General Information about Item:
- Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, superstition
- Language: English Country of Origin: Philippines
- Informant: E.R.
- Date Collected: November 12, 2020
Informant Data:
- E.R. is a Filipino American that immigrated to the United States when she was 10 years old in 2012. She is from Nueva Ecija in the Philippines and lived in Manila with her mom before she moved. This dish is something she loved eating during Christmas time, as her mom made it for her, along with her siblings. Nowadays, she tries to make it during Christmas with her cousins in the United States.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Filipino spaghetti is a special occasion treat because of its red color and stringy shape. Red represents good luck, and the noodles represent longevity. It is eaten during Christmas as the year comes to an end, and Christmas in the Philippines is celebrated similarly like New Year’s. Since rice is the most common source of carbohydrates, noodles like spaghetti are not eaten everyday. This is from American influence during colonialism, as spaghetti was liked by American army men.
- Social Context: Filipino spaghetti is part of the Nochebuena feast. Specifically, it is made for the kids due to its sweetness. It adds on to the celebratory feel of the dinner as spaghetti represents festivities and brings joy and happiness to the dinner.
Item:
- Filipino Spaghetti is a Christmas dish that is not like the American and Italian pastas. It is made with either ground pork and beef, with tomato sauce, but also has sugar, Filipino red hotdogs, and sometimes, banana ketchup. It is topped with grated cheese, and made for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas.
Transcript from Interview Clip:
X.D. (collector): Hi, so please give a little introduction of yourself and your life. Do include life in the Philippines if you can.
E.R. (informant): Hey, so my name is ER, I am 18 years old, and I currently live in Eagle Rock, California. I did live in the Philippines in Manila, but my family was from Nueva Ecija. I moved to the United States around 2012, when I was about 10 years old.
X.D.: What Christmas dish will you be talking about? Please do give some cultural context.
E.R.: So a special dish during Christmas I loved eating growing up was Filipino Spaghetti.
X.D.: Do explain how Filipino Spaghetti is different from the typical American Spaghetti.
E.R.: So Filipino Spaghetti is a sweet version of spaghetti. It has sugar, banana ketchup, Filipino hotdogs. People do eat it outside of Christmas, but only for birthdays and holidays because no one in the Philippines eats pasta on a regular basis. Filipino Spaghetti became a dish when the Americans came and introduced it to the Filipino people. Usually, Filipinos eat rice, so noodles are special. When the spaghetti is part of the meal, I don’t know, but it makes the meal more fiesta-like and festive. It feels happier around the table. And because it’s sweet, kids like to eat it.
X.D.: A previous interview did state about red being good luck with Queso De Bola. Do you think spaghetti has some sort of connection with fortune and good luck too? Or is it just festive?
E.R.: No Yes! It kind of does play into that red is for good luck, so eat spaghetti for good luck. But another superstition with Filipinos is that noodles represent a long life. That is why it is eaten during birthdays with pancit (another Filipino noodle dish). Spaghetti is a Christmas meal since you do want to share good feelings with everyone and you hope for the best for everyone since it is the end of the year and you are looking towards a new year.
X.D.: Is there more on why Filipino Spaghetti is eaten during Christmas?
E.R.: I think that’s it.
X.D.: Thank you!
Informant’s Comments
- Filipino Spaghetti is not just a Christmas dish, but also a dish for birthdays. This is due ot the noodles and its symoblism for a long life.
Collector: Xenia Dela Cueva