Description:

A Seat at the Table celebrates the experiences of young Filipino tauiwi (migrants) in Aotearoa through conversations centred on food.

Food is more than what’s on the plate; it reflects generations of flavours, rituals, and communities that have gathered around a table. This project amplifies Filipino voices through story telling and cultural preservation. For migrants, food and the rituals of making it ground us in our cultural identity and community.

I individually interviewed 14 young Filipino tauiwi in Wellington and invited them all to a potluck – each person brought a Filipino dish of choice. We discussed shared experiences and the impact of the gathering we were having, especially as those who under represented in the media and spaces we enter.

A Seat at the Table explores what Filipino expression could look like in a contemporary design space. The bright uncoated linen cover evokes the warm climate and vibrant flora of the motherland. Designed to be saturated and catch one's eye. The display typeface is by a Manila-based designer (Jacob Banog), inspired by sampalok or tamarind, a staple ingredient in Filipino food. The colours were derived from Philippine mangoes and staple banana leaves. Found in the endpaper, the tablecloth sourced for the potluck had these colours as well. All photographs were taken on film, with flash, evoking nostalgia similar to old family albums. Filipino (Tagalog) words are not italicised; glyphs at the bottom of pages offer translations as secondary information – further emphasising that this is for Filipinos and our language.

This book allowed all contributors and myself to take up space as we are and hopefully urge readers too. It highlights multifaceted aspects within Filipino communities in a society that constantly frames Asians as homogeneous. It has brought me closer to my Filipino community in Wellington and furthermore, explores what it means for us to be tauiwi here in Aotearoa – how can we preserve and cultivate our culture on the whenua (land) we are on? A Seat at the Table is testament that through a shared meal is always a good start.

Take a seat and kain na tayo (let’s eat).