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Auntie Ning’s will serve its signature dishes, including lechon kawali (deep-fried pork belly), at the first Filipino American History Month Celebration, Oct. 28 at Main Line Brewery. (Photo courtesy Auntie Ning’s)
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Ato’s Sisig Grill will be among the Filipino food purveyors at the festival. (Photo by Claudine Reyes)
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(From left) Kasama Collective founders Aubriel Rivera and Roxanne Atienza (Photo by Phuong Tran)
During the initial year of operating his food truck, Auntie Ning’s, co-owner Fred Enriquez handed out free samples of lumpia to every customer. “Nobody knew Filipino food,” he says of those early days.
But since then, diners’ standing orders have evolved from the approachable spring rolls to sour, savory sinigang stew and lechon kawali (fried pork belly), dishes he grew up watching his grandmother make, requiring patience and skill to prepare.
“I’m in year five now, and I’m pretty proud to say most people [who come to Auntie Ning’s] know of Filipino food or have at least tasted it,” he says.
It was the lack of Filipino representation in Richmond that moved Enriquez, originally from Virginia Beach, to lean into his heritage. That same impetus led first-generation Filipino Americans Roxanne Atienza and Aubriel Rivera to found Kasama Collective. Making its debut in March, the local group aims to amplify the voices and cultures of those of Asian American and Pacific Island descent through events ranging from last month’s Mid-Autumn Festival to an anniversary party for Filipino food truck Ato’s Sisig & Grill.
On Saturday, Oct, 28, Kasama Collective, in partnership with the Filipino American Association of Central Virginia, will present one of its largest events to date: the Filipino American History Month Celebration. Held at Main Line Brewery from noon to 5 p.m., the gathering will feature around 30 vendors from food trucks to local makers, along with a little karaoke.
“We really wanted to create something special of our communities and something Richmond had never seen before, which is a big, unapologetic display of culture and tradition and celebration,” Atienza says. “And it’s not a Filipino party without karaoke.”
In their early 30s, both Atienza and Rivera grew up in Virginia Beach and had been acquainted as members of the same youth symphony orchestra. The pair reconnected years later after both landed in Richmond. Soon after, they realized they had been experiencing a similar homesickness and longing for their culture.
Reflecting on college and the years following, Rivera says, “I was kind of disconnected from the Asian experience. I didn’t realize how much of an impact my culture had on me growing up because it was so accessible. I was in that pocket of being with family and friends, and then not being around it, you realize how big of an impact culture is to your growing up.”
Atienza adds, “There’s something to be said about being a first-generation Asian American. When you’re growing up as a teenager, your priorities are different, you kind of want to assimilate,” she says. “I was kind of like, ‘I want to fit more in with my classmates rather than identify with my culture.’”
Both founders can recall small moments that gave them pause: seeing friends using a dishwasher, wearing shoes around the house or even speaking to their parents in a certain way. “Culture shocks like that, I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t think I identify with that culture,’ and then things like that make you realize, ‘Oh, I need to be back with the culture, I need to be back home,’” Atienza says.
That self-reflection and a desire not only to reconnect with their heritage, but also to strengthen it, keeps the spirit of Kasama Collective alive. The foundation in which the group was formed has led its founders back to their roots and connected them to each other and the local community.
Rivera says, “There are a lot of Filipino organizations that we grew up with, and we just didn’t see much representation of that or the Asian American community as a whole in Richmond and wanted to do something to that effect, but in a cool, fun and innovative way.”
After announcing the upcoming festival months ago, Kasama Collective says that they’ve received an influx of messages from enthusiastic businesses and vendors who wanted to be a part of the celebration. One was Auntie Ning’s.
Currently operating out of Chef Suite, a Broad Street ghost kitchen, Auntie Ning’s will offer its signature items at the festival. Additionally, one of its employees, AJ Adan, will be serving treats such as ube sundaes, cheesecake and cookies through her dessert pop-up, Matamis, which translates to “sweet” in Tagalog, one of the major languages spoken in the Philippines.
Also on the lineup is Ato’s Sisig & Grill, a food truck founded by chef-owner Genteel Vergara, which will serve crispy chicken skin, kwek-kwek (fried quail eggs), tofu-mushroom and pork belly sisig (a savory dish with minced pork), and a specialty dish to be announced.
Typically parked at Pho So 1 on Broad Street, woman-owned food truck Tambayan Grill, which launched in 2022, will be slinging grilled-to-order Filipino-style street food, including barbecued skewers of tenga (pig ears), isaw (pork intestine) and leeg (chicken neck) along with authentic beef caldereta (beef stew) and their special lumpia.
Other food vendors include SSG Panoy Kitchen, a four-wheeled venture from the owners of EJ’s Filipino Store in Hopewell; D Grace Cafe, a popular Williamsburg-based bakery specializing in ensaymada, a pillowy pastry typically topped with buttercream and cheese; and Kape Lola, a traveling cafe that sources coffee beans from Filipino farmers.
Atienza says Kasama Collective is happy to support and promote the events of established local organizations such as the Asian American Society of Central Virginia, the Central Virginia chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans and FAACV, but its goal is also “to focus on how we are today, the modern Asian American, how we walk through life and what are the things we can celebrate,” she says. “It’s wonderful that we get to celebrate culture and tradition in a time capsule of now and do it as frequently as we’re able to. The magic of a Kasama Collective event is that everyone is so excited to be there and experience the things we’re offering because it hasn’t been experienced before.”
The Filipino American History Month Celebration takes place Saturday, Oct. 28, from noon to 5 p.m. at Main Line Brewery. Admission is free with food and drink available for purchase.
