Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month 🎉
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Season 2: Episode 114 Description
Ten News Gets Extra: 🎉 May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and we're here to break it down with Ten'er, Scarlet. 🍣 There are so many foods we consider ‘Asian’ dishes in America that aren't actually traditional Asian meals at all, but instead are something uniquely Asian American. 🥠 Let's find out what some of them are! ✔️ Fun Fact Check: Do you know why AAPI Heritage month is in May? And, test your state knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
Jennifer 8. Lee: Who was General Tso? and other mysteries of - YouTube
Why the California Roll Doesn't Exist in Japan - Umami Insider (umami-insider.com)
Filipino-American Food Is More Than Just Food From the Philippines (spoonuniversity.com)
Asian Restaurants You Need To Try In Every State (mashed.com)
Asian-American Cuisine’s Rise, and Triumph - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
5 Facts About Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (mentalfloss.com)
Hawaii Population 2022 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs) (worldpopulationreview.com)
Links
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TRANSCRIPT:
Ryan Willard 0:03
Come on, come on, come on, pick up, pick up. Hello, Scarlett. It's your cousin, Ryan.
Ten'er 0:10
Hi, Ryan, how are you?
Ryan Willard 0:12
I'm good. Thanks. But also, I'm freaking out. It's AAPI Heritage Month here in the US. And it's where we recognize the contributions and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. And I haven't booked someone to do a kid takeover for the AAPI episode yet.
Ten'er 0:31
Oh, wow. Wait, are you asking me to do a kid takeover for the Ten News?
Ryan Willard 0:37
Maybe? Would you do it?
Ten'er 0:40
Of course, but only if you get me nine chocolate cupcakes, three Hello. hellos, and sing my two favorite songs from one or the next time I see you.
Ryan Willard 0:48
Fine. It's a deal. What can I say? Except you're welcome.
Ten'er 0:53
Yay. And I'm Scarlett. It's Saturday, May 14th. And this is no ordinary episode of the Ten News. This is the Ten News Gets Extra.
Various Voices 1:04
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Ten'er 1:10
Great, do you know what Halo-Halo is? It's one of my favorite Filipino desserts. Ryan Willard sat down with Filipino American author, chef, and entrepreneur Nicole Ponseca to learn how to make Halo-Halo.
Ryan Willard 1:28
What's up, Ten'ers? Ryan Willard here. I am thrilled to do this segment because we have the person that I call the Indiana Jones of Filipino food. Please tell us who you are, where you're from, and what is it that you do.
Nicole Ponseco 1:41
My name is Nicole Ponseca and my family's from the Philippines. My mother is from Binan and my dad is from Kavita. But, I was born in a city called Philadelphia. I was raised in San Diego and then I moved to New York. What do I do? I love to research and document and share Filipino food and Filipino culture.
Ryan Willard 2:10
So our audience, our Ten'ers, I don't know how much Filipino food they've had. But this is our heritage month. I was wondering, if could you help us make an amazing Filipino dessert that anyone might be able to make.
Nicole Ponseco 2:23
I would love to share this dessert, it's so easy to make. It's called Halo-Halo. And if you read it, it looks like Hello Hello and it is having in a bowl let me tell you it is shaved ice with sweet milk and candied fruits and ice cream and if you're if you get a really special Halo-Halo, and has a little bit of dessert called flan or letter flan, which we share with some of our Spanish pre-Mozart cousins. And you mix it all together because hello hello means mix. And it becomes this like ice-cold cereal milk. You know when you eat like fruit loops or Captain Crunch or any of these cereals and the milk get sweet? It's like that with like so much more to it. It's so good.
Ryan Willard 3:15
How does Halo-Halo fit into Filipino culture?
Nicole Ponseco 3:18
Well, that's such a good question. In Philippine culture, you can find a Halo-Halo in street vendors at street vendors in markets, and you can find it in restaurants. But if you dig a little deeper, and we look at its origin, we will find that its origin comes from our Japanese roots. And we have so many different influences in our culture.
Ryan Willard 3:41
It feels like Halo-Halo having so many ingredients is almost an analogy for Filipino culture.
Nicole Ponseco 3:48
Halo-Halo is the best example of what it is to be Filipino. It's a mix of all these different ingredients or all these different cultures. If you pull it apart, it's distinct onto its own. And when you mix it, it is also distinct on its own. It's, it's the perfect example of what it is to be Filipino.
Ryan Willard 4:08
So, Nicole, can we make some Halo-Halo? I really want to try this right now.
Nicole Ponseco 4:13
I would love to. Okay, the first thing is to get all of our ingredients ready. First, you need crushed ice. You need condensed milk, you need some sort of ice cream, sorbet preferably. And then we're gonna get into some of the mandatory more of the mandatories it would be great if you had Macapuno strings. Not that the cocoa corn or if you don't have corn or sweet corn, garbanzo beans, and then jackfruit and so I listed all those ingredients and you want to make sure that it's right in front of you. And also because we're dealing with ice it could melt right so you want everything in front of you. So I'd love if you could get a tall glass like something you would put a milkshake in or a really good bowl, something that you might put ice cream or like an ice cream sundae. So we're gonna layer it's almost like a parfait or think of it like building a lasagna, you're gonna keep layering all the ingredients on top of each other. And they can be already mixed that doesn't have to be pretty, just put them all at the bottom and you want to put like, you know, what, like a teaspoon or a tablespoon, like a little small scoop. Okay, now the next thing is, we're gonna get our OB jam that comes in a jar. And then we're going to take the back of a spoon, and we're going to swipe the jamb all around the inside of that class, then it's time for our crushed ice. So let's go ahead and put the crushed ice into the glass. And then the next thing is we're going to put the milk. And typically we like condensed or evaporated milk. It's sweet, it's thick, it's creamy. So that's typically what we use. And you have to imagine, back in the old days, when they were making this dessert, maybe they didn't have access to fresh milk. So canned milk and condensed milk were probably easily available and didn't spoil. So let's add some milk. And then the last thing is, let's put a scoop of ice cream. And then we're gonna take a square of Flon. And then I love the meat, which is crushed and toasted rice. So but if you can't find that, you can just use Rice Krispies. And that's that Ryan, this is Halo-Halo.
Ryan Willard 6:56
Oh my gosh. And then so like, how do we eat it? That's what I want to know. Because there's ice cream on top, there's food on the bottom.
Nicole Ponseco 7:03
What do you do you if you're eating it out of a tall glass, how do you want to get a really long spoon, you're going to dive headfirst with your spoon, and you're going to pull everything up and you're going to keep mixing everything together. That's the fun way to do it. And that's how most people eat it. I'm a Virgo. I like things organized. So sometimes I don't mix it up and I like to drink the milk. I like to eat ice cream. But it's fun. We get to mix everything up. And it's like having the best cereal milk of your life. Everything gets mixed and you have bites of ice crushed ice and ice-cold milk. And the milk turns purple from the obey. It's just like a treasure. Really, you're on a treasure hunt of different flavors with every bite.
Ryan Willard 7:49
I love that. I love a good treasure hunt. And I want to try some myself. Oh my gosh, this is good. It's squishy but then crunchy. But then sweets. There are so many flavors happening right now. And so can you tell me what can I put in Halo-Halo If I don't have any of the normal ingredients? Is there something that I could do if I don't have the same ingredients that are the traditional Filipino ingredients though?
Nicole Ponseco 8:15
Of course, I mean, that's what the kitchen is for kitchen is you know, to a chef, what paints and brushes are to a painter. You can follow traditional recipes so you know what it's supposed to look like, or taste like. But have fun. We open up your cupboards. Why not try chocolate chips? Why not try putting in some walnuts and adding some bananas in there? Why can't you put whatever you want in your favorite cereal? Now if my Lola which is what we call grandmother's in the Philippines if she walks in, she's gonna say that's not a Halo-Halo. But you can tell her this is my version of Hello, hello, and this is what I have in the kitchen.
Ryan Willard 8:57
I love hearing that. Nicole. This is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your Hala Hala recipe and your knowledge of Filipino food. Thank you so much again for coming by the 10 news.
Ten'er 9:09
Thank you for joining us, Nicole. I can't wait to try your recipe. I don't normally just run in the kitchen. But I will definitely try the Halo-Halo he's making. Ryan, I know how much you love Filipino food. But, what about other Asian foods?
Ryan Willard 9:27
Honestly, I love them all. And here in the US. We have so many options. But I've got some things you might not know about the Asian food we eat here in the US. I'm guessing you've eaten the fortune cookie at some point, maybe with Chinese takeout or in a Chinese restaurant. But fortune cookies aren't Chinese at all. They're a Japanese invention. And though they have Japanese roots, the actual delicious cookie that we know today was invented here in the US and a lot of foods we consider Asian dishes in America are not traditional Asian meals at all, but instead are something uniquely Asian American beef with broccoli general chose chicken. These are dishes that Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants created in the United States for American tastes. Broccoli itself is native to Europe, not Asia. And these uniquely Asian American dishes happen in Japanese restaurants to have you ever had a California roll or a Philadelphia roll when you order sushi? You wouldn't find that sushi roll on a menu in Japan. But immigrant chefs in the US adapted their dishes to appeal to a broad range of people here in Louisiana. You can find sweet and sour crawfish in New York, you can buy ice cream sandwiches in Iowa you can try Chinese barbecue. Asian American food is different in every part of the US. I love it. I can't stop eating it and I won't stop eating it. And I hope you get the chance to have some two. Back to you, Scarlett.
Ten'er 10:52
Hey, Tessa, do you have any fun facts for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month?
Tessa Flannery 10:58
Hey, Scarlett! I do have a cool fact. Do you know why AAPI Heritage Month is in May? To mark the first official Japanese immigrant’s arrival in the US! A 14-year-old kid named Manjiro moved to the US in 1843 after joining an American sailing crew. BUT Filipinos sailed across the Pacific to present-day California way back in 1567! And a Filipino crew settled in Louisiana in the 1700s.
Ten'er 11:28
There have always been Asians and Pacific Islanders in the USA. That's right. Wow. That's so cool. Thank you, Tessa.
Ryan Willard 11:37
And now it's time for...
Ten'er 11:39
Trivia on the Ten. There's one US state where the majority of people are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, but which state? Is it a) California b) New York or c) Hawaii? Did you guess it? The answer is… c) Hawaii! 38% of people in Hawaii are Asian and 10% are Native Hawaiians are Pacific Islanders, which makes sense. Because it's an island in the Pacific. I've never been to Hawaii. I hope my parents take me one day. That's your show. Thank you for listening. But before we go, here's your quick note for the grown-ups.
Ryan Willard 12:38
Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is mixing Halo-Halo and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Logan Deyoung, and Tessa Flannery. And special thanks to our guest host, Scarlett. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan.
Ten'er 13:09
I am Scarlett and thanks for listening to The Ten News. I'd like to give a special shout-out to my daddy Aiden and my mommy Vicki Belo. Ryan, did you finish all of the Halo-Halo?
Ryan Willard 13:22
Yeah, my bad.
Ten'er 13:25
Well, we gotta make more now. Come on.
