TFC host Chamiande’s first kamayan night
The selection of food that was present at kamayan night.
November 22, 2016
Last Friday night The Filipino Club (TFC) hosted Chaminade’s first ever Kamayan night. The members and their guest had the chance to experience a true Filipino feast.The English translation of kamayan means, “hand to mouth.” So staying true to the Filipino culture everyone ate with their hands.
The President of TFC Jenny Rose Anacan wanted to host an event open to both the club members and the Chaminade community to help others experience and learn more about the Filipino culture. Part of the mission of The Filipino Club is to promote the culture of the Philippines through gatherings and food.
“As president, I wanted to make sure that there was at least one event that the club hosts a month for not only club members but those of the Chaminade community, whether they were students, faculty, or staff,” said Anacan. “Through food we knew that a group can come together to become a family. With that being said the executive board and I thought about Kamayan Night to promote both the mission and purpose of the club. We subtitled the event “A Hand-To-Mouth Filipino Thanksgiving Feast”.”
Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner the Filipino Club decided to make Kamayan night free to those who attended, but we were asked to bring toiletries as donations. Those items will be donated to the Next Step Homeless Shelter during Campus Ministry’s Christmas Off Campus event on Dec. 2.
“We decided to host Kamayan Night in November because we knew that Thanksgiving would be right around the corner,” said Anacan. “Kamayan Night was a free event so the executive board thought that asking for toiletry donations that we received would be used for gift baskets for the residences of the Next Step Homeless Shelter. Having the Event around Thanksgiving not only allowed people to think about what they are thankful for but also to remember that there are people outside of our campus community who have less than we do or having it harder than we do.”
In addition to helping out the less fortunate this event gave those in attendance a chance to really dig down and experience the Filipino culture first hand. It gave those who are of Filipino decent a chance to eat with their hand and really dig deeper into their roots. But for those who weren’t of Filipino decent to get a real taste of the culture.
The menu for the night consisted of garlic fried rice, lechin kawali (roast pork with onions and tomatoes in a special sauce), chicken adobo, pancit, and pinakbet (vegetable stew) from Thelma’s Restaurant located in Waipahu. In addition there was also shanghai lumpia and bbq pork form Golden Coin. For dessert there was cascaron (deep fried mocha balls), puto and kutchinta (two different types of rice cake) and buko pandan (a milky coconut and a jelly type dessert).
“Kamayan Night was a way for everyone to eat in a traditional way in the Philippines,” said Anacan. Kamay in Filipino means hands so the concept of Kamayan is to eat with your hands, no use of utensils and plates, which is also how we got “A Hand-To-Mouth Filipino Thanksgiving Feast.”
Overall this event was very successful and gave the community of Chaminade a great opportunity to experience the Filipino culture first hand. Looking towards the future The Filipino Club hopes to make Kamayan night an annual event.
