TrulyGrace

Pinoy Food

Today I was a guest speaker for a clinical dietetics class at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitative Sciences. The portion of the class for which I presented a slide show was on the students' chapter on the Social and Cultural Aspects of Southeast Asian food. I presented on Pilipino Food and Cuisine. Valerie Kogut, who teaches the class, and I agreed that some of the opinions expressed in the book were outdated or just incorrect. I spoke about how vinegar- and lemon juice-based fish stews (such as sinigang) have calcium-rich broths which replace milk in Filipino-American (and other SE Asian-American) children's diets.

Mom helped me a lot in some of the cultural and social aspects of Pilipino culture relating to food. I wore my Pinay dress clothes to present to the class. In addition to preparing a Power Point presentation, I brought a few books to share with the class (which were on a short printed resource list for them), some salabat drink mix, and a Singaporan version of that ginger tea in small sachets. The only question I fielded was about "duck eggs with the undeveloped chick inside," otherwise known as balut. Yes, I stated, that food could be found in varied regions of the Philippines. The students were polite and attentive, and I was pleased with the outcome of my talk.

posted by Grace @ 3/31/2006 07:22:00 PM