Written by: seigfredtristan on July 27, 2010

This website is definitely not the only one blabbering about Filipino food weekly. I am actually glad that it’s not alone. The wonderful thing about it too is mostly, if you are a male author, you are surrounded by beautiful beings of the specie. To close this part of the series about Chinese influence on the history of Filipino food, myfilipinokitchen will parade women who wear different kinds of pancit for wigs.

They call their league of extraordinary women: The Kulinarya Cooking Club. They’re like Oprah’s Filipino cuisine book club (if ever there is one). I have been jumping from one blog to another and it feels like i’m left out with all these women blabbing about their food; How they cook it, what memories it brings and what they want to do next. I picture them on the table, devouring the food that they have just made, yet talking about what’s the next thing to cook. These women are the Filipino cuisine’s Nigellas, Rachel Rays and Julia Childs. Here’s what they say about their league:

“Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it’s colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with our family recipes.  By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.”

Last May 2010, the monthly feature focused on different kinds of noodle or Pancit dishes of the Philippines. Each one had their own version of Pancit, Pancit Canton, Pancit Bihon and every crawling pancit in the Filipino vocabulary… even Filipino noodles that are actually dimsums. If you can’t figure it out, then ask why men can’t understand women. Before I start running around like a confused husband, here are the women and their naked thoughts on the different kinds of noodle or Pancit dishes of the Philippines.

Sotanghon by Malou

from http://www.impromptudiva.com

As a Filipino Tradition (as to its origin, I’m not quite sure), the birthday feast should always include a noodle dish… which signifies long life.  Any kind of noodles is acceptable: spaghetti, chow mein or rice noodles.  Guests are expected to have some of the noodle dish, and somehow this simple act of eating expresses to the celebrant:  Here’s to more birthdays to celebrate and we wish you to have a long and happy life!

That said, imagine how many times I’ve eaten noodles this month?  Hahaha!  And for my husband’s birthday, the noodle dish I prepared was Sotanghon Guisado… read more

Pancit Bihon by Trish

from http://sugarlace.com

Pan-what?

Pancit. Noodles. You know, that Chinese ingredient that represents long life and is perfect in soups, stir fried, or somethings even as filling in spring rolls Vietnamese style! But we’re not talking about China or Vietnam, we’re here for good old Las Islas Filipinas! Pancit was first introduced to the Filipino by way of the Chinese merchants who immigrated to the Philippines to trade business with the country. The Chinese brought with them different cultural influences that over time were adopted by the Filipinos – may it be in cuisine, language, practices or beliefs.I myself am a product of this multi-racial, bi-lingual heritage: my grandfather was a refugee from China who was exiled to the Philippines. There he met my grandmother, a full blooded Chinese but was born in the Philippines…. read more

Pansit Palabok by Cherrie

from http://www.sweetcherriepie.com

For this month’s theme, I asked for help.  Who else better to ask, than my mum. I knew straight away that I was going to make Pancit Palabok as this is my mum’s specialty.  She is well known amongst the Filipinos around town for her Palabok. When I was in my teens, mum and dad used to have a stall at the Melbourne Philippine Fiesta.  In fact, they had a stall at the very first Fiesta back in 1982. In those days, it was a small affair and there were only a handful of stalls, mostly all selling food.  My parents sold Longganisa, Tocino, Chicharon to name a few. The week before the Fiesta, the house would be full of wonderful smells from all the preparation for the big weekend. … read more

Pancit Molo by Trissa

from http://trissalicious.com

Pancit will usually refer to noodles in Philippine cuisine. This is however, another type of pancit which comes from a province called Iloilo. Unlike most of the pancit you will see this month, this one is a dumpling soup. This soup is full of light, almost cloud like chicken and prawn dumplings. The broth is flavoured with homemade chicken stock, a smoked pork bone and annatto powder. The dish is made even heartier with the addition of shredded chicken, slices of ham and a soft boiled egg. It’s comfort food in its truest form… read more

Pancit Canton by Olive

from http://www.latestrecipes.net

Pancit canton is equally delicious in my book. In college, my sisters and I thrived on instant pancit canton. There’s a particular local brand here that’s became our favorite; when I got married, it’s also what my husband and I love to eat for breakfast and for snack. As much as I love that brand of instant noodles, I said goodbye to it when I learned how to make pancit canton from scratch, you would too because the taste is way better than instant and it’s definitely healthy… read more

Pancit Bihon Guisado by Caroline

from http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com

Noodles signify long life and so they are served on birthdays as part of the celebration. My youngest son turned six this month so there were plenty of pancit cooked and enjoyed. There are many types of pancit in the Filipino cuisine based on the type of noodles used and the region a pancit dish originated. Pancit Bihon, noodles made from rice, is the type usually thought of when one talks about pancit so I decided to make them here… read more

Pancit Canton by Cusinera

from http://www.busogsarap.com

Filipinos have this forever love affair with “Pancit” (Noodles) since the Chinese introduced it to the Philippines Cuisine.  Different regions of the country have Pancit specialties that they proudly call their own.  Filipino Pancit dishes ranges from soupy, sticky to dry.  My two favourites from all of them are the Pancit Bihon and Pancit Malabon.  Pancit can be served as a snack or a main meal, always present during Filipino birthday celebrations as it symbolizes long life…. read more

Pancit Bihon by Asha

from http://www.forkspoonnknife.com

I have to tell you, I have an intense carnal love for noodles. Out of the blue, an image, of me twirling noodles with chopsticks, pops into my mind and refuses to budge. There are times when I crave these thready, slurpy satisfaction so much I tend to display withdrawal symptoms if I don’t get my fix! My love began during my childhood in Bangalore, when we would eat out at an Indian Chinese restaurant, Rice Bowl, once a year for my birthday. I never ordered the fried rice, always the chopsuey which I would douse with the chili vinegar and spicy sauce. I loved it and I pigged out. I was happy at the end of a huge bowl of those flat thready stuff… read more

Pancit by Annie

from http://anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com

I encounter dumbfounded looks when I mention that these are Chinese in origin. Much of Filipino home cooking traces its roots to Chinese ingredients, cooking methods, and seasoning. The influence of the Chinese came with the traders (from Fujian and Canton), who brought noodles, ducks, duck eggs, soy sauce, soybeans, sausages, and other affordable, accessible foods that could be eaten on a daily basis”… read more

Pansit Canton by Dahlia

from http://energychef.blogspot.com

I celebrated my birthday this month which meant I was able to share the pancit to people at work, perfect–because, I don’t think pancit can be cooked in small quantities–it is meant to be shared and eaten with a lot of people, hence it is the perfect party food in my humble opinion. I’ve never really thought much about cooking pancit because it’s always been there. It’s not something I cooked during parties because there are more than enough pancit experts among family and friends. But this time, I had to do it on my own. There are so many choices for noodles but I chose pancit canton… read more

Lola’s Pancit by Jen

from http://jen-at-work.blogspot.com

Here’s my very first challenge for Kulinarya Cooking Club, and I already have a confession to make: I’m a rice girl!  I love rice and from time to time love things eaten with bread or with pasta, but I hardly look forward to eating asian noodles.  Only in the last few years that I’ve been cooking noodles, because I’ve been exposed and drawn to the spicy and flavoursome Malaysian/Singaporean noodle dishes, like laksa, char keow teow, mamak mee goreng and mee siam.  My children, on the other hand, love ALL noodles, so I’ll post here my mom’s pancit that she cooks for my children…. read more

Pancit Sotanghon by Pia

from http://bisayajudkaayo.blogspot.com

There is an array of pancit dishes that i can’t decide which one. So i narrowed it down to our favorites, i opted to choose sotanghon which is a staple in my pantry along with bihon. I have blogged a bihon dish a while back which is also one of our favorite CRISPY PANCIT. My family is a minimalist when it comes to pancit. The less meat and veggies the better hence my calling this my minimalist version… read more

And if you think there are just a few of them, think again. Here’s the rest of the team:

Kath – http://www.acupcakeortwo.com/

Trisha – http://sugarlace.com/
Trissa – http://trissalicious.com/
Olive – http://www.latestrecipes.net/
Caroline – http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com/
Ninette – http://bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com/
Peach- http://www.thepeachkitchen.com/
Althea- http://www.busogsarap.com/
Asha – http://forkspoonnknife.blogspot.com/
Malou – http://www.impromptudiva.com/
Cherrie – http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/
Acdee – http://acdee.blogspot.com/
Valerie – http://www.acanadianfoodie.com/
Sheryl – http://crispywaffle.com/
Divina – http://www.sense-serendipity.com/
Anna – http://www.anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com/
Dahlia – http://www.energychef.blogspot.com/
Joy – http://joyjoycreativeoutlet.blogspot.com/
Maribel – http://www.foodgeek.webs.com/
Jen – http://www.jen-at-work.blogspot.com/
Pia – http://bisayajudkaayo.blogspot.com/

Ladies and gents of the world, above are the women who embody the inspiration of every single testicle in the Philippines.

On a personal note, I am really happy that these women decided to form Kulinarya Cooking Club as the global awareness of Filipino food has not walked the world’s palate yet. So all of us, including this website are on a hike, taking Filipino food to the summit. We want the world to know about Filipino food and maybe someday include these different kinds of Pancit on their Friday night eat-outs. Filipino food tastes really good I tell you… ask anyone who’s had Filipino food before, they always come for seconds. As for Filipina women, let’s have the ladies answer that.