Cycle 4 – Item 340

11 (Wed) December 2013

Pork & Vegetable Lumpia

2.5

by me

at home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with IZ

The 12th recipe from the The Adobo Road Cookbook.

Lumpia is a Philippine dish.  Usually contains a base of minced pork along with aromatics, like onions, garlic, etc., seasoned with soy and/or fish sauce, wrapped in rice paper, deep-fried.  A very popular and common item.

Though I’ve never had them at the source, lumpia is the first Philippine dish that I experienced.  At Columbia University, where I spent my freshman year – at the height of the political correctness era, we were called “1st-years” (to avoid the “man”), while women were referred to as “womyn” (for the same reason) – my best friend was a womyn 1st-year named ED.  Filipina.  During a visit from her mother, she prepared lumpia for us, from scratch, actually had us doing the rolling, which is how I learned the basic process of making spring rolls in general.

I lost touch with ED sometime after college.  I should try to find her.  I do think about her every time I go to Manila or cook Filipino food.

Come to think of it, my best friend in high school was a girl (SW), as was my best friend during law school (LJY).

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)