Aileen Suzara, Sariwa
Sunday, October 29, 2017, 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
Join us at CUESA’s Jack London Square Farmers Market in Oakland for a Market to Table Cooking Demonstration with Aileen Suzara of Sariwa (“Fresh” in Filipino) featuring the seasonal bounty of the Jack London Square Farmers Market.
October is Filipino American History Month and CUESA is proud to support the established and emerging community of Filipino American chefs, foodmakers, and farms. In October, CUESA’s Market To Table program spotlights Filipino American culinary talent who are part of the Bay Area’s new monthly creative night market “Undiscovered,” held every third Friday at the iconic Old Mint, which is located within the borders of Soma Pilipinas, San Francisco’s Filipino cultural district.
Aileen Suzara’s path in food began in childhood, when she fell in love with cooking, growing food, and retracing her family’s migration stories through recipes. Her roots span chili-spiced Bicol and salty Pangasinan in the Philippines, to growing up with the mixed plate flavors of the Big Island. Aileen is a passionate food educator and advocate who loves sharing food with students of all ages – whether cooking in community gardens, at colleges including De Anza College, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and University of Hawai’i, with organizations including Oakland Asian Cultural Center and 18Reasons, with Kaiser’s health education programs, or youth at Sama Sama Cooperative, exploring the deep, delicious connections of culture and agriculture. Trained as a natural chef, her love of food is rooted in the soil and includes apprenticeships in organic farming at the CASFS Farm and Garden program.
Aileen launched Sariwa to share vibrant, seasonal Filipino foods, reimagining island food traditions with California ingredients. A member of La Cocina’s incubator kitchen, Sariwa offers catering, popup community meals, and special events with the community. When not cooking, she writes on food and land at Kitchen Kwento and Hella Pinay.
All demos take place at the CUESA Classroom (in the Palm Plaza at Embarcadero West and Webster Street, adjacent to the Info Booth) and are free and open to the public, with samples and recipes for all.