Kare Kare & Conversation: Sharing Filipinx Food and Culture in Detroit

Tickets are sliding scale - all proceeds will go towards paying caterers, panelists, and covering costs for future dinners!

In Tagalog, baon (“ba-ohn”) refers to food, money, or any provisions one might take to school, work, or on a journey. Within the FilipinX community, baon can refer to the packages of food sent home with guests - typically wrapped in foil - after a gathering or party. Learn more here: https://www.instagram.com/baon.detroit/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

Join us at MSU Extension Wayne County Office at Focus Hope (1360 Oakman Blvd, Detroit) for a conversation on FilipinX food and culture, and how we can all connect with our cultural identity through food. We'll enjoy a dinner prepared by our friends at Ba-On and a conversation with our esteemed panelists.

For dinner we will be serving a vegan kare kare - a peanut-butter based curry with vegetables, served with steamed rice - and Biko, a baked coconut sweet rice dessert. We will also have some bagoong, a salted shrimp stir fry, as well as a special BaOn-original vegan version of this Filipino umami staple. PLEASE NOTE THIS MEAL IS PEANUT-BASED.

PANELISTS:

Danielle Daguio - As the Development & Engagement Coordinator, you can lean on Danielle to be behind the latest fundraising campaign, sharpening skills in data management, beautifying outreach efforts, helping out on harvest days at KGD Farm. She brings over a decade of experience producing multimedia for nonprofits in Detroit and NYC. She’s also a proud member of the Garden Resource Program, a participant in the Sweet on Detroit Beekeeping Program and Club, and lead co-conspirator of the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund. She maintains a humble garden and beehives on Detroit’s Eastside alongside her husband and adorable pup. You could also find her around town playing in the neighborhood soccer league, or breaking pandesal with the Detroit Filpino Supper Club. Danielle graduated with her BA and MA in Public Communications from Fordham University.

Lily Mendoza - S. Lily Mendoza is a Philippine-born Kapampangan currently residing in Waawiyatanong (aka Detroit) with her partner, Jim Perkinson. She is passionate about recovering the land-taught wisdom traditions of her people and reconnecting with her own indigenous soul. Along with being a member of the Detroit Filipino Supper Club, she is also a Professor of Culture and Communication at Oakland University and the current Director of the Center for Babaylan Studies (CfBS), a movement for decolonization and indigenization among diasporic Filipinos.

Phil Rivera - Born in the Philippines and immigrated to the US at age two, Phil Rivera was raised in the Metro Detroit suburbs and now lives in Detroit with his husband, Todd. A graduate of Oakland and Wayne State Universities, Phil works in volunteer administration at the Detroit Institute of Arts, where he enjoys the opportunity to serve museum volunteers and visitors in finding personal meaning in art. As a member of the Detroit Filipino Supper Club, Phil finds joy in connecting with family, friends, and community through the art of cooking.

Dinner guests can also choose to purchase a Ba-On box as an add-on to their ticket. This box will contain key ingredients for folks to enjoy the meal they have at the event, but at home for 4 others. It will include: vegan bagoong (this is a condiment typically made of fermented shrimp or fish, but we've recreated it with vegan ingredients), biko (the sweet rice dessert we're making), kare kare recipe, annatto powder, rice flour, and peanuts.

Reserve your ticket using the link above! If cost poses a barrier to entry, email/call Stathis Pauls - paulssta@msu.edu / 586-744-1888 - for sliding scale payment options.