Laura Esquivel, author of Like Water for Chocolate, says, “For me the simple act of cooking is, in fact, an act of love, and in the kitchen this happens… Transmitting your emotions intensifies it all the more.” Food is sacred and magical; and there is a strong connection between emotions, enchanted stories and life transformations.
The Mga Kuwentong Pagkain: Pinoy Food Stories, in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Center for Philippine Studies, together with the City College of San Francisco’s Department of Philippine Studies. This webinar introduces the different facets of Filipino food mythology and mysticism.
The still-growing interest in Filipino food has encouraged research on its various aspects—from heirloom produce, recipes, new ways and uses as well. However, there is still very little written about how traditional knowledge and beliefs rooted in folklore that says a lot about our culture, before the advent of scientific explanations, have informed the ways we consume food without even thinking about it today.
Chef Giney Villar takes a closer look at the various ways food and other edibles have figured in the creation of stories to explain natural phenomena and other things. Specifically, food that have been assigned magical powers and conversely magical powers that have been assigned to certain plants, animal parts and other edibles.
Filipino Food Historian Felice Sta. Maria will also discuss the history of cacao in the Philippines, as well as the creation of champorado using heirloom rice from the Cordilleras in her video, Balatinaw Heirloom Rice Champorado. The northern Luzon’s narrative of the origin of rice will also be presented, through a shadow play narrative.
Session 1, hosted by Paolo Paculan and Pia Arboleda, will happen on April 9, 2022 (Saturday) in Manila at 9:00 AM, April 8, 2022 (Friday) in Hawaii at 3:00 PM, and April 8, 2022 (Friday) in San Francisco at 6:00 PM. Interested participants may register through this link: https://tinyurl.com/MKPHawaii2022S1.
