Kyra Cheska Pulido is a Filipino teenager who usually wakes up at 6:30 in the morning. Once she's out of bed and at her window, she draws back the curtains and looks out at the neighborhood: one-storey houses with blue roofs, cars parked in the driveway and children walking the sidewalks with their parents - all under the purple-orange sunrise in Del Rio, Texas.
Yes, Cheska "Cheese" Pulido or, to be precise, her family, is just one of the many who have migrated away from their homelands to different countries. Let us then take a look at some migration statistics.
The United States of America currently ranks first as the country with the most immigrants, a total of 42.8 million. The United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, ranks third as the country whose population consists of the biggest immigrant percentage - 70 percent. India ranks second as the country with the most emigrants, and the Philippines ranks ninth, a total of 11.4 million and 4.4 million respectively, all according the Immigration and Remmitances Factbook of the World Bank (2011).
Migration, then, has become one of today's most common universal phenomenons as more and more people each year leave their countries and relatives for a chance in the outside world. It is through this process that they learn to adapt to the laws, the food and the culture of different places.
This is not to say that they forget their own. Indeed, food and culture are two of the most unforgettable things that people bring with them everywhere they go. One could even joke that it is food and culture that have been locked away in that extra carry-on bag. All right - I could joke, and it might not even be a good one, but the point still stands.
Earlier, as you may have noticed, I mentioned statistics on migration, and especially mentioned four countries: the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates, India and the Philippines. This is because of three questions of interest: Do immigrant families take with them their food and culture? Does food define us? And, lastly, can we say that food is the link between an immigrant and their homeland?
Although I have already established my own answers to these questions, it would be terribly unfair to refrain from providing proofs or examples. To be able to paint a broader picture on this topic then, I have interviewed four ex-classmates and one ex-schoolmate, all of whom are still good friends that I am very thankful for. Four of them are living in the United Arab Emirates and one is in the United States. I asked them questions about food, culture and tradition, so as to provide an insight in the lives of five immigrant families who still keep with them their country's culture and food.
The Barretto Family (Andrea Barretto)
(Andrea and her cousin, Amber)
Andrea Barretto and her family have migrated to Dubai from their hometown of Goa, India. As answered by Andrea, the most common meals prepared by her family include chicken, mutton and fish. However, this changes during special occasions, or as she says, "It's not a must, but for Christmas and any other occasion, we always have pork - dishes like Pork Vindaloo and Pork Soportal."
(Clockwise starting with the rice dish: Pulav, Pork Vindaloo and Chicken Curry)
True to the custom in India of eating with their hands, Andrea and her family follow this procedure, although they find the balance between sometimes eating using their hands and sometimes eating using forks and spoons. In addition to this, the family also sits to a meal as one.
(Clockwise from the top: Andrea's father, Anthony, her mother, Ruby, her sisters, Melissa, then Fiona, Santa, and Andrea)
She still enjoys to eat "junk" food, like pizzas, burgers and pastas, and her family usually goes out to eat, and go to different restaurants, depending on what they feel like eating.
Finally, I asked Andrea the same question I asked the other respondents: Do you still prefer foods from your homeland as compared to other foods around and available to you? And she answered:
"When I say [or talk about] food from India, I [specifically] mean Goan food. Just love it. Although I love all other kinds of food as well, I'd choose Goan food."
The D'Souza Family (Sharon D'Souza)
Sharon and her family are currently living in Dubai, but are originally from Mangalore, India. Indeed, they have done more than just take with them their food and culture - they have even opened a restaurant in Dubai, but more on that later.
Sharon admits that they don't dig their heels that deep into the Indian culture, and that they eat their meals with spoons and forks. Meals for lunch usually consist of rice with gravies like chicken curry, fish curry, or else fried fish or chicken, and food is usually enjoyed the most when it is "a bit spicy".
Sharon and her family are currently living in Dubai, but are originally from Mangalore, India. Indeed, they have done more than just take with them their food and culture - they have even opened a restaurant in Dubai, but more on that later.
Sharon admits that they don't dig their heels that deep into the Indian culture, and that they eat their meals with spoons and forks. Meals for lunch usually consist of rice with gravies like chicken curry, fish curry, or else fried fish or chicken, and food is usually enjoyed the most when it is "a bit spicy".
(From left-to-right: sister, Samantha, mother, Nancy, Sharon and sister, Serena at Christmas 2009)
Next, when it comes to special occasions like Christmas, the family keeps their tradition of making sweets and distributing them to their family and close family friends, after which these family and family friends gift them with what they, themselves, have made.
Sharon also enjoys "junk" food, and the family does enjoy going out for dinner on Fridays as a break from cultural food. Here she stresses that they go out for dinner and do not order, unless, ofcourse, the order comes from their own restaurant.
And, yes, what a restaurant.
Shezan Restaurant opened nineteen years ago and is owned by her father, Franky. It targets Indian families, providing both Indian and Chinese cuisines. According to Sharon, this is because her dad "loves Indian flavors and knows such foods inside out."
She even considers the restaurant a part of her family, which gives it a lot of meaning to her, and, as she says, "The cooks, waiters - everyone - has always taken care of me and treated me like their own child. They know my likes and dislikes. They know me inside out."
It sounds pretty nice to have a restaurant right down the building catering to your cultural cravings, but when asked the same last question, Sharon answers, "I don't mind the Indian food, but I've been brought up in a place where I like Western food as well, and I've gotten so used to it."
The Kumaresan Family (Kate Kumaresan)
Kate here provides the middle ground between India and the Philippines by being half-Indian and half-Filipino. She currently lives in Dubai with her mother and father, while her sister goes to college in Malaysia. Her cousin also lives with the family, a topic on which Kate jokingly calls him her cousin/sister, since he has now taken over her sister's spot at the table.
(From left-to-right: Kate, and her sister, Melissa in India 2011)
In a household of two cultures, what food, then, dominates? Well, according to Kate, "We usually have Filipino food for lunch because my dad loves my mom's homemade Filipino food, and for Friday dinners, he cooks some curry or something yummy."
They rarely eat together except on weekends, which in Dubai is Friday and Saturday, since Kate eats with her cousin while her mother decides to wait for her father to arrive home before eating. But when it comes to eating though, they make sure that although they usually eat with spoons and forks they still use their hands when it comes to Indian food.
Regarding special occasions, Kate notes that her mother buys round fruits for New Year's good luck "because that's what her mom used to do." And when it comes to dining out, the family makes a point to avoid Filipino and Indian foods, instead going for dishes from other cultures like Italian or Mexican, since, according to Kate, "Filipino food is homemade because nothing beats my mom's adobo or kare-kare."
(Kate Kumaresan)
I then asked her whether she preferred foods from her two cultures instead of others, or whether she preferred one culture's food over the other, and this is what Kate had to say:
"I like food from both the Phliippines and India, but in like different ways. Filipino food, I only like it if it's homemade and Indian food, if the curries are awesome like my dad's and not so spicy. But honestly, it depends on my mood and what I feel like eating at the time, and some foods taste good only at particular places and stuff. But overall, if it's homemade, I mostly like them - especially if it's my dad's because he takes like two hours to cook and yet it's always so good."
The Pulido Family (Kyra Cheska Pulido)
Cheska and her family are from Batangas, Philippines, and have so far migrated to Dubai, and then to the United States. When it comes to their meals, she notes that her parents usually cook tinola or adobo chicken or fish. They eat with their forks and spoons, and try their best to eat as a family when they can, since her mother has different working shifts as a nurse.
Cheska and her family are from Batangas, Philippines, and have so far migrated to Dubai, and then to the United States. When it comes to their meals, she notes that her parents usually cook tinola or adobo chicken or fish. They eat with their forks and spoons, and try their best to eat as a family when they can, since her mother has different working shifts as a nurse.
(Cheska Pulido (in blue shirt and glasses) and her sister, Katrina (colored, striped dress) Philippines 2010)
However, to make up for this, the family stays big on their traditions when they're given an event to celebrate, or, as Cheska explains with examples, "[For occasions] such as Christmas - my family would prepare pancit, barbeque, adobo, dinuguan. And during birthdays we would prepare pancit, spaghetti, siomai and, sometimes, lechon."
This, though, doesn't stop her from enjoying her other favorite foods, such as carbonara, nor does it stop the family from going out to eat and enjoy Chinese food.
But when it comes to the question of preference, this is what she had to say:
"I suppose I still prefer having foods from the Philippines. I have been raised having my cultural foods. It is nice to try different types of food from different cultures, but I would never trade these for the foods I've been brought up with."
The Panesa Family (Mikhail "Meeko" Panesa)
Meeko and his family also live in Dubai, having migrated from Manila, Philippines, and he has three passions: Playing the guitar, YFC...and eating. But when it comes to the meals his family usually prepares, he says, "[It] depends on the mood, whether we feel like cooking or not. [However], the parents cook traditional Filipino dishes such as sinigang na isda, pinakbet, and kare-kare, among others."
(Cheska Pulido and Mikhail "Meeko" Panesa)
The family still eats dinner together, given their busy work and school schedules which hinder them from enjoying other meals as a whole. Meeko also adds that, "My mom and sister have grown accustomed to eating in front of the T.V. while seated on the couch, while my dad and I prefer sitting at the table."
When it comes to birthdays, though, the family stays true to their Filipino culture, and makes a point to always have some sort of noodles, although with a slight variation as 'noodles' does not necessarily mean pancit. As long as the noodles are prepared by hand and not by a microwave, it's all good.
But going back to food in general, Meeko also manages to enjoy the food Dubai has to offer, such as shawarmas, and the family also makes an effort to eat out once in a while so as to enjoy the restaurants the city has to offer, especially when there's shopping to do or places to go.
(Mother, Maria (in black, far left), sister, Michelle (in dark green, third from left), and Meeko (in red) at Meeko's 21st birthday)
And does Meeko still prefer foods from his homeland as compared to the other foods around?
"I wouldn't say that I prefer other foods more than traditional Filipino foods, since even though I eat them I always go back to missing Filipino foods, especially since I'm living in Dubai, a very multi-cultural city. I eat pasta, pizza and burgers on a regular basis, but I do have a craving for the usual kanin at ulam."
Based on their responses, we can see that they still like and prefer their homeland's food, but have also come to accept and integrate the foods the countries U. A. E and U. S. A have to offer. They have taken, and kept, with them their homeland's food and culture.
Immigrant families, then, have never been expected to eat only the delicacies of the countries they have moved to, and never shall they ever be, and vice versa. Indeed, they still manage to keep intact their own traditions when it comes to their meals and the ways they cook and eat them.
Culture and food, therefore, define us. They have taught us how to eat, how to celebrate, and how to see the importance in people.
In the same way that Sharon associated food, it can be a second home, or it can be a way to share with people the cuisines you homeland has to offer. It can be a way of celebration, of unity between family. As Cheska said, it is a way to make up for lost family time, given the fast pace of every day life. To Andrea, it can distinguish your family and yourself. With Meeko, it is a craving, something that will be missed if it is not there. And, for Kate, food and culture are things to be proud of, things that we associate with family and that provide that bridge between two worlds. Lastly, almost all respondents have used food as a way to describe their family members, like "loves Indian flavors and knows such foods inside out", which Sharon uses to describe her dad's reasons behind Shezan Restaurant.
Food has then become, in itself, a reflection of culture, and is the most prevalent link that keeps immigrants near to their homelands, despite actually being thousands of miles away. It can bring up memories of occassions, celebrations and family members, or even simply exist as a reminder that despite the busy hustle of their new lives, they are still the same person they have always been. One culture can never overwrite another, nor can a culture be replaced. The two just learn to live along. And this, along with everything else, tells us that food is, as always, more than it seems to be, and more important that we ever imagined.
Bibliography
Ratha, Dilip, Mohapatra, Sanket and Silwal, Ani, The Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011 - Migration and Remittances: Top Countries, accessed October 15, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1199807908806/Top10.pdf
