Show Description:
Trish Fontanilla, BOSFilipinos co-founder and host of the podcast, welcomes cultural practitioner Ellie Tiglao and artist Lani Asunciòn to discuss their new project. Their upcoming event, "Transmuting Imperialism: A Visual and Culinary Exchange," features Filipino communal dining, projection mapping, and multi-disciplinary performance exploring cultural identity and resistance.
Stay in touch:
BOSFilipinos - IG: @bosfilipinos, Email: info@bosfilipinos.com
Ellie - Email: ellie@kwentu.com
Lani - IG: @lani.asuncion
Kwentu - IG: @makingkwentu
Event tickets - https://bit.ly/pagkakaisa-solidaridad
Episode Transcript:
Trish Fontanilla
[Intro music plays] Hello and welcome to The BOSFilipinos Podcast. My name is Trish Fontanilla, and I'm one of the BOSFilipinos co-founders, and your new podcast host. As some folks know, the show has been on hiatus. Our previous host, Katie [Milliken], did everything from interviewing to editing to distributing the podcast. So it took us a minute or two to get together the resources to get back in the game. I'm excited to bring the podcast back to your ears again, and I'm even more excited to have cultural practitioner Ellie Tiglao and artist Lani Asunciòn as our first guests back. They'll be talking about their new project, and fair warning, we will be talking about food. A lot. So maybe grab a snack before you start. Enjoy.
Trish Fontanilla
So Ellie and Lani, welcome to the podcast. And so I did a brief intro of the two of you at the beginning, but I would love to hear more about yourselves, and we'll start with Ellie.
Ellie Tiglao
Thanks, Trish, glad to be here having this conversation. I'm Ellie. I consider myself a cultural practitioner. For a lot of folks, that means that I do food, but for a long time I've been really interested in food and art, especially as not just as storytellers, but story keepers. Outside of that, I spend a lot of time doing more cooperative consulting with a worker co op called CoEverything, which is my new gig. Post Tanám we can talk a little bit more about that later.
Trish Fontanilla
Awesome. And I wanted to comment, we were talking about this before we started recording how people thought me and Ellie were the same person, because back in the day, BOSFilipinos started with food pop ups, and they just met two Filipino women and thought, oh, this is the same, and I'm like Ellie, and I look a little bit, our eye prescriptions is different, our height is different. We're just different human beings. It's like a right now, it feels like the Spiderman pointing at each other meme, because there are some people that thought we were the same person, and potentially some people that still think we're the same person. So I just wanted to prove two different people, and Ellie's working on some incredible things. But now we're going to Lani tell us a little bit more about yourself.
Lani Asunciòn
Hi, I'm Lani Asunciòn I go by they/she. I'm an artist, an educator. I'm currently the curator at Pao Arts Center, doing public art and temporary performance works, part of the Un-Monument project with the city and supported by the Mellon Foundation. And I teach at Mass Art, teaching public art, and I am a founding member of Digital Soup, the local queer multimedia collective.
Trish Fontanilla
Amazing. So I was trying to figure out when the first time I saw your artwork was one my memory is not always the most amazing, but I think the most delightful interaction I had, was I was walking on the [Rose Kennedy] Greenway and just taking pictures. And I always try to look up the artist afterwards, and I looked you up, and I was like, she's Filipino. Why wasn't it on the fog horn? Why didn't I get a phone call from my mom, from the telephone chain that we've got a Filipino on the Greenway? So that's, is that going to, if folks haven't seen it, you have some artwork on the Greenway, and that's going to the Fall, I believe.
Lani Asunciòn
It'll be there until November.
Trish Fontanilla
Amazing. So if you haven't already, please go to the Greenway and know that the Filipinos out there got some representation in the city, which is awesome. So the reason why we brought you on is you both are collaborating on a new project, and so I would love to hear a little bit more about the project and then how the two of you found each other and started collaborating.
Ellie Tiglao
We were actually just reminiscing a little bit, and I had thought I've been here for over 15 years, and I've known Lani for a majority of that time, actually more time than not, I will say. And we came to know of each other when EMW [East Meets West] bookstore was still around for folks who don't know. It was an arts, tech and community space centered on serving AAPI community, but was really welcoming of all sorts of BIPOC cultures and voices, and it's no longer running. But I was a Programs Director there, and it was a super important and storied space for people making art in the Boston area. And I just came to know of Lani's work then, but I would love to hear, I don't know, make a little space for Lani to talk about what...
Lani Asunciòn
Yeah, I mean, that place is endeared to my heart, and I volunteered at the art gallery there with Stephanie and Kai. So, and they're mutual friends, and Kai also was in the opening performance at Greenway. So there's all these connections.
Trish Fontanilla
Yeah, I used to go there [EMW], and I did not interact with either of you, which is banana pants to me, so look at us. Yeah.
Lani Asunciòn
Then we transitioned, right? Well, your pop ups...
Ellie Tiglao
Right, well, I feel like we really had our chance to collaborate together when the restaurant became possible. Because Tanám was always meant to be a small space, obviously, but one that could handle multiple mediums. So it was built with collaborations like what Lani and I had been talking about in mind, and so Lani, I'll say, has like a big presence here, especially around projection art. And all of that led to a conversation to a narrative about pineapples. What else would you say about that time, Lani?
Lani Asunciòn
Well, we're talking about pineapples. And I was like a series called Pineapple Girl series that I was doing after I finished graduate school. I like to continue that work. And then I started learning a bit about the Dole family history, the historical Dole House in Jamaica Plain. So then Ellie was talking about wanting to bring in artists to activate the space through an immersive interactive you know, the meal speaks through story, like food through storytelling and storytelling through performative embodiment. I was like, I'm down. That sounds great. And there was also a zine that accompanied it. And throughout the meal, both of us spoke to the folks that were joining us, and it was this really immersive, interactive experience in space.
Trish Fontanilla
So can we go back to the pineapple? To go on our first tangent, how did you connect about pineapples?
Ellie Tiglao
Well, generally speaking, whenever conversations about how the space might be activated come into play, there's never a set agenda. What is coming to mind right now? And Lani had just been working on Pineapple Girl. And I think the themes that were being explored were also really interesting to me. And it was actually the only menu at Tanám that was very ingredient focused. So every course had pineapple involved, and Lani brought all sorts of ways of engaging with people, and from creating a zine to bringing physical objects into the space for people to touch and interact with. Obviously conversation was happening dialog, but also projection art. So there was a lot of richness in that space for people to explore the sort of things that were happening in Pineapple Girl.
Lani Asunciòn
That series started in New England, so it was a project that went between Hawaii, so part of the videos were shot in Hawaii and also in New England. It's three seasons, so one of the seasons is missing, so it has this discussion about being in the diaspora and dealing with time, space and everything in between. And technically the zine, if you, anybody wants to read it, it's at the SFMA [School for the Museum of Fine Arts] library. They do have it in their collection.
Ellie Tiglao
I just want to say that I've also got a couple copies. So if you want one, Trish, and happy to share one.
Trish Fontanilla
Look at me. Getting stuff. To go back to go back to the origin story. So the two of you started collaborating inside of the Tanám space, and then what was the impetus for you to launch it on its own?
Lani Asunciòn
The way I remember it, I was checking in with Ellie. I was like, How are things going, you know, after Tanám and what are you doing? What are your hopes? Where are you looking towards now and then we're talking about project grants and funding.
Ellie Tiglao
Yeah, you know,I haven't said anything to the outside world. This is the really the first time. So hey, hey world, thanks Trish, and thank you, Lani, for for making that conversation possible. But it really mattered to me what was happening at Tanám, the sort of storytelling that we were doing, and the space that we were making, and I also knew that, you know, never say never, but where I was sitting, I just felt like I couldn't do it as a business again. But did I love it enough to try and get some art money for it like I knew that we were, we would be working on something amazing. It's just not making a business. So we just started talking about, kind of what it might mean to work together. And also, you know how, I think from the beginning, just thinking about how we bring in others into our work has been a big part of our collaboration, but the for those out there listening, the name of the project is Transmuting Imperialism's Impact: a visual and culinary exchange. So it's a big, long title. That's what we got grant money for. But for this coming event that we'll tell you more about, we wanted to focus that storytelling on solidarity. So pagkakaisa and solidaridad were two words that we wanted to bring together to just show also who's in the room.
Lani Asunciòn
It was nice to check in, and then it was really fun and awesome to dream the project together, grant writing is one thing, but dreaming the project and the work to propose and to actualize into the world. So that's something that I was really excited to do, and I'm excited not to literally do it with you, and then others will enjoy it and be present. So I just think it's been really wonderful to think about what is solidarity within the Filipino diaspora, and within Puerto Rican diaspora, and we have so many folks joining us, it feels very generative to think about the community that we're not just a part of, but we're building together. So that's exciting.
Trish Fontanilla
That's awesome. I mean, not everyone's telling their stories around food or connecting the way that Filipinos do, or even immigrants, and it just the way that we keep ourselves alive and keep our joy and hope alive. And it's so cool to see projects like this, especially right now, where we might think to not speak up or not tell our stories. Right now, it's especially important to share our humanity and share our stories, and so I'm really excited to hear more about this project. Diving into the next event that's coming up this month. There's a lot happening at this event. So it's food for all the senses, from mind to stomach to eyes. Let's talk about this event and where it's going to be. Ellie, if you want to talk about the food piece, speaking about solidarity of including other cultures in the food that will be served that evening.
Trish Fontanilla
Okay, we are introduced to the folks there [the venue, Cloud & Spirits] through anAsian professional network in town. Actually, one of the people who's going to be cooking with us is Aldrin Agas from Kuya's Cooking, and he is the one who really made the connection around saying, like, yes, this is a perfect space for what you're doing. So it all came through our relationships, and we're excited for that space, also as an event. Space is uniquely set up with a commercial kitchen that's going to make it really possible for us to make an elaborate meal. We have expectations of welcoming people into the space. There'll be multiple places that they can see art, including a memorial. There'll also be opportunities for people to both participate in the art, experience it, receive it, and also have food together at a communal table. So the food is going to be served in some traditional style called kamayan, that just means to eat with your hands. And so folks should expect that they will fully be engaged with their senses while they're eating, including touch. That tells you a lot when you're able to use your hands to eat. And maybe also, kind of difference here that was very present at Tanám was communal aspect of it, so you're not usually eating with strangers and negotiating who's going to take that last bit of duck. So that's definitely something to expect. And while we are definitely heavily focused on Filipino flavors and art making, we have lots of collaborators who are coming from elsewhere, and the idea to bring their culinary traditions in really comes from this wanting to honor who the people are, who are with us, who are gathering to tell the stories. None of us are part of monolithic culture. So really, how that's all come out is just been in relationship the storytelling that happens when you gather people together, and especially with this group of having time to spend together and think out loud about what matters to me, how does this fit into how I think about food in my culture. That's all been really important learnings that is going to show up in the food.
Trish Fontanilla
Awesome.
Ellie Tiglao
So this menu is definitely going to be pretty eclectic. As far as even Filipino food goes, I'm really interested in making sure the flavors are there and also making sure that there are Mainstays that people can recognize and anchor to. Of course, there's going to be pork belly at that table. Of course there will be vinegar with onions and garlic to dip it into. But we'll also be making adobo duck confit. As far as going into other people's cultures, you know, Lani was talking a little bit about suman, one thing that we are thinking of bringing into that space is a black rice suman that's made in the same way that arroz con leche is made in Puerto Rico, that's got coconut and warming spices and ginger in it, for example. And we love the fried things, right? Lumpiang shanghai is going to be there. But there's also a Lebanese type of fried spring roll that's made with phyllo. We're going to do a variation on it's called rakakat, which is, it's basically a cheese lumpia with parsley and other seasonings in it. So look to expect mostly Filipino food with inflections from Puerto Rican cultures, Lebanese cultures and Black American.
Trish Fontanilla
Amazing. Oh, boy, you just said cheese. And this is too much. Too much for me. Yeah.
Ellie Tiglao
Get ready. Hope you come hungry. Well, actually get ready to interact and then eat.
Lani Asunciòn
So the art and multimedia protection and immersive space will be performances by local artists and some folks even coming in remotely from the West Coast. So folks will be eating and enjoying the wonderful food that will be all tied to the different stories and performances. And there will be Kali, which is Filipino martial arts. We'll also have biko performance, so somebody will become that and embody that in the space. There's also DJs and VJs. So there'll be visual folks live mixing also while the DJ is mixing music. There's also a memorial to someone within our kapwa who we want to remember, and we want to have spaces of remembrance so that will be activated with digital media and other offerings. There will be also a takeaway zine that will talk about the project, and folks can learn more about each of the performances and the work
Trish Fontanilla
Amazing. And is this a one time thing? Is there going to be something similar? Or do people really just need to get at this one because it's going to be the only version of this curated food and art piece.
Ellie Tiglao
I don't necessarily think that this is going to be the last time, but we're definitely investing a lot in July 19th, and we'd love it if folks are thinking, Oh, should I do this? We want to see you there, because there's going to be a lot here. And by also by folks coming out, they will be, in some way, part of the co creation of it, because it'll really let us know what folks are here for. And we would love to have your support and any kind of support, being present, be it financial, whatever that looks like for you, will help this work continue and thrive.
Trish Fontanilla
Yeah, I always tell people, if you don't have capital, capital, social capital, is always great. So sharing with five people you know whether they're Filipino or not, I love bringing non-Filipinos to Filipino events because they're like, I don't even know what this culture is or because there isn't a lot of stuff within the city. I feel like, if you lived in California, they're like, Oh, I've had adobo before. So everybody, please, we would love to see you there, but feel free to share with your networks, email, social, etc. Do you have another event planned out as of yet, or do you have a timeline as for when the next thing's happening. What you what can people expect for the future of the organization?
Ellie Tiglao
We are looking at trying to have something in the next couple months. A lot of it is still being shaped, but we already have a title for the next one, I'll say.
Trish Fontanilla
Oh, okay. And how can people get involved? Are you looking for specific volunteers or partners or sponsors?
Ellie Tiglao
I think Lani had spoken a little bit to it. Presence can look like all sorts of ways, from attending to engaging with us. Part of it is also that this is the arts, and it's something that survives through people's not just attention, but spending a little money to make sure that the sort of thing can continue beyond that, obviously we are so interested in still continuing to imagine this work as not just Filipino, but potentially more diasporic. So we've been happily continuing to meet with people and think about how their work might weave into what we're doing. And so if folks like to cook, I will say, definitely reach out. There's all sorts of ways for people who know their way around the kitchen to get involved and be part of something that is a little bit more beyond a prep list and a little bit more hands on with how things are going to look and feel and taste.
Lani Asunciòn
And I'd also like to add, if folks are interested in offering support, if they have a space that they wanted to offer, that they'd love to activate a project like this in let us know. We would love to be supported in that way, and to like, learn more about what that looks like. And also, if you're interested in performing or doing any kind of performance work, especially if you're Filipino and just want to try something experimental and something different, it's been such a pleasure to curate the folks coming in now. But if folks wanted to approach and share ideas with us, I think that would be great,
Trish Fontanilla
Amazing. All right, so I've got a couple kind of lightning round questions. My favorite question to ask is, what are your top three favorite Filipino dishes? There's some nodding, there's some thoughts going through people's brains.
Ellie Tiglao
It's really funny because as as I've gotten further into my work doing food, even though I'm not doing the restaurant anymore, it's still very ingrained in me to actually orient towards. It's memory and meaning, personal meaning. And so yes, kare kare is delicious. Most people claim that as the best, and I'll take it. Yes, kare kare is good, but for me, laing, which is to taro leaves and coconut milk, often kind of spicy, usually with pork. It's so simple. It's what I ate every night when I was doing food research in the Philippines. And so I love to make it and it's just not often present for people here to eat. People don't think about eating leaves that are generally poisonous for you, it eventually becomes food. I'll also briefly say tinola, because that's such a good entryway, so comforting. And I don't think I've had any friend ever come over and eat it and say I did not enjoy that.
Trish Fontanilla
It's got grandma vibes. It's got some Lola vibes.
Trish Fontanilla
I think that's what I want. I want to be auntie. I want to be grandma. I will bring the dishes to church meeting, and then the last one is sinigang. So when I think about what is native sinigang, feels like, Oh, that was definitely our dish, you know. And every region has their different way of souring. So I love it. I will take it with tamarind. I will also take it with fish heads and fish collars. Yeah, all of that just simple stuff.
Trish Fontanilla
Simple but delicious and also complicated. If you're not familiar with Filipino dishes, I always liken them to Italian dishes in that you cannot make spaghetti for one generally, unless you're really measuring out those noodles, it is very hard to make Filipino food for one person or one serving and not have leftovers for the rest of the family. So I feel like Filipinos always make food, not just for dinner, but for a baon [generally leftover food for work/school snacks], for food the next day for you to take it to whatever tita which is auntie, lola / grandma, whoever could make that event. You then have a couple other servings to take. All right, Lani...
Lani Asunciòn
Yeah, it's really simple. My very favorite, I was gonna say, is lumpia, just because everybody makes a little. As a child, I would be that kid, small enough so I could just reach my hand over the tray when nobody's looking, I could just eat them. People are like, where is all the lumpia? And I'm playing already. As a kid that was my favorite, and I just ate so much of it.
Trish Fontanilla
So those are, if people aren't familiar, they're basically like, egg rolls. And you can have different fillings. I have, like, PTSD from lumpia, just because I always had to be cutting in the corner. And I can feel it in my arm, the cutting of the carrots.
Lani Asunciòn
They're so fine.
Trish Fontanilla
Even as a kid, you have to help. You have to do something. And I was in the corner, deveining shrimp. Another reason why I'm like cooking, yeah, so it could be veggie, could be meat, could be seafood, could be, um, there's another version where you can put bananas and brown sugar. Turon is my, one of my faves. And you can freeze it and eat it later. So I always...
Lani Asunciòn
If have some air fryer...
Trish Fontanilla
Yeah, if you want to be if you want to be healthy, but Filipinos aren't always the healthiest...what are a couple other your faves?
Lani Asunciòn
I really love dinuguan. It's my favorite because I like liver. So it's just like I like that richness. At first, when I was younger, I didn't like it because we call it blood meat, and chocolate meat was also another name for it.
Trish Fontanilla
I was gonna say blood meat. It was never... it was always chocolate.
Lani Asunciòn
Yeah, that's all you meant to say. But they told me it was chocolate. And I was like, it smells funny. Another one was like it's blood. And I was like...
Trish Fontanilla
It's so much, y'all, if you are listening, it is so much better. I remember eating as a kid and hated it, and now as an adult, I always look for it. Yes, it is another one of those things, simple but complicated. It's a pain in the butt to make. A friend of mine, she became friends with the butcher because she was like, here's what I need for my Filipino food that I can't find at the supermarket. But yeah, that's one of my faves, too.
Lani Asunciòn
Yeah, I always like to get it at Pinoy Kabayan [sadly, dear reader they just closed, but a new Filipino spot will be opening in its place],they have it here in downtown. They usually have it frozen, even if it's not fresh. And the owner, he makes the best. It's just like the right balance with the vinegar. And then the last one is suman. I just love sticky sweet. And you can put caramel or no caramel, and you can put coconut milk on it and put little, don't know, flowers would can really get fancy, they just eat it. And that smell of the banana leaf to me that I don't know, it's just kind of home, because in Hawaii, we also use taro, but it's like lau, lau. So it has that banana leaf smell.
Trish Fontanilla
I love making things in banana leaves. And it's hard to find them fresh in a lot of places. But my pro tip for people is there's always frozen. If you look in some freezers in Chinatown or other places. I make cassava cake with banana leaves, which is also...maybe this was a bad idea to end with.
Lani Asunciòn
Now we're hungry.
Trish Fontanilla
Sorry to everybody listening. And so I my last question is, if you could give a shout out to fellow Filipino creators, chefs, community member,s someone doing something awesome in Greater Boston or Massachusetts, one person. Who would it be? I say one person, because I think once we start saying people, then we start getting into this Oscar speech, and I'm gonna have to play music for us. But is there someone recently or someone that's always been helpful? Who would you give a shout out to?
Ellie Tiglao
I'm gonna give a shout out because she's she's doing the thing making sure Filipino food has its place in Massachusetts. Kristine Marie Bautista, she recently opened a place called Bits and Bites Bakery in Saugus, and met her when she started running a Filipino festival in Malden, a few years ago. So she continues to make sure that y'all get your fix.
Trish Fontanilla
She's really great. If anyone's ever been to a Boston Asian American Film Festival, she's usually there and she's serving different Filipino desserts and dishes. Total supportive community member, and the Malden Filipino Festival, which was really big, pre-pandemic, and she asked me to be a siopao [steamed meat buns]. So it sounds more delightful than it actually is, because after you've had six or seven, oh, wait, this was my dream, and then maybe we shouldn't have all of our dreams.
Lani Asunciòn
At once.
Trish Fontanilla
Yeah, at once. Lani, how about you?
Lani Asunciòn
I've been hearing a lot about Ashley Lujares and Mango Tao, so shout out.
Trish Fontanilla
She just did a pop up that I went to at Nine Winters, which shout out to them. It's a new Korean American bakery in West Cambridge. So got to give a shout out to all the women owned businesses as out there. But yeah, she's doing the pop up thing too. It's really great. All these, I was gonna say young folks, as if I'm your elder, all the millennials, soon to be titas out there. But it's really cool to see, especially post pandemic, seeing people out and about and doing these pop ups again, and seeing how popular they are. People wanting to try something new and be included in this community, which is really awesome. So to close out, how can people connect with you individually? So Lani, I know you have a website, but what are, what are the best ways for people to reach out if they want to chat with you?
Lani Asunciòn
Yeah, you can reach out on my website. I have a contact page, and usually it goes my email, Instagram, messaging, LinkedIn. I have that, too.
Ellie Tiglao
Yeah. Personally, I'm not on social so much these days, but if you send me a message that way, that's still going to reach me. Definitely recommend an email. I can definitely share that after this. But if anyone has questions about the project at all, we have a shared email address, which I'll make sure Trish has and can share out with folks listening.
Trish Fontanilla
Well, thank you both so much for taking time to talk about Filipino food. I am sorry to everybody, we don't have access easily to all these foods that we're talking about. But hey, reach out to your Filipinos titas out there in the universe, and I'm sure some of them will invite you to their kitchen to have some food. But I really appreciate from the two of you and hearing about your event. And everybody go follow them on social or reach out to them and go to this next event and all the other things coming up this year. So thank you.
Ellie Tiglao
Thanks, Trish.
Lani Asunciòn
Thank you, Trish, so much.
Trish Fontanilla
[Outro music] This has been The BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Trish. Fontanilla, special thanks to Lani and Ellie for taking time to chat with us today to learn more about them, we'll include their email and socials in the show notes. If you're looking for a written transcript of the podcast that'll be available on bosfilipinos.com. And if you like our show, you can subscribe to The BOSFilipinos podcast on your streaming platform of choice. You can also follow us on Instagram. We're @BosFilipinos. And if you have any ideas of what we should cover, are looking to sponsor an episode, or nominate a fellow Filipino in Greater Boston, you can let us know at info@bosfilipinos.com, or DM us on Instagram. Thanks for listening and see you soon.
