“WHAT’S IN YOUR POCKET?”
All tagged Filipino Food
2018 marked our second year here on the internet. Whew! We took an exciting new direction last year, with a deeper commitment to looking at food history and culture through the lens of a pocket. Our mission at The World in a Pocket is to better understand the world through the lens of a dumpling (err, any pocket food!). Last April we met in Durham, N.C. to revisit our mission and keep us on track. It’s always a good idea--even (especially!) with passion projects--to check on your goals.
Monique Santua was born in the Philippines, and moved to Hempstead, TX when she was 5. At 7, her family made the move from there to Houston, where she spent her childhood. While her mother paved the way for the Santua family here as a nurse to get them to the US, Monique has had the opportunity to feel out a couple of different career options before launching Gastromonique this year as a way to share her love of cooking with the people of Austin.
Filipino cuisine is steadily gaining popularity around the world for its spice-packed flavorful dishes. Over thousands of years, other countries’ occupation in the Philippines have influenced the Filipino food we know today. Filipino cuisine is constantly growing and changing –– from the their first encounter with the Chinese, who introduced the small group of islands in the Pacific to rice, soy sauce, and the egg roll (aka future lumpia), siu mai (hello pockets!) to their interaction with the Spanish, who introduced cutlery, tomatoes and cattle-raising, and the Americans who brought canned meats. While the cuisine is always evolving, traditional Filipino culture and cooking are still represented in each dish, some even with a hint of peaceful resistance.
