40 THE NEW CHEF by Eric Abalajon A bandana keeps his long hair in place in the kitchen, beside him is a childhood best friend now a sous chef of sorts, frying red peanuts while waiting for the pork to become tender. The new chef is casual and frantic, they’re late but not behind schedule. When I started, he says, I didn’t know the business aspect. I just know how to cook. Many people think, including those in the community, that our food is cheap, which is nonsense since so much love and flavor goes into it. The final step in the adobo is adding vinegar and not touch it, just because, and it comes out magic. I’m working more, now in the car to make deliveries around Toronto in time for dinner, 14 to 16 hours, a long day for 10 percent profit but the happiness in handing over an order is something else, a few tasting Filipino food for the first time, seeing posts on social media with testimonies must mean this is special. By the end you already forgot the pandemic and this all started when he lost his office job.
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