This Story Stone honors a Filipino American Chef, Phillip Esteban, and highlights the way in which Filipino Americans have contributed to society. Phillip Esteban has positively impacted the San Diego community with his work as a chef at two different restaurants within Liberty Public Market in Point Loma. His restaurants are called Weapon Ramen and White Rice. His work as a chef at his restaurants and the refining of his skills within the culinary arts has positively impacted many people.
The person we want to honor most is Philip Estaban. Philip Esteban is a famous chef that has his own restaurant in Liberty station. He is a Filipino American chef and although he does cook Filipino food, he mostly specializes in Japanese food. He is famous for his amazing ramen. We will be putting a story stone right next to his very own restaurant in Liberty Public Market which is a huge market filled with food kiosks, jewelry stands, and coffee shops. We got the opportunity to go to the market with my class and see his restaurant and it looked very professional and smelled even better than I thought. He also successfully donated forty thousand rice bowls to health care workers.
In addition to donating rice bowls, Filipinos have served in the San Diego community for a long time and in many ways. For example, on May 10, 1869, “Chinese immigrants recruited in large numbers to complete the transcontinental railroad.” After the Philippine-American war, Filipinos were referred to as nationals, and they took on cheap manual labor jobs within agriculture and fish canneries. “In addition, manual and menial jobs were given to Filipinos. Oftentimes, these jobs were not desired by white workers.” On top of that, during World War ll, many Filipinos residing in the U.S. and the Philippines teamed up with the U.S. to fight against Japan. What’s more, “the Philippines opened their arms to many refugees in the past, like Russians, Jews escaping the Nazis, Spanish refugees, and Chinese immigrants.” The aforementioned examples demonstrate that Filipino Americans are very hardworking and kind hearted.
There is documented evidence that “Filipinos have been a part of the history of the United States and what is now San Diego for more than 400 years.” Later, in 1931, Filipinos in the U.S. force(s) (Air Force, Army, Marine Corps etc.) became eligible for U.S. citizenship. “Frank Horton of New York introduced House Joint Resolution 540 to proclaim the first 10 days of May as Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week in 1977.” Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month, also known as AAPI heritage month—officially became a celebratory month in 1990, when Congress passed Public Law 101-283. “Then in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.” May is the month that was chosen for AAPI Heritage Month owing to the fact that it was the same month the Transcontinental Railroad was completed.
Overall, I want to honor Philip Esteban the most because he worked so hard to get to where is now, and now he’s pursuing his dream. That’s why I’m honoring him on my story stone which will be placed next to his restaurant in liberty station.
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Sources
Photo by Shannon Patrick
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unknown, unknown. “Historical Timeline.” The Filipino American Experience, 14 Apr. 2020, https://filipinostudies.wordpress.com/historical-timeline/.
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Patacsil, Judy, et al. Filipinos in San Diego. Arcadia Pub., 2010.
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Congress, The Library of, et al. “Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2022.” Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2022, n.d., https://asianpacificheritage.gov/about/#:~:text=In%201977%20Reps.,Pacific%2FAsian%20American%20Heritage%20Week.
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By:
Roxanne and Mika
