Making an “Invisible” Cuisine: Filipino Cuisine Entrepreneurs’ Practices in Winnipeg and Ottawa with Gazel Manuel

• In-person event

Gazel Manuel, Sociology PhD student, will be leading the first Emerging Scholars Colloquium of 2018.

Filipino cuisine has been described as an “invisible cuisine” because it is underrepresented in the Canadian foodscape, despite the large Filipino population in Canada. This presentation will attempt to address this enigma by looking into the practices of Filipino cuisine entrepreneurs in two mid-sized cities: Winnipeg and Ottawa. Gazel’s central argument is that Filipino cuisine in Canada cannot be understood monolithically, that is, there is no such thing as a “true and authentic” Filipino cuisine. Rather, the production of Filipino cuisine is dependent on a number of factors such as migration histories, settlement patterns, and generational differences. In other words, how Filipino cuisine is imagined and produced will vary depending on the social and geographical contexts. With this in mind, the contingencies of making Filipino cuisine may contribute to its perceived “invisibility” in Canadian society.

In the first part of the presentation, Gazel will discuss the current context of Filipino restaurants in both cities. Winnipeg boasts the highest number of Filipinos in Canada per capita, while Ottawa has a very small Filipino population. As such, it is worth considering how these differences play out in terms of how Filipino cuisine is produced. Afterwards, Gazel will discuss the aspect of class and generational differences in the production of Filipino cuisine. First-generation Filipino cuisine entrepreneurs tend to operate restaurants that do not meet the dominant expectations of a restaurant in terms of décor, ambiance, and types of foods served. Second-generation Filipino cuisine entrepreneurs tend to own contemporary “Pan-Asian fusion” restaurants, with aestheticized décor and adherence to current culinary trends. The second part of the presentation will probe further into the “invisibility” of Filipino cuisine by discussing the key reasons cited by participants. Gazel suggest that Filipino cuisine has been overlooked by mainstream can be explained by tracing back to the Philippines’ history of colonialism, in addition to structural racism in Canadian society. By examining the cultural production of Filipino cuisine in Canada, we can better understand how a constellation of social, political, and historical factors shape the culinary and entrepreneurial practices of racialized groups.