My sampling from our celebratory spread -- the fruits of Filipinos in food and farm, a plate of history in a way.
The great movements of history are not made in giant leaps, they are made by the steady coalescence of many small acts over time.
A lot of movement history is being made right now. The occupation movement is sweeping the nation, for which I will reserve my comments in another post. October is also Filipino American history month. I’ve written a little bit about the history of Filipinos in farm work before, but there is also a lot of history being made right now. This weekend I saw that, when I met some of the movers and shakers of Filipinos-and-food of the bay area.
The harvest log of the CASFS down garden farm beckons us to the fields.
My friend chef, farmer, and food blogger Aileen Suzara is completing her farm apprenticeship program with the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) this month. CASFS hosts the oldest organic farm education program in the US. To celebrate her graduation, Aileen held a gathering of hearts and bellies at the CASFS farm in Santa Cruz.
Aileen brought together a community of friends invested in the work of Filipinos in food. I met the conveners, organizers of Kapamealya who bring people together around Filipino meal adventures. I met the chroniclers — bloggers like Jun Belen of Jun-Blog and Joanne Boston of Jo Boston is a Foodie who tell the culinary stories of Filipino food. And I got to taste some of the culinary experiments of chefs like Dominic Ainza of Mercury Lounge in San Francisco, and the rest of us, because it was a pot luck after all.
Aileen Suzara shares wax beans from the fields with the next generation of Filipino foodies.
While previously Aileen and I struggled to name more than one Filipino-owned farm between us, from this gathering I saw the energy building around us, around food and culture. As she toured us around the farm, conversations sparked around recipes, farmers market stories, and future gatherings.
The history of the Filipino in America is not a series of dates, figures, and facts. It is a living history being written right now. I learned this weekend that any of us can write history. Sometimes all it takes is bringing friends together around the table to talk about what we love.
The new legends of Filipinos, food, and farm. Photo courtesy of Aileen Suzara.
