Kamayan Filipino Cuisine began as a way for cousins to work together during their time off in the summer, and after 2 years doing summer food festivals, Kamayan is looking forward to take the next step in the food service. The family business has always been food, and they represent a collection of knowledge and recipes passed down to this current generation where their dishes combine a fusion of cultures designed to make traditional Filipino food more appealing to a diverse city like Toronto.
KAMAYAN will be serving up Ube Chocolate Chip Cookies for KULTURA 2013. Sugar is considered as everyone’s weakness; their tempting dessert is something you don’t want to miss out on!
Interview by: Manuel Luis Veneracion
You've managed two years doing the summer festival circuit, what's the next step for you guys?
Kamayan originally started out as our summer job, doing pop-up events. With all of the increased interest and love we've been shown the past two years, our future entails expanding our clientele and attending more events to gain more experience and move closer to our goal of owning a successful storefront.
In a couple of sentences, how would you describe your brand of Filipino food.
Our brand of Filipino food is based on very traditional recipes but with a youthful twist. Instead of eating our Filipino foods with the traditional side of rice we spice it up with combining it with delicious Filipino breads and toppings.
Try to describe the tradition of food in your family. Where does the tradition originate?
Just like in every traditional filipino family, good food is very important staple in our family. The tradition originates in our grandparents kitchen in Pampanga. When they migrated to Toronto they fine tuned their recipes and our families eventually opened up restaurants throughout the city. We grew up loving our mothers cooking and the kitchen was not only a place we ate great food, but a place where we would hang out, do our homework and get schooled on life and learn about love, respect, honour and our Filipino heritage. Our mom has received endless compliments from other Filipinos and even other chefs over the years, which sparked us to expand and transform our mothers recipes and restaurant Marcelinas into our new business Kamayan