Week 28: Equality, Justice, and Civil Rights
We have a lot to share this week! We have Balikbayan Box sneak peaks, this week’s featured Pamana dish, updates to the winter menu, and thoughts and reflections going into this MLK and inauguration week of celebration, change, and acknowledgment.
BALIKBAYAN BOXES
Filipino and Black communities have been in solidarity, and historically connected for over three hundred years in this country. From the marriages of the "Manilamen" to the black women of Louisiana in the 1700s, the first Filipino American family in Seattle in 1909, to the leaders of civil rights through the 60s and today. Our boxes this week will pay tribute to Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on equality, justice, and an emphasis on the next generation. In this way, our boxes will use three PNW historical legacies to frame the flavors and hopefully conversations at your table. The first comes from our deep respect and admiration for the indigenous people of our region focusing on various wild products like our region's rices, mushrooms, and fish. The next focus will be on the work of the Alaskeros and their connection to the Union leaders over the years who have fought for the many liberties generations of laborers have today. Lastly, we're tapping into the idea of first Filipino American family in Seattle as a way to re-imagine the households our boxes find themselves in. The first family was of both Filipino and Black ancestry, and we're excited to find inspiration in that union to bring you dishes within both cultures that have striking similarities, yet together create something both familiar and new.
“We in America understand the many imperfections of democracy and the malignant disease corroding its very heart. We must be united in the effort to make an America in which our people can find happiness... We must live in an America where there is freedom for all regardless of color, station and beliefs... America is the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the black body dangling on a tree...We are all that nameless foreigner, that homeless refugee, that hungry boy, that illiterate immigrant and that lynched black body. All of us, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate—We are America!”
This is a passage from America is in the Heart by Filipino American writer Carlos Bulosan. Though written in the 1930s about his experiences in this country, it rings just as true today as it did in his era.
Next week, the contents of our Balikbayan Boxes will be inspired by these words. During this time of transition for our country, paired with the celebration of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement that created the social and economic opportunities that the BIPOC community has access to today, we hope his words can inspire conversation at your table. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still a very long way to go.
PAMANA
With our focus on locality, we're always reminded that this region that we love and have a history in, are indigenous lands that were built and maintained by many forgotten cultures over centuries. We have so many local products to thank the indigenous people for— the knowledge of wild rices, fish, shellfish, mushrooms, wild herbs, game, and so much more. During this MLK week, we can't forget within the context of civil rights, indigenous rights as a foundation for our region and country. We hope that this year, we can pay more respect towards the first people of these lands, for just as with our Philippine ancestors, Archipelago would not be here without them.
PAMANA Week 27 Feature: Tinolang Tahong
Archipelago we work everyday to maintain a strong identity, finding our cultural building blocks of flavor through the bounty of our region. From little shrimps to king salmon and wild rice, over the years, they've helped us unlock the ferments and the tastes that generations before us brought over from the Philippines. This week we're featuring some beautiful local mussels in an heirloom Nootka garlic and local Kamayan Farm ginger broth. The winter is an amazing time for some of the sweetest shellfish anywhere, hope you drop by to enjoy them!
WINTER MENU UPDATE
Though our featured Pamana will change week to week, our menu will stay relatively the same for the month of January with small changes based on what ingredients are still available. This week we are adding from Pamana week 22, Ginataang Kalabasa. Though typically made with our Oregon shrimp bagoong, we have a variety of bagoongs to accommodate for allergies and restrictions.
Pacific Northwest Gems
Somewhere on top of the “must have list” for Filipinos lies garlic, so we are excited to know that these gems of our culinary culture are indigenous to the Pacific Northwest. This week we are showcasing heirloom Nootka garlic, named after the tribe’s land on which they grew wild