Family Farmed Food
By Bryce Tan
My dad’s the chef of the household: he can make any Filipino dish you can think of, and it’ll taste amazing. Dishes such as dinuguan, tinola, beef giniling, kinilaw, and kalderata are just a few popular Filipino foods my dad can make exceptionally well. However, he is known among friends and family for his pancit recipe. Pancit is a stir-fried noodle dish that consists of meat and vegetables. For Filipinos, pancit is a simple dish that symbolizes a long and happy life because it is usually served on birthdays or special occasions.
As a child, I was somewhat of a picky eater. I didn’t really eat anything that seemed too exotic, had too many veggies, or smelled too strongly. For example, when I first encountered kinilaw—a Filipino dish comprised of raw fish doused in vinegar and other spices—I thought it was disgusting because of its appearance and strong, tart scent. I eventually grew out of that phase, and I now absolutely love the dish! Despite my picky eating tendencies, the dish I always looked forward to as a kid was my dad’s home-cooked pancit. I was always excited when my mom announced to me and my brother that my dad was making pancit for dinner.
I would observe my dad’s cooking process because I was fascinated with how he learned how to cook so well. My dad learned most of dishes back in the Philippines, where he learned how to cook from his mom. My dad didn’t exactly live poverty nor wealth in the Cebu province of the Philippines, but he told me that he at least never went hungry because of the importance his family placed on having food on the table every single day. He learned this lesson from his parents, and it translated when he and my mom raised me and my older brother. Even when my dad comes home late from work, he always has time to make food for the family.
The best part of pancit is how convenient and easy it is to make, and it can fill up everyone with leftovers to spare. My dad usually makes pancit with carrots, cabbage, pancit canton noodles, chicken, pork sausage, and shrimp. Occasionally, he likes to change up the recipe with different noodles or vegetables added in. When we attend family gatherings at other houses, the most requested dish is usually my dad’s pancit. It’s always gone by the end of the night, and some family members even get upset that they can’t bring some home. My mom likes to brag about how great my dad’s pancit is, and I can’t blame her—my dad makes it so well.
I hope to one day master my dad’s pancit recipe so I too can pass it on when I have kids of my own and let them have a taste of my dad’s cooking. But as of now, I’ll just enjoy my dad’s version of it.
