The recent Sydney Fiesta Kultura was something of a paean to Filipino street foods.
For one it was promoted as a Filipino Food Festival, quiet different from previous Fiestas which were promoted either as a memorable nth milestone for the community or an exciting quest for the community’s prettiest beauty queen.
To say it was a food festival could prompt many baby boomers such as yours truly to recall and salivate for those wonderful delectable street food in one’s boyhood either in a Fiesta atmosphere or a special public holiday in one’s locale.
Former Sydney Fiesta Kultura Mr Manny Castillo said many of the subscriber Fiesta food stallholders had been with been with the Fiesta for a number of years. A great number of them Castillo said had been Filipino food aficionado and operate either a Filipino restaurant or an Asian grocery establishment in greater Sydney. Many find great joy in holding a Fiesta food stall every year and the yearly exercise must have benefitted them either monetary or emotionally.
Woodcroft resident Mr Gerry Gabillon and wife Grace had been a devoted stallholder, selling many of their standard menu found in their restaurant in Blacktown CBD called Fill Em Up Filipino Dishes, majority of them favourite Filipino dishes. Their Filipino satay barbecue had been a fixture in their yearly food setup at the Fiesta. Mr Gabillon said selling their food appears easy for them now. “We already have a formula.”
For her part, Teresa Chan who owns Teresa’s Siopao and Catering her food stall give her more than the reasonable revenue from the project. She sells the marque product Filipino steam bun popularly called “siopao” not to mention the obligatory Filipino lechon at her two Fiesta stalls.
Her actual restaurant in Doonside manufactures siopao for distribution customers in NSW and even in Towoomba in NSW and in Canberra in ACT. During a previous a previous Fiesta, Teresa had the inviable record of selling at least 25 pigs in a period of one day.
It is customary to attribute to the Fiesta the yearly devotion of availing of favourite Filipino food. Especially the young, Fiesta means eating those delectable Filipino street foods. Even to the Australia-born kids, Fiesta means satay barbecue, banana cue, gulaman, halu-halo, puto, kutsinta, halaya, palitao, chicharon, pandesal, enseymada, suman, becho, peche-peche,kalamay, biko, buko juice and sugar cane juice and many more.
Had you been one of those Fiesta volunteer worker, chances are you might have been treated to the obligatory fried sinangang and pritong tuyo (dried fish) and tinapa (smoked fish) breakfast the Fiesta organisers provided to crew and volunteers.
Or if you were one of those VIPs and honoured guests like Sen. Concetta Fierravante Wells, Federal Member for Parramatta Julie Owens, or Blacktown City Mayor Cr. Stephen Bali, our Philippine Australian Sports and Culture (PASC) President Lolita Farmer OAM must have provided you other Fiesta treats at the upper floor of the Fairfield Showground building, such as menudo and kare-kare, letchon and pancit, adobo and fried buttered chicken wings, lumpia, apritada and few more.
And had the VIPs visited the Filipino food stalls as well spread out in the venue of Fairfield Showground, they could have discovered the real wonders and awe of Filipino street foods.