Filipinos in Hawaii - 100 Years and Beyond

Kauai Filipino Centennial Celebration

This is the first time that I've been able to attend a grand event celebrating the filipinos that immigrated to Hawaii when sugarcane was KING and laborors were in high demand. Filipinos were the last of the ethnic groups to arrive on the islands (Chinese being the first), and with them came their customs, traditions, and of course food! The weather was gorgeous during the whole event, here's just a few photos taken yesterday.

Parade and dancing in the streets... probably where I got my "party girl" roots.

Some kind of dancer, fire perhaps? I believe that's a bamboo stick in his hands.

Lechon: roasted suckling pig. A long queue of customers, jokingly dubbed "The Lechon Line", waited patiently in the hot sun for this pig to be cut into pieces and served with white rice, pancit, and pinakbet. All for 6 bucks, it was the best deal at the food booths.

Filipino sweets and fresh fruit: clockwise beginning from top left.
Mountain apples (very juicy, the flavor reminds me of a cross between a pear and apple), suman (sweet glutinous rice, brown sugar, and coconut milk), cascaron (sweet rice flour, grated coconut, brown sugar), and lastly patupat ibanag (sweet glutinous rice, salt, and coconut milk) wrapped and cooked in banana leaves.

One of the filipina dancers, who was more than happy to oblige striking a pose for me.

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Saved comment(s)

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Filipino food is one of my faves tho it was always hard to look at the whole pig. In pieces, that's ok!
ptinfrance | Homepage | 05.08.06 - 10:40 am

I noticed that next to the lechon was a bottle of banana ketchup, I love that stuff. When I was a kid, we used to have special ethnic days at school. I like the Filipino stick dances and esp. the food. I would give anything for a plate of caldareta or pancit right about now. Great photos!
gia | Homepage | 05.08.06 - 10:19 am

What a cool celebration! and all that great food too. I love cascaron and mountain apple. When we were growing up, we used to go to a Filipino family's house for birthday celebrations and they would roast a pig too. The skin is so crispy and tasty. Great post!
Kat | Homepage | 05.08.06 - 8:17 am