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I knew this week would be an absolute dumpster fire when I got the urge to only take ice cold showers and turn on white noise while walking to class. Every day it was something. I’m ashamed to say this, but I will. After waiting in line for ten minutes at Starbucks only to find out that they were out of chai, I called my mother and was trying my best not to lose it.

I was pretty close to losing that battle until I spotted a little food truck out of the corner of my eye. A fun fact about me is that I eat more than your favorite linebacker. I like food, but I absolutely love good food. Little Manila has amazing food. I couldn’t get everything all at once because I had to make the treacherous journey to class so I decided to go for glory and got the pork belly tacos. Side-note: They come with lumpia too um what?! I used my Montessori preschool skills and patiently waited as someone’s sweet mother happily constructed the food equivalent of a Van Gogh. As soon as she passed the food through the window I said a quick thank you, took a picture (because I like to pretend that people actually care what I’m doing) and in true UVA fashion, ate and walked to class.

First bite I saw colors. The burst of flavor from the lumpia and the tacos was so intense I stopped in the middle of the street and had to look around to make sure I hadn’t ascended into heaven. The brown sugar bite of the pork belly and the freshness of the mango blends together so seamlessly. If you don’t know much about flavor profiles, I’ll keep it simple. To be able to taste every flavor that a dish has and not have them overpower each other is very, very difficult, especially when cooking pork belly. In order for pork belly to taste the way it’s intended to taste, it has to be cooked low and slow. If I had to guess I’d say that meat was cooked and marinated longer than the hours of sleep I’ve gotten these past few days. The lumpia was crispy, flavorful, and most importantly, everything was piping hot. As I ate my food, I thought about how if I ever do meet a nice man and decide to let him marry me, one of the things in our prenup will be, “Claire Elizabeth must be given two days out of the month to fly to Charlottesville for Little Manila’s pork belly tacos and lumpia”.

By this point you’re probably thinking to yourself, “She’s really going hard for this food. Why?” I’ll tell you why. When I tasted that food, I tasted home. Now before you ask, no I’m not Filipina, but having southern roots I know my way around some comfort food. This food reminded me of home not because of the flavors but because I could taste the love and passion that was poured into it. My brain associated this food the same way it associates my mother and grandmother’s food. I took a bite and suddenly I was in my grandmother’s kitchen watching my mother make red velvet cakes for the barbeque shack and church banquets down the country roads of Alabama. Thanks to Little Manila, for the first time since I’ve been here, I’ve felt at home. Take care and support local businesses.

Love,

Claire

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