Yana Gilbuena

Location: Oakland, California

Education: University of the Philippines-Diliman

Expertise: Filipino Cuisine, Filipino Food History

Yana Gilbuena is a Phillipine-born chef focused on sharing her ancestral food and vibrant culture with the world. She started the SALO Series, kamayan pop-ups serving Filipino food across the Unites States and other countries.
She is a 2017 Stone Barns Exchange Fellow, a 2021 Real Food Real Stories Facilitator Fellow, and a 2021 Mae Writing Fellow.
Gilbuena has been published in The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, National Geographic, and Cherry Bombe: The Cookbook. She published her own cookbook, No Forks Given, in 2019.

Experience

Yana Gilbuena, a Philippine-born chef, started the SALO Series to share the vibrant food culture of the Philippines with the world. In her American tour, Gilbuena hosted kamayan pop-up dinners in 50 states in 50 weeks, as well as across Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Australia, Europe, and the Philippines. At these meals, diners sit at banana leaf-covered tables and eat decolonized Filipino food with their hands.

She is a 2017 Stone Barns Exchange Fellow, a 2021 Real Food Real Stories Facilitator Fellow, a 2021 Mae Writing Fellow, and has been featured in major publications like The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Better Homes and Gardens, National Geographic, and more. She's been published in Cherry Bombe: The Cookbook, Feed the Resistance, and self-published her own cookbook, No Forks Given, in 2019.

What's your desert island food and why?

"Hmmm....I'd say Jollibee chicken joy and palabok with peach mango pie, and uni all day. Oh and melon and/or mango and/or coconut shake."

What's your favorite condiment?

"Mushroom seasoning--it's been a great substitute for getting the umami without the fish/shellfish vs fish sauce/bagoong. Does this count? If you mean a condiment to add to dishes, I'd say furikake and togarashi."

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