Filipino fare to be featured at dedication ceremony
The new Philippine Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning will be dedicated on Sunday, and Filipino food will feature prominently in the celebrations.
Nenette Angeles, who is coordinating the food for a free public program that afternoon, said the room has been “20 years in the making,” with a hiatus of a few years in the middle. One of the efforts that helped to finance the room was the fourth edition of the cookbook she edited, “Cooking With the Filipinos of Pittsburgh” by the Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh.
Recipes for some of the day’s food will come from that cookbook.
Festivities include a 2 p.m. dedication ceremony in Heinz Chapel; a free public program of Filipino music, dance and food from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Cathedral of Learning Commons Room; a Catholic Mass acknowledging the majority faith of the Philippines at 5 p.m. in Heinz Chapel; and a dedication dinner from 6 to 11 p.m. in the Connelly Ballroom in Alumni Hall, all in Oakland.
During the free event, merienda (snack in Spanish) will be served, Ms. Angeles said, noting that it’s common for Filipinos to enjoy a snack during
the midmorning and midafternoon hours. The finger foods will include biko (sweet rice cakes cooked in coconut milk), cassava (also cooked in coconut milk),
lumpia (meat-filled dumplings), coconut macaroons and a cantaloupe drink.
Jaime Abola, a member of the Philippine Nationality Room task force, explained that rice, coconut and root crops such as cassava are staples in the Philippines, and so the menu will provide a good overview of Filipino food. Ms. Angeles added that
biko and cassava are standard casual party fare in the Philippines, while coconut macaroons would be saved for fancier occasions.
Moonlight Express in the Strip District will prepare 1,200 lumpia, and a caterer in East Liverpool, Ohio, will make the coconut macaroons. Ms. Angeles will make the biko, a group from FAAP will make the cassava, and several cooks will collaborate to make batches of the cantaloupe drink for the 600 guests.
The $75 dinner, prepared by Pitt’s food service contractor, Sodexo, will be a Philippine-inspired menu of coconut shrimp with orange sauce, teriyaki chicken satay, ukoy (shrimp and vegetable fritters), mini egg rolls, roasted chicken, halibut with pork belly, fried rice, vegetables, fruit, biko and leche flan.
Mr. Abola explained that it became cost-prohibitive to offer a menu of 100% Filipino dishes, so some dishes will be a hybrid. For instance, the halibut probably will not be prepared in the same manner that Filipinos might prepare fish, but the addition of the pork belly was a nod to Filipino cuisine. But Sodexo will use the ukoy recipe from “Cooking With the Filipinos of Pittsburgh.”
Maryann Sivak, assistant to the director of the Nationality Rooms, said the new room presented a particular challenge because it needed to represent a country that is made up of 7,000 islands, each with its own customs and traditions. Organizers wanted to create a room that a Filipino citizen of any of those islands would recognize as coming from his homeland.
“So far on the tours I’ve done, [I have found that] they have succeeded,” Ms. Sivak said.