Edible History: How Istorya’s Isang Kusina Traced 400 Years of the Filipino-American Journey

 

Mama Sita’s Cecilia Pacheco Morais highlights the importance of Filipino cuisine at Isang Kusina. (photo: Enrique Malfavon)

Food has always been the vessel through which immigrants preserve their past and, to close out Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, Istorya LV, along with title sponsor Mama Sita’s, presented Isang Kusina 2026 at the Keep Memory Alive Event Center, a pop-up restaurant in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, USA last May 22, 2026.  

This profound cultural event mapped more than four centuries of Filipino- American history, highlighting the Filipino-American diaspora, culture and community, onto an eight-course tasting menu with live storytelling and live performances. 

Each dish served as an edible monument to the migrant workers, pioneers, and families who shaped the American landscape. 

“Filipino cuisine is more than food: it is memory, family, history, and home,” noted special guest speaker Ms. Cecilia Pacheco Morais, granddaughter of the legendary culinary icon Teresita “Mama Sita” Reyes.

Alaskero Salmon by Ms. Rachel Carrillo Barril. (photo: Enrique Malfavon).

The historical storytelling was palpable throughout the night. Chef Rachel Carrillo Barril (chef de cuisine at In Bocca Al Lupo, an Italian restaurant in Juneau, Alaska) presented a moving tribute to the “Alaskeros,” the Filipino immigrants who labored in Alaska’s historic salmon canneries. 

Her course of cured, smoked sockeye salmon with bull kelp atchara, using malunggay flakes and Mama Sita’s all-natural vinegars, was served directly inside a tin can, utilizing Sky Flakes crackers to evoke the resilience of those early laborers. 

Meanwhile, Milkfish Nola (a Creole cuisine restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) owner Chef Cristina Quackenbush’s Lakbay Gumbo paid homage to St. Malo and Manila Village, the mid-18th century Louisiana settlements widely recognized as the first Filipino communities in the United States.

Live performance by Ruby Ibarra, NPR Tiny Desk Winner. (photo: Enrique Malfavon)

Enhanced by live performances from Ms. Ruby Ibarra (NPR Tiny Desk winner), Ms. Jessica Manalo (Filipino-American contestant on Season 27 of NBC's The Voice) and singer/song writer Mr. Robin Nievera (eldest son of singers Martin Nievera and Pops Fernandez), the evening transcended the typical gala. It allowed attendees to quite literally taste the endurance, adaptation, and triumph of the Filipino-American diaspora.

To know more about Istorya, visit their website at www.istoryalv.com. To know more about Mama Sita’s, visit the website at www.mamasitas.com/us/ or Instagram at @mamasitasusa.