Rough Draft: Roots and Recipes Essay

As I walked through the door I smelled the aroma of garlic and onion in the air as well as the keen smell of seafood. When I put my things down and rushed to the kitchen I could see my mom dicing the pork, peeling the shrimp, chopping the squid, and boiling the eggs. I would always ask my mom, “Do you need any help?” but she would say “No I don’t want anyone to mess it up.” As my mom cooks the dish I would always watch her cook, chop, and do everything. The aroma’s mixed and the air smelled amazing, filled with crispy pork, juicy shrimp, succulent squid, and the yummy palabok noodles.

The ingredients are somewhat weird and it hardly sounds good but in the end it will. The ingredients are ground pork, shrimp, squid, garlic, onion, palabok noodles, boiled eggs, chicharon, and a packet off palabok sauce. Some of the ingredients are optional, but the time I heard my mom say squid I thought, “EW what no I’m not eating that, that’s disgusting.” But in the end it actually tasted… alright, my sister, dad, and mom liked it. Some things people just don’t like but one day I didn’t know there was squid and I just thought it was a weird noodle, but it wasn’t. My mom told me and I was surprised I finally ate this weird octopus like thing.

Some families make this recipe differently but my mom makes it like this, fry ground pork with oil until golden brown with garlic and onion, then add shrimp and squid. Add the packet of palabok sauce and follow the instructions on the packet and simmer until it becomes thickened, set aside. Cook noodles in boiling water until noodles are cooked, drain and put into a serving pan. Pour the sauce onto the noodles and garnish with the sliced eggs and crush grind pork on top. Serve with the sliced of lemon on the side.

After the second time my mom made palabok I just had to ask her, “Did grandma teach you how to cook?” and she just said, “No I had to teach myself how to cook!” She told me she had to teach herself because her mom was working and cooking all the time so they could survive in the Philippines. It was tough surviving in the Philippines but my mom worked hard and finally got to this day.

My mom told me a beautiful story, she said”At my young age, my mother brought me to one of our family’s gatherings, which was the first time I tasted palabok. I thought it was something special because with all the Filipino food that I always eat and my mom prepared, palabok is a very rare kind of food to serve in a gathering and to make at home, maybe because of the simplicity and complexity of the ingredients, including the sauce.” To me I thought this story was so amazing, I got to eat what my grandma is eating in the Philippines.

But my mom didn’t get the recipe from her mom; she got the recipe by asking a coworker how to make it. Then she tried it out on our family to see if it tasted good and it turned out amazing. This dish is special because it is a dish that our family loves because it gives every member of the family the chance to try it, most especially if only one person knows how to make it.

Now my mom makes the food for our family, when she gets the chance to. But every time she makes it my dad, sister, and I get all excited and eat it till our stomachs are full. As I eat the palabok I always thank my mom for making the food (when my mom isn’t working). I love to watch my mom cook and work her butt off, I will totally make this for my family as I get older and can work as hard as my mom over here and as hard as my grandma does in the Philippines. I will always cherish and remember this recipe because it connects with my grandma. Nothing is more satisfying than eating what your grandma/ ancestors eat.