Conclusion

In conclusion, there have been many different lessons I’ve learned at analyzing the multi-generational migration stories in my family, and especially, as it pertains to cooking and food. Without the context and putting them into conversation with others with Knowledge Kapamilya, I wouldn’t even have been able to piece together the underlying roots of Filipino virtues in these sectors. It’s assured me that yes, cooking and food are integral to Filipino culture.

Not because of its surface-level taste or familiarity, but the fact that the craft of it all revolves shared Filipino virtues around community, honor, and gratitude. Even its historical accounts of Filipinos investing their lives into the food and fishing industry, cooking and food has bonded Filipinos a part from homeland to share those values of community and honor with each other. In terms of cooking, the acts of harvesting, crafting cookware, butchering, cooking, and sharing meals, I’ve learned that these are done to honor the people we choose to nurture and make “home” for. For example, it can be family back in the Philippines, family in the place we reside in currently, or even chosen family and friends. Cooking and food have done and can do wonders in sustaining these human connections. In showing gratitude for the process and for the people being served, it upholds Filipino virtues (and therefore, Filipinos) in that it survives also across oceans and generations. For the case of Alaskeros who’ve worked in the food industry to financially support their loved ones to those who are Filipino American attempting to piece together and learn these cooking practices, they play well into the Filipino identity by reminding us of who Filipinos are as people and what we value. As a whole, it’s been a very gratifying journey to better understand that the stories around cooking and food in my family, but also its universal applications to any Filipino story. In some ways, learning this has made the taste of bitter melon just a tad sweeter.