It's difficult to describe Filipino food as anything other than Filipino, because the Philippines — a Southeast Asian country once colonized by the Spanish — is a melting pot of culture and influences from all over Asia, the South Pacific, Europe and the Americas. Former Seattleite chef Sophia Agtarap brings Filipino-American cuisine to Nashville via Ate's Filipino Kitchen, and adds her own flair as well, including Hawaiian and Mexican influences. "Ate" — pronounced "ah-teh" — means "older sister" in Filipino (the chef has two younger sisters). Let's better know Chef Agtarap:
Vital tool: knives. Sharp ones! Even though my knife skills s-u-c-k.
Favorite gadget: A food processor or this hand chopper I've had for years — the kind that you've probably seen on infomercials. I would be OK if I never had to mince mass amounts of carrots or garlic by hand, ever.
Pantry essential: Every Filipino kitchen has these two things: fish sauce and vinegar. I like this Vietnamese brand called Red Boat. It doesn't have all the extra preservatives — just 2 ingredients. And furikake [a Japanese seasoning consisting of ground fish, seaweed, sesame seeds and salt]. It does amazing things to rice.
Necessary extravagance: Spending way too much when I go home to Seattle or Southern California and visit a Filipino or Asian grocery store that carries ingredients I can't regularly find in Nashville.
Favorite beverage: It's a tie: iced Vietnamese coffee and cantaloupe juice — not together. You can find cantaloupe juice on every street corner in the Philippines — bits of cantaloupe flesh, sugar, water.
Favorite smell: Fall: smoke, dry leaves, crisp air.
Comfort food: Gosh ... anything with rice and a gravy or curry-like substance on top: loco moco (hamburger patty, rice, gravy, and over-easy egg), chili and rice (a nod to my days in Hawaii), Japanese curry. And fried chicken. You can put a piece of fried chicken on any of those things and I'd be happy.
Inspiration: All the immigrant cooks who are hustling to make it with the most modest resources. Good food doesn't need to be fancy, and I keep reminding myself of that. Fresh ingredients, made with love, is what makes a good meal.
Last meal (ever): Any meal prepared by and shared with my fams. Probably something involving Korean barbecue, kare kare (a Filipino peanut-based curry type dish), and shabu-shabu hot pot. And lots of rice.
You can catch Ate's Filipino Kitchen popping up at the Nashville Farmers' Market's Grow Local Kitchen the last two Fridays of each month, as well as at this weekend's Cherry Blossom Festival. In the meantime, check out the Ate's menu to familiarize yourself with lumpia and other specialties.
