Meet Chef Yana Gilbuena

October 08, 2021, Christy Innouvong

We are delighted to introduce the Filipina founder of SALO Series and a Nomadic Filipinx Chef, Chef Yana Gilbuena! We are given the opportunity to chat with her and learn how to cook the famous bibingka from the Philippines! Don't miss it on our IG Live.

About Chef Yana

Yana Gilbuena, a Philippine-born, critically acclaimed ancestrally-taught chef, started SALO Series as a way to educate folks about the history, culture and rich heritage embedded in Filipino cuisine. Her work centers on the decolonization/redigenization through food. Her pop-up, the Salo Series, seeks to celebrate the beautiful pre-colonial tradition of eating with one's hands, called Kamayan, and disrupt the western constructs of dining.

Her pioneering odyssey of bringing Filipino cuisine and Kamayan to all 50 states in 50 weeks back in 2014, influenced the trajectory of the popularity and awareness of the Filipino Food Movement and inspired her to take this concept globally by extending her tour to Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and her home country, the Philippines.

She is a 2017 Stone Barns Exchange Fellow, a 2021 Real Food Real Stories Facilitator Fellow, a 2021 Mae Writing Fellow and has also been featured in major publications such as The New York Times, SF Chronicle and National Geographic and more. She's been published in The Cherry Bombe Cookbook, Feed the Resistance and has self-published her own: No Forks Given in March 2019. This global Filipinx food evangelist aims to further her mission and host a Salo on every continent (and resume this quest once we've all been vaccinated for COVID 19).

Follow her adventures:
FB: @saloseries
IG: @saloseries
Twitter: @saloseries

What inspired you to become a chef / food biz owner?

I didn’t seek out to become a chef and a biz owner. It really started out as a side hustle for me but really I found my passion. And it was inspired by the need for representation and the quest to dispel the notions that Filipino food was just adobo, pancit, and lumpia. I really just wanted to share the taste of home and show that Filipino food is as diverse as the 7,615 islands that it is from.

Using the pop-up dining scene as a platform, I was able to create a unique dining experience for folks by introducing them to the art of kamayan dining. I wanted to push the boundaries and disrupt the constructs of what (western) dining is: if there are no plates, no utensils, is it still dining? Are we savages for having a direct and sensual relationship with our food?

Through kamayan, I was decolonizing not just the food/cuisine, but the mindset. Celebrating our heritage, who we are, is an act of rebellion and dissent against the trappings of colonialism and white supremacy. Even the smallest gesture of not using the colonizers’ imposed utensils, slowly breaks down their hold on us.

Why did you want to highlight the food you are creating?

It’s a mash-up of ancestral recipes: sinigang and kilaw, with a splash of hawaii, the last state I did my pop-up in my 50-state, 50 weeks tour. I wanted to highlight how ancestral Filipino dishes are diverse, vibrant and are the foundations of Filipino cuisine.

What is your favorite dish? Is there a story behind it?

My fave dish is chicken inasal. I’m from Bacolod City and Iloilo City, the two neighboring islands in Western Visayas that specialize in this ancestral dish.

What does courage mean to you?

Courage is having the grit to pursue your passion/dream even when you’re your only cheerleader and the road is uncharted and lonely. Courage is listening to your inner voice, your gut, your intuition. Courage is trusting yourself and the universe.

Where can we expect to see you in the next few years?

Launching a filipinx heritage food line featuring pili nuts and indigenous Filipino ingredients while living in Vermont, running an aquaponic/hydroponic farm with goats, sheep, ducks and quails with my husband and hosting farm dinners :)

Thank you so much Yana for sharing her story with us! Tuk Tuk Box is proud to exclusively feature Southeast Asian ingredients and include refugee, migrant, and generational stories in every box.

If you or someone you know wants to share their story with us, send us an email: hello@tuktukbox.com. Stay tuned for future stories and the newest products by subscribing to our mailing list.

Back to Southeast Asian Storyboard

Older Post

Newer Post