'The Dish' podcast explores connection between food and identity

Transcript

ADRIAN MA, HOST:

What are you looking forward to most this holiday season? - the gifts, the parties, or is it the food? Yeah, if you're like me, you are hankering for some feasts. So to whet your appetite, this week's pod corner features a show about food. It's called The Dish. It's made by our member station Michigan Public. Host Mercedes Mejia takes it from here, introducing us to a Filipino chef who's eager to share her food culture with her community.

MERCEDES MEJIA, BYLINE: There's a family in West Michigan that brings all the flavors and fun of a Filipino house party to the Grand Rapids area. In the corner of their restaurant, you'll find an essential part of nearly every Filipino living room, a karaoke machine.

JACQUELINE MARASIGAN: This is our area for our karaoke. So every day, this is available, and whoever wants to sing while waiting their order, they can sing here. It's more fun at Adobo Boy 'cause when you come here, you have to sing or dance while waiting for your orders.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

J MARASIGAN: Hi, I'm Jacqueline Marasigan. I'm the owner and operator of Adobo Boy. So I made the pork adobo with the dessert of halo-halo.

MEJIA: When we met Jackie Marasigan and her family, we couldn't stop them from going above and beyond her signature adobo dish.

ACE MARASIGAN: We don't know how to cook for one person.

MEJIA: (Laughter).

J MARASIGAN: Yes. Yes (laughter).

A MARASIGAN: It's just the way it is (ph).

J MARASIGAN: It's always for the whole family.

MEJIA: I'm greeted at the door by Redd. That's Jackie's son. He's 10 years old, quiet, but not quite shy and eager to help with the family business. The restaurant, Adobo Boy, is named after him.

REDD MARASIGAN: So basically, when I was around three or four, my mom started feeding me adobo, and I fell immediately in love with it because of its taste. And I always requested her - Mom, can I have some adobo? So she nicknamed me the adobo boy because I really love adobo.

MEJIA: Traditional Filipino adobo is a meat dish, typically marinated with vinegar, soy sauce and garlic. But everyone has a different household recipe. Jackie's preparing a pork adobo, but some people prefer chicken.

So tell me what makes adobo adobo.

J MARASIGAN: So adobo is a process of making it. Yeah, 'cause in the Philippines before, you know, most of our dishes - we use some vinegar because before we don't have fridge. So they used vinegar to prevent the food from spoiling.

MEJIA: Is it a special dish, like, you eat with, like, for parties?

J MARASIGAN: Any occasion, even if it's not a party. Just cook it when you're hungry from work, when you get home, you have a feeling to cook adobo. And you have ingredients like vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, and you're good. It is a very common or iconic food in the Philippines. So each region - provinces of the Philippines - has its own version of adobo. Some uses coconut milk. Some are spicy. Some are dried.

MEJIA: Some folks like a lot of vinegar. Some like more soy sauce, and some don't use soy sauce at all. Some like to add a boiled egg or diced potatoes to the recipe. The variations are infinite. Like Jackie said, the only real requirement is vinegar. Jackie's not particularly interested in innovating these dishes or in diving into Filipino American fusion. In fact, she told us that she intends to never change her recipes. She's here to serve the same Filipino home cooking she grew up with.

Did you learn how to cook from Mom (ph)?

J MARASIGAN: From my parents. Yeah, from my parents. When I was a kid, I used to watch my mom or my dad.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

J MARASIGAN: Every fiesta in our province - like, my dad - he would wake up at 3 a.m., 4 a.m. to prepare this pig, for the roasted pig. So his cousins - their relatives are all there at 3 a.m., 4 a.m. just to cook. And I would remember they have this big wok, the largest wok I've seen in my life. And then, yeah, they cooked there for the whole community, for free.

MEJIA: Jackie marinated her adobo overnight, so all that's really left to do is braisee.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOD SIZZLING)

MEJIA: For many years, Jackie worked full-time as a nurse. Catering Filipino food was a side project that began with the Grand Rapids Asian Pacific Festival, an annual event that was founded by her husband, Ace.

A MARASIGAN: Well, it's actually really a family affair. It's like, Jackie and I decided to - like, after attending another festival, we decided, hey, we need something to represent the Asian community, something where Redd, when - because at that time, he was only 2 - we wanted him to see representation of himself. And also, we thought it would be great for him to be able to see, like, hey, Asian communities thriving. There are Asian communities that are - is amazing. And so we wanted to that - give him that inspiration.

MEJIA: And how is it going so far? Has the community come out? And is there a big Filipino community here in the Grand Rapids area?

A MARASIGAN: It's actually not a large community of Filipinos in the Grand Rapids area, but there is about 3- to 4% Asians in the Kent County, which is, like, encompassing Grand Rapids. And it's been a great year so far. It's been our eighth year for the Asian Festival. And this last year, we - I mean, just in June, we saw a great influx of the younger generation coming out, people just feeling the representation, feeling the love and feeling also, like, hey, the collaboration that we're trying to create.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MEJIA: In the spirit of true Filipino hospitality, Jackie prepares a full spread for us, mixing a shaved ice dessert called halo-halo, which translates literally to mix-mix.

J MARASIGAN: So at the bottom, it contains fruit jellies and then the ice shaved. This purple one here is an ube jam. And then on top, we have leche flan. These two are yellow there, which I make as well. And then we have ube ice cream. And then we have the red bean, green jellies, banana chips, chickpeas, which is sweet. And then on top is the Rice Krispies and, of course, our Philippine flag.

MEJIA: A tiny Filipino flag on a toothpick sits on top of this vibrant rainbow of ingredients in a tall, clear glass. Every bite is ice cold and refreshing but totally different. And, of course, the centerpiece of the feast, pork adobo - Jackie adds a little condiment cup of seasoned vinegar and a side of pickled papaya, or atchara, to balance out the rich pork flavor.

OK, this is the adobo. It's almost like sweet and, like, caramelized. Definitely taste the vinegar and the soy sauce - the meat is so tender. The pickled papaya gives it a nice little crunch. Ah, this is such, like, comfort food. It is so yummy.

I can see why the adobo boy loves this dish so much.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MEJIA: It's so good, right? And do you know how to make it?

REDD: So basically, you got to, like, marinate some pork using garlic, soy sauce, then there's the vinegar. Mom, do you want to - yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

J MARASIGAN: You know the secret. It's L-O-V-E.

REDD: Oh.

MEJIA: It seems like you guys have a lot of that here.

J MARASIGAN: Yeah.

MEJIA: Every immigrant family has to ask themselves, how much work do we need to put in and how much do we want to put in to preserve cultural practices? And the answer varies. Everyone lands differently on that spectrum of preservation. But in the case of the Marasigan family, they've chosen to put in a lot, not just for their household, but for their entire community.

A MARASIGAN: Filipino cuisine is not as familiar as with other cuisine. And we're just wanting to introduce that to the community. You know, we love the stories that people share - missionaries or, like, people - we've seen families bring their mom and dad from the nursing home who - you know, who came here to the United States when they were, like, young and be able to taste the food again and brings them so much joy. But you can see some of their faces. It just lights up and smiles.

J MARASIGAN: Yeah.

A MARASIGAN: Just some of them - we even had a family where the mom was teary-eyed because of the taste reminded her of - so much of home and family. And so what Jackie's bringing to the community is just something amazing. And for me, I'm so proud of her.

MEJIA: And we can't wrap up this Filipino celebration without a little bit of karaoke.

J MARASIGAN: This is for you, guys. Thank you so much for coming to here.

A MARASIGAN: You sing it.

JACKIE, REDD AND ACE MARASIGAN: (Singing) It's been raining in Manila, (singing in non-English langauge).

J MARASIGAN: I'm Jackie Marasigan, and that's The Dish.

J R AND A MARASIGAN: (Singing) But if it's raining in Manila, (singing in non-English language).

A MARASIGAN: (Singing) So I'll be waiting, oh, I'll be waiting.

J MARASIGAN: (Singing) So I'll be waiting in Manila, (singing in non-English langauge).

A MARASIGAN: Come on, everybody.

J R AND A MARASIGAN: (Singing) 'Cause it's been raining in Manila, (singing in non-English langauge).

MA: You can't see me, but I'm dancing in here. You can listen to full episodes of The Dish from Michigan Public wherever you get podcasts. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.