media rants: Culinary Class Wars

Photo of a typical Filipino meal.

Like many Asian immigrants, I too had a strong liking towards Edward Lee in Culinary Class Wars. Coming from an Asian background, and growing up enjoying food and learning how to cook/bake, I've learnt that food is so important in both culture and community. 

Food brings people together. Think about how every time you hang out with your friends, food is always involved. Think about how your fondest memories of your relatives/friends are of your favourite dish of their's that they make really well.

Food is an expression of ourselves. It tells the story of our ancestry, our past, our people. It tells the story of the places we have travelled to, it really shows how I've become more peculiar when it comes to my croissants after travelling to Paris last year. It tells the story of the people that we surround ourselves with, after gaining many friends from South Asia, I find myself eating a lot more South Asian food.

However, as an immigrant there are times where we are ashamed of our ethnic food. Ashamed of our ethnic identity. When I was 10 years old in Year 4 in a mostly caucasian school, I brought a Filipino dish called Adobo to lunch. I opened my thermos and my caucasian seat mates called my food stinky and disgusting. The shame I felt for bringing Filipino food, for being Filipino was immense. I was keeping my lid closed when I wasn't scooping some food as if I was trying to hide my heritage. After that day, I begged my mum to not pack me 'stinky' Filipino food anymore to school and for years I ate white people food at school.

This is why Edward Lee was so likeable for me. As a Korean-American who spent most of his time in the states, he came to the cooking show to get more in touch with his roots. You can see it in his fusion dishes; the bibimbap dish, tofu KFC, tofu cheese noodles, and many more. When he talks about his life story when explaining his bibimbap story was so touching and especially when he used his Korean name in the final, seeing him be proud of his Korean heritage makes me proud of my own Filipino heritage.

Although I am far from being amazing at cooking Filipino food, watching his journey throughout the series makes me inspired to be proud of Filipino food. To be proud to be Filipino.