Hey there, Nicky here, author and creator of Lola’s recipes (Grandma’s recipes in Tagalog).
As a Filipina millennial living in the Pacific Northwest, I noticed that a lot of the knowledge about cooking and preparing Filipino foods are lost to the new generation living abroad. When I moved out of my parents home, it surprised me to realize that I really didn’t know much about how to cook the beloved Filipino dishes I grew up eating and craving. That’s why I created this website, as a way to answer basic questions about Filipino dishes, ingredients, and yes, provide easy recipes too.
Want to know more? Keep reading…
My story
I was born and raised in Quezon City in the Philippines and moved to Canada when I was 9 years old. As a child, I remember having a trellis in the backyard filled with bottle gourds and bitter melon. I have vivid memories of my aunt trying to feed me some dinengdeng na saluyot but me refusing to eat it because it was slimy. I remember going to my grandparents’ home on the weekends and watching the grown ups cook over open fire outside because buying gas for the stove was too expensive. I would watch as the grownups would try to catch chicken (my grandparents have a chicken coop) and then cook it for dinner that same night. Many of the food we ate were the definition of farm to table, even before farm-to-table became a huge thing.
Then, I moved to Canada with my parents at about 9 years old. There were many changes to our lifestyle during that time. Growing up, I know my teenage years were vastly different from what my peers’ experiences were in the Philippines.
Throughout it all, my mom continued to cook Filipino food day in and day out. The food I ate when we moved to Canada was not vastly different from what we ate when we were in the Philippines. Sometimes, if we cannot find kangkong in the Asian supermarket, we will substitute it with spinach. But other than that, we continued eating pinakbet, tortang talong, sinigang and nilaga. Pizza and pasta were reserved for special occasions, or when my parents aren’t home to cook our regular Filipino food.
Once I moved out of my parents’ home, I started off by cooking quick and easy meals such as stir fry, and pasta. However, I quickly realized that I missed eating Filipino food, and then that’s when I realized that I haven’t eaten Filipino food in a long time! Turns out, if I’m not with my parents, I can’t be bothered to cook Filipino food, simply because it seemed too complicated and time consuming for me.
However, I did end up learning how to cook Filipino food, and guess what? It’s not more complicated than cooking pasta, stir fry, or noodles. The techniques, sauces and vegetables used were just different.
Now that I’m married and have a little baby girl, I want to create a resource for people to learn all about Filipino cuisine so that the art of cooking Filipino food is not lost, especially for Filipinos who live abroad. I want this to be a resource for my child for when she ends up learning how to cook Filipino food, but also, as a resource for people like me, who depended on their parents to cook Filipino food for them. Because eventually we all leave the nest, and when we do, we find that it’s still that Filipino cuisine we gravitate back to.
Enjoy reading!