The Philippine Independence Day was celebrated two days early on June 10 through a cultural night at the BYU–Hawaii Cafeteria where not only Filipinos gathered to enjoy a special food menu, but students from different countries enjoyed the food as well.
The menu consisted of desserts such as Maja Blanca and ube cake, and main courses such as Pinakbet Tagalog, chicken inasal and pancit palabok. Activities such as Tinikling dancing and a “balut challenge” were also set up with help from the BYUH Filipino Club.
Balut is a fertilized duck egg, according to CNN, and is a “much-loved delicacy” in the Philippines. The Filipino Club asked for students from the audience who have never tried balut and were willing to do the challenge.
Representatives from Tonga, Korea, Japan and the United States accepted the challenge. Participants were instructed to drink all of the juice inside the egg and finish it as fast as they could.
Other students were cheering for friends as the participants quickly tried to open the egg. Upon seeing what was inside the eggs, participants said they were shocked to see the duck embryo.
One of the participants, Eli Clark, a freshman from Idaho studying business management, said balut “tasted like a combo between a boiled egg and chicken noodle soup.”
The director of the Food Services, David Keala, said the purpose of different cultural events in the cafeteria is to educate people about different cultures.
“What makes the culture unique, the food they have, how they celebrate, and how they enjoy themselves are some of the things students learned,” Keala remarked.
“The Food Services work with different clubs on campus and plan for the special dining events throughout the year. Some events are arranged on specific dates in a year, such as the Chinese New Year.”
Marilou Lee, from the Philippines and the facility manager of BYUH Club Dining, was in charge of the event. Lee said the Club Dining planned to hold the event two days before the independence day of the Philippines as an early celebration.
Lee said Filipino food is special because Filipinos were never afraid to add various spices in their cooking and it made their food flavorful. “In Filipino cooking, everything is satay, garlic, onion and spices,” Lee said.
Pristine Domingo, a freshman from the Philippines studying psychology, said the food was “not as tasty because Filipinos like strong [flavors] in their food, but it was really close.” She added she enjoyed the desserts, especially the ube cake.
Families could also be seen in the cafeteria as they talked to other students. John Michael Bangal, an alumnus from the Philippines, said the reason he and his wife came was because his wife wanted to eat palabok and chicken inasal.
“That’s what I miss back in the Philippines because I don’t know how to make palabok [but] this event… made it possible for me to eat it again,” Bangal said.
Writer: Esther Insigne and Tomson Cheang