What is food?
In 2020, the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance introduced “Fanggái’ase’: Conscious Living and Compassionate Eating, A Plant-based Cookbook and Guide for the Marianas” that answers this exact question.
“Fanggái’ase’” in CHamoru means to be compassionate. This guide was created with compassion and love from 15 local women chefs, teachers, artists, nutritionists, farmers, and more.
Their combined efforts produced Guåhan’s first plant-based cookbook that makes cooking simple, fun, and educational.
This 92-page cookbook promotes compassionate eating habits that are practiced with the health of our bodies and our environment in mind.
It is sectioned into six parts: Getting Started, Sides, Breakfasts, Dinners, Desserts, and Articles and Tips. Each section is crafted with the upmost care for our island and our bodies and helps readers become more conscious and responsible consumers.
“Fanggái’ase’” is complete with 50 beginner-friendly recipes focused on adapting local comfort foods using home-grown and in-season produce.
The cuisines explored include traditional CHamoru and Filipino dishes like tinaktak, kelaguen and lumpia, along with international dishes like pannang curry, pasta, and Thai peanut salad.
One of the many great things about “Fanggái’ase’,” aside from its tasty dishes, are the names of the recipes and the creativity of their ingredients.
Some of my favorites included tofu “chick’n” kelaguen, quinoa red rice, veggie chalakiles, oatscaldo, and decolonized CHamexikana CHampulado.
This week, I tried my hand at the guide’s version of Spinach, Artichoke and Pumpkin Tip Dip, which uses tofu in place of cream cheese and sour cream.
Many of the ingredients required for this dish, like garlic and seasoning, were already packed in my kitchen.
And even though I could not find pumpkin tips at the supermarket, I was able to easily substitute it with another green, like more spinach or kale. And it tasted amazing!
There’s a common misconception that plant-based diets are not sustainable or are a luxury to most. These misconceptions could not be further from the truth.
Included in this guide are various articles and tips on sustainable eating practices and plant-based nutrition, a list of restaurants with vegan meals in their menus, and seasonality charts to reference when buying produce.
Aside from local supermarkets, farmers co-ops, and our front yards, in-season produce can be found all throughout the island.
Finding them is as simple as driving over to Dededo for the weekend flea market or Ms. Rosa’s vegetable stand to find kabocha squash, eggplant, and papaya.
It is as easy as taking a scenic stroll down south to visit fruit stands in Inalåhan or parking on the side of the highway heading north where Mr. Wusstig’s truck bed is full of locally grown sweet corn.
Fanggái’ase’ ensures that readers are aware of the many different resources available to anyone who wants to transition to a compassionate diet that supports our local farmers and makes plant-based cooking not only accessible, but easy.
So, what is food?
On a biological level, food is sustenance — fuel for the daily routines of our lives.
On a more significant level, food is celebration, connection, and preservation.
It is the main attraction at a fiesta, where loved ones gather to mark a momentous occasion. It is the meal shared between two people falling in love at a restaurant.
It is what is on the dinner table when families share the high-points and challenges of their day. It is the offerings in ancient rituals, brought from our tables to our ancestors who first tilled the soils we farm on and sailed the seas we fish in.
It is what our grandmothers fed us from their loving hands into our eager mouths — a subtle yet undeniable passing of culture and love from one generation to the next.
Food is culture.
And just as “Fanggái’ase’” shows us, it is a way to practice compassion for our bodies, our loved ones, and our Earth.
