Istorya’s Isang Kusina Traces 400 Years of the Filipino-American Journey

 

Mama Sita’s Cecilia Pacheco Morais highlights the importance
of Filipino cuisine at Isang Kusina 

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, in America's most popular city, Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Held last May, Isang Kusina is a profound cultural event that mapped more than four centuries of Filipino- American history onto an eight-course tasting menu. 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 Cecilia Pacheco Morais, granddaughter of the legendary culinary icon Teresita “Mama Sita” Reyes.

Alaskero Salmon by Rachel Carrillo Barril

The historical storytelling was palpable throughout the night. Chef Rachel Carrillo Barril (In Bocca Al Lupo, 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, 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

Enhanced by live performances from NPR Tiny Desk winner Ruby Ibarra, Jessica Manalo, and Robin Nievera, the evening transcended the typical gala. It allowed attendees to quite literally taste the endurance, adaptation, and triumph of the Filipino-American diaspora.

Indeed, food has always been the vessel through which immigrants preserve their past and continue the edible story in many years and generations to come. 

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

All photos by Enrique Malfavon