How to cook Filipino kinilaw na labanos

Hi, my name is Keaun Michael Brown, and I’m the author and curator of “Sueñitos de Strangers,” a community cookbook that also collects people’s stories.

I collect these recipes for Mirror Indy, too. I reach out to neighbor friends, ask them to tell me about their life dreams and about their favorite foods. I call these conversations and recipes “sueñitos.”

This next one is with Mark Santiago, 24. I met him at a Filipino student association event three years ago. At the time, he was studying to be a pharmacist, but he let me know that his true dream was to one day open a restaurant.

Recently, we reconnected and I asked him to tell me how fighting for his sueñito has gone over the years. I wanted to know about the emotions that sat layered in the walls of his dream. I wanted to know about the passion that lit behind his eyes all those years ago. I wanted to know the memories that filled his heart with a cause worth fighting for.

This is his story.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Tell me about your sueñito.

My dream is to open a Filipino restaurant here in Indianapolis. The more mainstream the Filipino culture has become, the more it’s calling for me to open a restaurant and share the culture.

You may know other vendors: Kuya Mike (Michael Williams) makes Salamat Cookies; Taste of Manila shows their culture in their own way. But the thing is, neither of them has their own brick and mortar.

I want to break through that barrier. I want to have a physical space where I can not only further push the agenda on Filipino culture, but also have a space where I celebrate these other vendors, too, you know?

You said Kuya Mike. What does Kuya mean?

In my own interpretation, it’s like an older-brother-respect title. If you see someone older than you in the street, you call them kuya. It’s kind of like saying “Mr.,” but with a bit more love behind it. Like anywhere in the street, it’s like, “Hey kuya, hey appa.”

Have you been to the Philippines?

Oh, yeah, many times. My dad works for Delta in baggage, so he often gets super-cheap flights. Honestly, going as much as I did really helped me come closer to that identity.

Where in the Philippines are your parents from?

Makati City — it’s really close to the capital. Think like Indianapolis to Shelbyville.

I also heard that the Philippines speaks more than just Tagalog. There’s also … Cebuano or something?

(Laughs.) Yeah, there’s so many different languages and dialects. I think the main ones are Tagalog, Cebuano, Llocanno, Bikol — there’s just so many. In Manila there’s a province called Kampanga and in that city there’s a whole other sub-dialect. My family speaks Tagalog, but mine is pretty bad.

Someone explained the term “receptive bilingualism” to me, and that feels pretty accurate. I can understand it when spoken to me, but I have no idea how to respond.

I mean, that’s still pretty cool. If someone came up to me and started speaking Tagalog I’d put on a smile of confusion while my eyes stared in terror. But you could actually understand and follow along. That’s pretty awesome, man. What’s your favorite memory of the Philippines?

Man, there’s so many! I think about the boodle fight I had with this one four-star general.

Boodle what?

Boodle fight! It’s this Filipino tradition where there’s a big banana leaf laid out and everyone’s either sitting down or standing up and eating off of the same banana leaf.

It’s really beautiful because in that moment, everyone is equal. My grandfather was really high ranking in the Filipino military so he was brought back for this big event to speak. After they had this boodle fight, and here I was — this random civilian — eating lunch on an equal level with this insanely high-ranking four-star general. We made jokes, laughed together and ate together. It was a truly communal experience. On the leaf, everyone is equal, there is no hierarchy.

How do you feel like your restaurant would contribute to the spread of Filipino culture?

Funny enough, you’re the one who told me that food is the easiest way to connect with people through culture and identity. To me, food is like the No. 1 way to showcase our culture and connect with people to it.

What does it mean to be Filipino?

It means to be proud. I don’t know if you see the memes about being Filipino but if you go to literally any video, reel or post that even remotely mentions the Philippines and go to the comment section, all you see is comments going “AYYYYY, Philippines mentioned!!!” and flag emojis. It’s just such a strong emphasis of pride. Of being proud of who we are, authentically and completely — without watering it down.

I want my restaurant to be so aggressively Filipino that you walk in and just cannot do anything else but just accept how Filipino we are. I want it to be overly loud, with motifs of Filipino culture everywhere. Like how my parents grew up.

So, what’s your favorite dish?

Kinilaw na labanos. It’s this white radish ceviche, and each ingredient comes with its own background, but they all still come together to tell this beautiful story.

And what does that beautiful story mean to you?

I think it’s that point of no return for me. When my aunt introduced me to the dish it was like, “Oh yea. I’m Filipino, not anything else. This is who I am and this is who I was always supposed to be.”

It’s funny, I have some Filipino family members and I’ve engaged with this culture a fair bit. Yet this conversation has taught me so much about the Philippines, now I must go myself. Inshallah you’ll see me there next year, or I’ll hide in your luggage. Either/or.

Bet (laughs).

Kinilaw na labanos

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Keaun Michael Brown is a Mirror Indy freelance contributor. You can reach him at br******@**.edu.

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