Table for All with Buki Elegbede

[relaxing music] - [Host] Ah, the Philippines, an island nation made up of over 7,000 islands spread over 120,000 square miles.

White sand beaches, crystal blue waters, such a peaceful place full of warm, welcoming people.

So, what's with all the hand-to-hand combat?

Now, you know what I'm gonna say.

The answer can be found, right here, in New Jersey.

I'm here at the Newark museum, which hosts all kinds of incredible events from the Black Film Festival to planetarium programming for kids and adults.

But today, it's all about the Filipino culture, featuring visual artist and martial artist Francis Estrada.

- [Francis Estrada] Pekiti-Tirsia Kali is a type of martial art.

It's a close quarters fighting system.

Pekiti means to get in close and Tirsia to meet these quarters.

It's used by a special action force.

It's, uh, they're like the Army Rangers of the Philippines.

- So, we're not messing around here.

- No [Francis laughs] - We're gonna, we're gonna karate chop somebody down.

- Our intention in Pekiti-Tirsia is to get out of the way, move off at an angle and be in the position where I can hit without being hit - How do I defend myself?

And where was this with my, with my middle school bullies?

That's what I want to know.

- Okay.

So first, imagine those bullies.

- Okay.

I'm picturing them right now.

- Imagine what they may have done.

- A common combination is a jab and a cross, right?

- Yeah.

- So if I throw a jab and a cross, I'm not gonna hit you, but I'm gonna aim for your nose.

I'll throw a jab and a cross.

That's pretty common, right?

So, jab and a cross.

So if you do the same thing to me?

Yeah.

So I move this out of the way - Oh - So that's one of those slaps, but I move this out of the way.

And if this comes out, I go here, but then you're in line for that slap right there.

- Oh, oh that burns.

Okay.

[Francis laughs] There's also a way of being more direct if you throw that jab on with the right, I can move here and real quickly get that slap.

- Wow.

Now what if somebody comes from you from behind, like a coward?

- Yeah [Francis laughs] - Then what?

- So, that's where the situational awareness comes to play.

For example, I tell people don't wear headphones.

Don't cover your line of vision, because from here, my, my peripherals can go up to here.

- What got you into Pekiti-Tirsia?

- It's actually, art.

I was working on some art projects and I was looking specifically at anything that's traditional Filipino.

I started doing all these drawings.

I was doing paintings, but I realized to understand it better, I had to know how to move.

- [Host] In 2010, Francis took a six-month sabbatical to learn the art of Pikiti-Tirsia.

He eventually made his way to the Philippines, learning from the masters themselves.

Now, Francis himself is a master and has earned the name "guro," which means teacher in Filipino.

He says with the growth of Asian hate, a consequence from the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment in Pekiti self-defense classes have gone way up.

Do you see that confidence build when you, when you're teaching individuals how to protect themselves, do you see that confidence building like, 'okay, maybe I, I can handle myself'?

- Yeah.

And I see it with, with the participants, you know, sometimes the workshops that I did, we had families.

We had, you know, little kids with their parents.

- Even little kids?

Wow.

- So I teach 'em just how to get outta the way, how to protect themselves, how to cover and go.

There's a sense of confidence that you have when you know how to move.

And if you have that confidence, you're not gonna get nervous if a situation arises.

You can remain calm.

- So, Can you gimme like a full-out something?

- [Host] Here we go, training montage.

- So once that's here, I just go.

[bleep] Bring you down.

Gently.

- Gently.

Lord have mercy.

- It's like a dance.

- Oh, like a dance?

Only a dance that you're gonna get your butt kicked in.

- So once again, you move this outta the way, - This hand?

- Slap.

- Slap.

- Now slap the kidney.

- Slap the kidney.

- And you notice, my balance is already off.

- Left hand.

- Slaps the kidney.

- Slaps the kidney.

- There you go.

See that push?

- Right.

- Good pulling up.

- [Host] Getting tossed around like a rag doll really works up an appetite.

Kris, from the popular Krazy Chef food truck is here slinging sisig for me and Francis.

Traditionally made with pig face and chicken liver, it's a classic Filipino dish.

Kris has updated his recipe, leaving the pig face in the past, but hasn't skimped on any of the flavor.

- How you doing?

- [Kris] I'm good, good.

How are you?

- I'm starving.

What are my options?

- I got you the good stuff.

It's the chicken sisig and the pork sisig.

I'll give you half and half - Okay.

- Best of both words.

- Now, how do you make your sisig?

- With love.

[laughs] - Okay [marching drum music] So, what did you eat when you were growing up?

- It's a lot of pork we eat in the Philippines.

You know, there's not so many places to raise cattle.

But, you know, pig, pigs are easier to, uh, to raise, So, a lot of seafood and a lot of, uh, pig.

- Nice.

- Mm.

That's delicious.

- Nothing wrong with that.

- Yeah?

- [indistinct] Kris.

The last name "Estrada," I don't think Filipino.

I think Spanish.

- Yes.

- And, and that, that's a thing that many Filipinos have Spanish names.

- Yeah.

I mean, when the Spanish took over, you know, one way of colonizing was to erase history, also erase names.

So they had us choose.

They had people choose names from a list.

So, 'these are the names that you can use.'

So you can't just choose any name.

You weren't appointed names, but you were given the names that you can use.

There's a joke.

We say that Filipinos are very hospitable.

So hospitable that we let so many countries take over.

[laughs] - [Host] Once a stopover for traders and merchants, Chinese settlers, Muslim traders, the Spanish, the US, the Japanese, and even the British had, at one time or another, invaded or inhabited the Philippines.

All leaving their mark, culinary or otherwise.

- The Philippines used to be part of The United States.

- Yeah.

- So did you find there to be a very stark contrast with what you thought America was gonna be like in terms of treatment, and then what it actually was?

- Oh, definitely.

You know, yeah, uh, when we were about to move to, uh, to the US, we were in the Philippines, we were excited, thinking in the Philippines see us as brothers, we're equals.

And of course, everything changed by the time I moved over here.

So then there's, that came that idea of, okay, well, I had this vision of living in America, being American, being part of the society and, you know, being slapped in the face with reality.

My family ended up settling, it was a suburb of a suburb of Scranton, Pennsylvania called Honesdale.

- It sounds, it sounds, sounds pretty homogenous.

If I could say that.

- Very homogenous.

Yes.

- Now how, how are we getting tamarind and fish sauce?

How are we getting that?

- There was no place to, uh, to get tamarind.

So we had to play around with how do we get that sourness?

So we used different citrus.

Um, you used lemons if you can, just substituting a few things.

For example, I didn't know where to get bok choy, so we substituted with, uh, cabbage instead.

- And this all has led you into becoming an artist where you've, you really showcase your, your culture and, I guess what the Filipino culture has been through over the years through your art.

And, tell me about that, the Coney Island one that you, that you made.

- I found out that, in 1905 in Coney island's Luna Park, they actually had a human zoo where they showed people from the Bontoc region, the mountains of the Philippines.

And they were basically a spectacle for, uh, for people to come visit and come check them out half-clothed.

- Wow - So I, then decided to create, uh, this piece um, where I had a mannequin, painted it brown, but there's a map of Luna Park, so they can kind of find their way out, and the idea is for me thinking of an escape for them.

So, you know, I couldn't do it back then, but I'm making artwork now to kind of remedy what happened in the past.

It has to go beyond representation, right?

Because you can represent someone, you can show someone, but if there's no understanding, it kind of ends and stops at that point.

So I think, yes, we are starting, but we still have a long way to go.

[bouncy piano music] - [Host] So I've had my first course of Filipino culture, but now it's time for the main course.

And that's led me here to Maricel's Kitchen.

Smells like home cooking.

The second I step foot in this gorgeous kitchen, I was being fed.

- I want you to taste this one.

- Smells like something my mom would make cause we make this, um, okra soup as well, that, in, but we don't do pork belly, but we do cow foot.

- Oh my God, my favorite.

- Well, this was good.

- So "molo" means wonton, that we make.

Now, some people will just take this and dump it in the broth.

We're not doing that - Okay - Because I want to up the level of my pancit molo.

It's getting ready, look, look, look nicey, nicey.

- [Host] Are you working on pork rinds?

- Yes, that's the Filipino [indistinct] - [Host] Did you add the pork rind to this or is it, is that standard?

- No, I added that.

- I haven't had a pork rind in like 15 years.

[chewing] Mm.

Okay.

- [Maricel] Just a little kick here, a different change.

That's what we call Filipino hospitality.

It's our tradition.

It's a cultural thing.

It's like, it's very basic.

We like to feed people.

- [Host] Meet Maricel Gentile, chef and owner of Maricel's Kitchen.

She teaches cooking classes, caters special events, runs her own food truck and has still found the time to give me a private lesson in Filipino cuisine.

Now that, is the immigrant hustle.

- So Maricel, who taught you how to cook?

- My grandmother.

My grandmother is the best, she didn't measure, like when I was starting my cooking classes, I had a hard time writing my recipes, like, oh my God.

So when I cook, it's, it's just been [indistinct] - Just, boom, boom, boom, boom.

- I can't stop.

It's just like when I cook, it just comes down.

It's just like my grandmother.

- There's a picture of me as a baby on the kitchen counter with my mom.

- [Maricel] Me too.

I got that picture.

Oh my god.

We're gonna start cooking.

Pancit - What is that?

Rice noodle.

I'm gonna teach you how to wrap egg rolls.

- Okay.

- So we're making two kinds of lumpia.

We got it from the Chinese; the ninth century.

- I'm learning something new every day.

- It's, it's everywhere.

Egg rolls.

- Got it.

- It's a staple in the Philippine cuisine.

Well, let's do pancit first - All right.

- Oh, we're off.

How many dishes am I doing it?

- I don't know what, I don't know, you tell me.

- [Host] Unhappy in the corporate world, Maricel ditched the 9 to 5 and started her catering business, Maricel's Kitchen, at the age of 52 and never looked back.

She says she knew instantly this was what she was meant to do.

- You're pretty, you're a big deal.

We've got a test kitchen.

We've got a food truck.

[Maricel laughs] I was like, and I literally said, I was like, I think Maricel is the Filipino Ina Garten.

- [Maricel] Yeah.

Yeah.

Whoa, that's a good one.

[laughs] I wish, right.

I wish.

- I mean, we, everyone knows Chinese food.

Everyone's looking for Korean barbecue.

Why do you think Filipino food hasn't really, really broken out like that?

- There's not a lot of people that would wanna open up a Filipino, because people have been, as we always say, 'home cooking's better.'

So, but I like to introduce Filipino food because I am proud of the Filipino cuisine.

- I feel like Filipino is like a, a melting pot of just different cultures and different foods.

- [Maricel] Spanish.

- A little Spanish, a little, - [Maricel] A little Chinese.

- Exactly - And, and then we also have the real ethnic, um kind of food.

- So, what is next?

- So what's next.

Okay.

- Rice noodles.

- Pork belly, liven it up a little bit.

Keep it next.

Before it burns, we'll do the onions.

Garlic, of course.

We love.

- Love the garlic, of course.

- Can't be shy with garlic.

When you're so [indistinct], you see how I think the onions are still hard?

Well, when you're making this, we gotta make it translucent.

That's when all the flavors are being - [Host] Squeezed out.

- squeezed out of those nice onions.

Well, onions are the best.

So now we're gonna put this here.

- Okay - Soak it like that.

Yes - [Host] Yeah.

- [Maricel] You're getting there.

You're getting there.

- I, I hope I don't mess up.

- [Maricel] No, you're not.

- I'm trying my, I'm trying to impress here.

- You are impressing me right now.

Still, still.

- [Host] Still not done.

- Still not done.

There's no "all done" take in Asian noodles.

[laughs] Can you slice this, thin strips?

And then we're getting ready to plate this already.

Oh, this thing is loaded.

- [Host] So this would just go straight to the table.

Family style.

- It's family style eating.

With that work.

- [Host] I'm excited.

And wait, tell me again what this is called - You still have two more things to make - [Host] I know.

That's why we gotta hurry this up.

- [Maricel] I'm just watching you eat.

- We gotta hurry this up.

What's this called again?

- Pancit bihon.

- Pancit bihon.

[cheerful techno music] It's really good.

- [Maricel] The pork belly.

Don't skimp on the pork belly.

- I'm not, I'm not.

- [Maricel] That's the pork.

- All right, let me drop this.

Hold on, one more bite.

- [Maricel] No, finish it.

- One more bite, one more bite.

Ah.

- [Maricel] It's good.

Right?

- You know, I also make a salad.

- [Host] True to her word, Maricel will not stop until I'm completely full.

We're moving on to another Filipino staple.

- Lumpia.

- Lumpia.

- Every Filipino.

- [Host] Every Filipino.

- [Maricel] Every.

[host laughs] You cannot miss this.

I put ground for cabbage.

Beansprouts.

Sweet potato.

Carrot.

- [Host] Let me start little.

Training wheels.

- [Maricel] I can smell my oil, yes.

You take this.

- Right.

- This end.

Okay, put it over, like, roll it over and push it back, so it gets tight - [Host] Pull up and push it.

- Now when you fold, you make sure you fold that one side like this.

So, it closes the, the edge of that.

Because if it's like you fold it like this, the vegetable would come out.

Oh, that's nice.

- This is good?

- [Maricel] You got it.

You got it.

You got it.

- [Host] Got it.

And how long are these?

Ooh.

- [Maricel] Oh, look at these perfect ones.

- [Host] I think that one's mine.

[host laughs] - [Maricel] I didn't say anything.

I'm gonna show you how we eat it.

And we bite from the top and we do like this.

- [Host] Oh.

- Hot, hot, hot, hot.

It's very hot.

[crunches] How crunchy is that, right?

- [Host] Oh my god.

- [Maricel] With the vinegar.

- [Host] I love that.

Whoa, I can't speak.

- That's all I want to see from you, that, you're, you're speechless.

- [Host] The aromas of Maricel's lumpia have attracted her husband, Paul, into the kitchen You were actually in culinary school.

- I was, yes.

I was the one who was studying how to cook.

- So, why is Maricel in the kitchen and why am I not seeing you at the fryer?

- Have you tasted her food yet?

[Maricel laughs] - I, I have tasted.

- That's exactly why.

- So, you're taking a step back?

- If you notice, the kitchen was built for her; this is her kitchen.

- I was gonna say, I did hit my head on this so.

[laughs] This was not built for me.

- [Maricel] [indistinct] - When the contractor was here, she stood there and then we moved the hood up and down till it was in the right spot.

She's the most passionate person you'll find about food.

And it comes through, you know what other people can cook, but she puts love, every piece is love in here.

- [Host] I could spend all day with just Maricel, but I've got to introduce you to another Filipino icon of New Jersey.

Ludi De Asis Hughes.

She's the founder and chairwoman of the annual Filipino American Festival, which is all about educating people about Filipino culture.

And she's here to show me how the Filipino sausage gets made literally.

Okay, so what are we making today?

- Lucban longganisa.

- Longganisa?

- Yeah, longganisa, also called garlic, uh, sausage.

The longganisa is eaten up in the morning with, of course, with fried rice and with eggs.

- [Host] Breakfast of champions.

- That's, that's a breakfast meal in the Philippines.

That's very famous for that.

Filipinos cook all the time with meat and veggies, 'cause we can't eat the whole steak it's very expensive.

- But as long as there's veggies, and a little bit of meat, they're, they're happy.

- [Host] When Ludi said we'd be making sausage, I was thinking meat grinders, kitchen tools.

There's none of that.

Ludi dices her meat by hand.

Now that is old school.

- This is the key.

- [Host] This is the key?

- Yeah, this is the, drink it.

- Mm mm.

- This is the key to this, uh, longganisa.

- [Host] There's nothing more intimate than stuffing sausages together.

That's when the real talk goes down.

- Cause what happened, and it's because of the rhetoric that happened, in the COVID.

We are facing two dilemma right now, the Asian American, one is COVID-19 and one is Asian hate?

You know?

- Mhmm.

- [Ludi] So, we need to stop the Asian hate.

- [Host] According to advocacy group, Stop AAPI Hate, from March 2020 to December 2021, there were almost 11,000 biased incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

What were you feeling?

What were you thinking when all this began?

- That's what I'm saying.

It could happen to me.

- [Host] Mhmm, - Yeah, just wanna make sure that there is a [indistinct] law so that the to, to prevent all this, uh, hate, right?

- [Host] New Jersey is making sure there is a seat at the table for all our Asian brothers and sisters.

In January, New Jersey's Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation, requiring schools to create and implement an AAPI-inclusive curriculum to be taught from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade.

I think I messed up.

[laughs] - It's okay.

Look.

We now have 1.05 million Asian American.

- [Host] Really?

- [Ludi] In Bergen County alone.

So, in order for us to fight this, uh, Asian hate, we need to get together.

- [Host] And those aren't just empty words.

Ludi brought a literal Asian American party to Maricel's backyard.

And this intimate, cultural lesson is about to become a classic Filipino feast complete with lechon.

[cheerful orchestral music] [butchering] Now this, is a lot of food.

Maricel and I had no idea these people were coming, but my Filipino education isn't quite complete.

Paul fills me in on the cultural exchange that's brought lechon to America.

- [Paul] The lechon, right, is normally, in the Philippines, it would be in Cebu.

They're famous for their lechon, right?

When you go to Cebu, you can go through a town and there's the roasted pigs everywhere.

But if you're here in the United States, people say, 'well, how do I do that?'

Well, there's the Cubans and the Chinese put together what they call the La Caja China.

And when the Chinese went to Cuba, they taught the Cubans how to roast pigs in a box.

- Well, I, I live in an apartment, so I'll just come to your house.

[laughs] - [Paul] You just come here.

We've got, we've got the roasting box.

- [Host] And this is the whole point of Maricel's Kitchen and the Filipino culture.

We make a huge amount of food and people come from all over to eat.

When roast pig is on the menu, people just seem to turn up.

[serious marching music] Like Ludi said, now is the time for all Asian cultures to come together.

So, I'm learning more about the culture that had so much influence on the Philippines: China, The Land of Dragons.

But when I showed up, I realized, I had the story completely wrong.

Well, James, I think the biggest question, cause I told you for years and years and years, I've called this "the dragon dance," and it's not a dragon, it's a lion.

Please tell me I'm not the only one confused.

- Yes.

So we've heard that my entire life between the dragon dance and lion dance.

So what you see behind us is the traditional Chinese lion dance.

So, the difference between lion dance and a dragon dance, lion dance is two people playing in the costumes.

You have the head and the tail, and the dragon is typically nine people holding a pole with a long body of the dragon and huge head and, uh, is more like a parade-style movement, uh, with the dragon.

- [Host] Although its specific origins have been lost to time and legend, most historians believe lion dancing began in the Han Dynasty in 200 BC.

By 600 AD, the lion dance became a distinguishing form of entertainment and often performed for the Imperial Court.

Today, the lion dance has appeared throughout Asia and the world, thanks to Chinese immigration.

What does it mean that it's lasted this long?

What does that mean to your culture?

- [James] It brings an interest cause a lot of times when we're back in, in oh, over here in America, we lose a lot of our culture just because we're, we're born here, we're into American culture.

This is one way we can blink back to our, our past.

- You know, over the last two or so years, we've seen a spike in Asian American hate and everything like that.

Have you, have you seen a, a boost in membership?

A decline?

- Getting a lot of new students have been pretty difficult because of all the fear of Asian hate crime.

Um, but we're we're our team is still going strong and, and, and we're not gonna let those things deter us.

Let's practice this first.

So you're gonna just go ahead, you're gonna keep your hands up?

Just like this.

You're gonna take a little hop, right?

Like this.

Okay, good.

Now let go as high as you can.

You're gonna go like this and jump.

Back straight.

Good.

Now, you see if you can go like, [grunts] like that.

- No.

- No?

Okay.

All right?

- And I'm doing legs forward?

- Yeah man.

We're going.

[intense drum music] Ready?

- Okay, yeah.

We're going.

- [James] Okay, remember it, hop forward a little, like this, right, hop forward when you're ready.

Okay?

Then go.

- You ready?

- Yep.

- All right.

Good job.

- Now, I feel like that was a little terrible [clapping] We'll get better, we'll get better at it.

- I think we can go to the next level.

Okay.

Start with the left side forward.

- Like that?

- Ready, go forward.

Back.

Circle.

In.

Now, switch.

In.

Circle.

Back.

- [Host] Back - [James] Switch.

In.

Circle.

And down.

Excellent.

- [Host] Max, how old are you?

- Eight.

- Eight?

And you're doing parades?

Four miles in a costume?

Lord.

- So we do the, uh, the dance parade during in May, and the Chinese New Year Parade's in February.

- I know the cameras are, is he tough, is he a tough instructor?

[James laughs] He gets on you.

Right?

Don't you pretend on me.

You just blink twice.

[James laughs] - [James] Think you're [indistinct]?

- I'm not, I'm not afraid.

- [James] There you go.

Put this on.

- [Host] Yeah - [James] You can even let this rest on your neck.

Just like that.

- [Host] Gotcha.

- Stay right there, and you, gimme your fingers.

Pull that.

Just like that.

- [Host] Oh, that's how the mouth opens.

- Yeah.

Open it.

- [Host] Aye.

- All right.

And since you're gonna pro, you can even pull on this, with one hand, pull it.

[blinking] You get your eyes blinking.

- [Host] Oh my.

- Got it?

All right.

Okay.

Remember what we said, okay?

Easy jump.

Legs forward, back straight.

Spot your jump and land on your feet.

- [Host] Okay.

[loud percussion music] - [James] Ready, and go.

Excellent.

Good job.

Woo.

One of the more most important thing is, is this, is that, uh, this is one of our only ways to keep our tradition and keeping our connection with our culture.

Just enjoy it.

And if you get a chance to learn more about it, absolutely do it.

- So anybody can just come down?

- [James] Yeah, absolutely.

- Black, white, Hispanic?

- Yes.

- [Host] If they wanna learn this?

So word on the street is that you are not Chinese in any sort of way.

- Yeah.

That's, that's true.

- How do you feel doing these dances for a culture that you're not a part of?

- Well, I think ultimately, it's kind of the great thing about living in such a multicultural community is because, you know, as a non-Chinese person, I'm able to get involved in so much of Chinese culture and Chinese art.

And learn so much about it and really, kind of like, be in an environment where I'm able to treat a culture that's not mine, like, as my own.

And so I think that, being able to do it and being able to pass it on to people, whether they're Chinese or not, is something that is really incredible about doing lion dance and also kind of what this whole organization does as well.

So, I think that being able to pass down these traditions, both from my own culture, from Chinese culture and so many other cultures that are slowly dying down, and they go through generation to through generation, I feel like it's definitely made me value the things that my family does to celebrate our own ethnicity and our own culture.

And to just kind of continue doing that and making sure to do that with the next generation as well.

- [Host] What a learning experience this has been, I've learned how to defend myself, Pekiti-Tirsia style; to eat every part of the pig; to cook some classic Filipino staples; and that all of us, no matter where we come from, are inextricably connected.

- I was looking specifically at anything that's traditional Filipino.

Um, I was looking at visual arts and then I got very interested in music arts.

- Oh, see.

I caught him.

I caught him.

- But I know the space.

[laughs] - Go ahead.

I'm listening.