

This isn’t a post about religion but being Filipino is complex. So many of our customs revolve around religion and we all have to define what these celebration milestones mean for us now.

These days, we are all far away from our families so we celebrate with our chosen families instead. Coming together through food is really our religion.

#tikim #tikimpdx #filipinofoodstories #filipinofoodmovement #filipinofoodmonth #fiesta #gettogether #happyeaster

MAGNA KUSINA

Nothing could have prepared me for how lonely and homesick I felt after I first moved to Vancouver from the Bay Area. My personality is such that I don’t typically make friends easily so I tried finding solace by seeking out the best Filipino food I could find. While there were moments of delight, I was mostly disappointed in the sad, bland options that I was finding. I had mostly given up that anything inspiring would come along until I read a little blurb about this new restaurant called Magna that would be opening up in August of 2019.

I just had to go.

I brought my then 5-year-old as my date on the second day of opening week. We went back for my birthday, we went back for my child’s birthday, we would go as often as we could.

Fast forward through a couple years of pandemic and hardship, it now feels like a second home for me and a place of belonging for many.

On the surface, @magnapdx is a restaurant that serves some of the most inspiring Filipino food in the area, but to many people in the community, it is so much more. This tiny but mighty spot on Clinton St. has provided a safe haven and has served as an inclusive incubator for pop ups and collaborations such as @chelopdx @alliegspastries @sunricepdx @wepapdx @jem.supper.club @stabs_smokedmeats_asianeats. It has hosted @tikimpdx meetings and has become a spot to hang out and celebrate after hours because we’re alive and we’re together after a couple of extremely difficult years. I could go on about the food, but honestly the pictures can speak for themselves, the accolades can speak for themselves.

At it’s heart, Magna is about family. The food brought me here, but the people made me want to stay.

Thank you @twistedfilipino @bobbiedovar @jeepney_collective @whereiskev @icharlie888 @lestoiinks @j0yce_totheworld @_freefreako @timtakesphotos @buhnbee @stabs_smokedmeats_asianeats

🖤 Jane

NOCHE BUENA SERIES No. 3

I’ll be quite honest. I have been dreading to write and release my portion of the Noche Buena series. Not because I dislike writing or talking about food/tradition, but because of the grief I live with from the death of my parents. Noche Buena and Christmas were special to my family solely because of my mother, and a close second favorite of hers was New Year, with my father’s birthday in between on the 27th. My nuclear family did the whole midnight mass thing when I was a kid, but as the years passed, less and less of us went.

That’s the thing, though. Traditions evolve and traditions end or are placed on pause for a while. I learned this early on since my family hadn’t had a holiday all together, in one place, since I was a child. My parents very quietly executed anything we did as a family, so we hardly documented anything let alone take pictures or write down recipes. All of this has made me very self-conscious throughout the years because of the cultural and societal expectation to have holiday memories.

All this reflection has made me both regretful, that my family wasn’t sentimental enough to document our traditions nor hold on to them while my parents were alive, and appreciative of the creation of new traditions. My partner, now fiancé, and I have enjoyed Dim Sum on Christmas every year, for example. Before the pandemic, we were making a trip to Vancouver BC a winter holiday tradition. And now, new and old friends are sharing and creating new memories for me to reflect as I continue to take steps forward into the holidays of the future.

Everyone has their own experiences with the holidays, and cultural tradition doesn’t mean homogeneity. Togetherness during the holidays can mean with family, chosen family, and/or with oneself.

With Love and Hope,

Nori

NOCHE BUENA SERIES No. 2

Noche Buena is one of my favorite holidays because I have such fond memories of it growing up. When I was younger, it’s relevance was tied to the excitement around opening gifts and all the Catholic “duties” leading up to that probably fueled the anticipation. I remember the preparation that our household would be in — making food, ensuring we’ve covered all the gifts for family members, decorating the house — it seemed exhausting. It wasn’t always so fun because my mom would typically be stressed out, worrying, cooking up a storm to make sure it was perfect. I am sure many of you can relate.

For Noche Buena, we’d have extended family members come over for dinner with the centerpiece often being surf and turf — Roasted Prime Rib and Roasted Garlic Crab with Garlic Noodles (adapted from one of our favorite San Francisco restaurants since the 80’s, Thanh Long). After dinner, we would all head out to Midnight Mass (a very long and tedious affair) and then come back to the house, open gifts and eat some of my favorite snacks like Jamon, Queso de Bola, Baked Macaroni, Russian Salad, Pandesal, Embutido and my favorite — Tsokolate.

A favorite memory from my teenage years was when my sister and I would pretend to go to mass (I drove separately in my car), then come back and have the house to ourselves. We would use this quiet time to wrap gifts we had for our family because we procrastinated and also get a head start on snacking. At the time, we thought we were being sneaky but I am sure our parents knew what we were up to.

As I got older and moved away, living in different cities for work, there were times we could not make it home to the Bay Area. My partner, Brandon, and I had to make our own traditions. There were times when we traveled, or had friends over and we celebrated by going out to dinner and out to our favorite bar. However, during the last few years, we have both pulled heavily from our childhood food memories. I would make some dishes from my Filipino childhood and Brandon would make tamales he learned how to make from his Mexican grandmother. We’d have our favorites which helped when we were away from home last year.

Over the next week, I am going to share some of my family recipes that I’ve had to learn how to make. Hope you find some inspiration for your own Noche Buena.

❤️Tricia

NOCHE BUENA SERIES No. 1

Growing up in the States, Noche Buena meant staying up till midnight with the family before gathering to open up the mountain of presents and then feasting afterwards. Right before I graduated from high school, I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate the holiday season in the Philippines. There, Noche Buena meant attending Simbang Gabi (Night Mass), a 9-day series of masses leading up to Christmas. I remember attending the Christmas Eve service before heading over to a relative’s home and being welcomed with enough food to feed a battalion.

For Noche Buena, some traditional dishes include lechon, ham, keso de bola, some kind of pancit, crema de fruta, fruit salad, and various kinds of kakanin, predominately bibingka and puto bumbong. Every family has their own take on what they like to include. The majority of our family gatherings in the States included a pretty varied menu—the dishes differed depending on what people wanted to make at the time and how much time they had to prepare. If someone was short on time, they could always bring something from Goldilocks or Red Ribbon, Filipino chain restaurants that were easily accessible in the Bay Area. Desserts were always the first to be outsourced since they could be the most time-consuming to make so there was often an ube roll cake or sansrival from Goldilocks tempting me from the table.

The one aspect of the meal we did not take shortcuts on was the display of various meats. The responsibility of this would usually fall on the person hosting to ensure that the meat would be freshly made and eaten straight from the grill or oven. Sometimes, there would be roast chicken or maybe a ham, but there was usually always inihaw na liempo and galbi, a latter addition. I have no idea how or why galbi was added on, but it’s delicious and easy to prep so I can understand why it has become a mainstay.

Over the next week, I’ll elaborate more on some of my food memories and my spin on these dishes. Can’t wait to share with you, and I hope that you in turn will also share some of your memories with us!

🖤Jane

MARAMING SALAMAT!

“A crazy idea from three women who have zero formal culinary training became a beautiful success thanks to the community coming together.” That could be our long headline after the TIKIM Supper Club pop-up at @mestizo.pdx

The pandemic amplified the longing we didn’t know we had for the food and the community we knew before moving to Portland. This longing brought us together, and our collective community got behind us to make our crazy idea a reality.

Sunday was a greater success than we could have ever imagined. Our first event as TIKIM was impossibly beautiful. When there was a need to be fulfilled as we planned, people stepped up without hesitation and even without being asked, helping us during their days off and “free” time. This. This is community. This is belonging. We’re still reeling in the best way possible from all the love.

Tickets sold in less than 5 minutes for this event. We’re continually encouraged by the demand and engagement. Sunday night’s dining room was filled with warm smiling diverse guests. 9 out of 20 were Filipino, 16 out of 20 were BIPOC, over half were service industry/independent business owners, and 11 were female. THIS was Portland showing up.

The sincerest gratitude to everyone who has and continues to help us push our vision forward. We couldn’t and can’t do this without all of you. We are so excited about what’s next (already in the planning phase), and we hope you will join us.

Stay with us. Keep talking about Filipino cuisine and culture. Share your stories. Inspire us and one another. Your Ates welcome you.

Maraming Salamat!

Special shout outs to the folks that made this happen with us:

@mestizo.pdx @devilsfoodcatering @erigbystudios @heydaypdx @sibeihosibeiho @onlyhollyo @jackknak @eerieluna @brandon13 @thesandwedgechef @kat.bites @filmsnacks

Design: @abaik @natedy @e_gotosan @brianbantog

Food 📸 from our amazing guests: @baonkainan @brrraaady @tjcooksinthe503

#tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinocuisine #filipinoculture #filipinostories #portland #manila #supperclub #popup #maramingsalamat #pdxfood #eater #eaterpdx