A Filipino feast would not be complete without pansit. Whether it be a birthday, christening, fiesta or any sort of celebration, there has to be pansit in the table. This long-strand food has always been known as the key to live a long life.
Since a lot of Filipinos have immigrated to Australia, the longing for this food had always been in our minds. This very longing brought a young nurse named Janine Barican-Le to start with a business plan - to cook and sell pansit.
It was not an ordinary pansit however, it was a particular pansit that is tied to her heritage and family. Growing up, Janine always would ask for her lola's special pansit malabon. To her liking she would often say to her friends "'Yung pansit ng lola ko ay mas masarap sa pansit ng lola mo."
Source: Chibog West Footscray
Janine herself is from Malabon. She was 17 years old when she first arrived in Australia. She had always been longing for food from her hometown that is why she takes it upon herself to make the first move. She was working as a nurse then, but now, she is a proud owner of her very first restaurant 'Chibog'.
Of all the Filipino food that they are serving there, pansit has always been the opener.
"It's a conversation starter. When someone asked kung taga-saan ka sa Philippines and when I say I'm from Malabon that's where you'll have Pancit Malabon and it gets the conversation going"
She worked for a total of eight years as a nurse and she said that her passion for Filipino food outweighed her medical career, and that made her decide to open up her own business.
"I really wanted Chibog to happen. Gusto ko lang talaga for me to be proud and to look back in my life na I did something that I was very happy and I was very proud of."
Source: Janine Barican-Le
Her restaurant had only been open for a year before the pandemic hit globally. It was a great challenge for her to keep her business afloat. However, COVID-19 was not the greatest challenge she is facing, she aims to promote Filipino food and uplift the Filipino culinary culture.
"Gusto namin na maexplain sa customer yung food like we'll walk them through every dish. We'll try to explain to them what bagoong is, what Kare-kare is and how to eat it. Pero dahil closed kami for dine-in hindi namin yun nagawa and it wouldn't be the same experience when you do take-aways."
What makes Filipino food unique is that our traditional dishes have been inspired by ingredients and flavours from many different cultures. Source: Chibog West Footscray
"We eat with our eyes, so for me, plating is very important. We're making sure that our food looks nice and taste nice as well."
For Janine, it is imperative that we take pride in our identity through food and we need to take ownership of them because it is who we are.
During this Filipino food month, we will have more food stories such as this. So stay tuned!
