Ever since he was a child, nothing has excited John Rivera more than hearing the bells of Manila's colourful two-wheeled sorbeteros carts.
People of all ages would gather around Mamang Sorbetero (the ice cream man), eager to taste the refreshing treat in the humid weather.
Filipino sorbetes is a traditional ice cream made of carabao and/or coconut milk, with flavours including chocolate, cheese, coconut and purple yam (ube).
The sorbetes is also commonly known as "dirty ice cream", a nickname that locals have used to describe how the homemade treat is sold in the streets, compared to the commercially-made ice creams seen in supermarkets.
As for Mr Rivera, every time the 29-year-old would visit the Philippines, he felt the same excitement when he was reunited with the nostalgic sounds of the bells.
"I felt like a kid again hearing the sorbetero calling the people to buy a refreshing sweet treat," he said.
Just like many other Melbourne residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Rivera and his friend, Minh Duong, found themselves struggling to find something that could get them through the lockdowns and keep their creativity intact.
That's when they came up with the idea to make sorbetes.
Launched in 2020, Kariton Sorbetes is an artisanal gelato shop inspired by the dirty ice cream carts in the Philippines.
Located in Footscray and Chinatown, the Melbourne-based shop sells Filipino-inspired flavours like turon (based on a Filipino dessert made from banana, jackfruit and caramelised spring roll pastry), mango float (mango sorbet with mango jam and Graham cracker crumbs) and keso (cheddar and bourbon-vanilla gelato with Filipino crackers, SkyFlakes, and roasted cashews).
Before opening Kariton Sorbetes, Mr Rivera was an executive chef at Lûmé and chef de partie at Amaru, both gourmet restaurants that allowed him to showcase Filipino food in a fine dining setting.
"I felt that people were disconnected to the story or inspiration of the dish because there were still many more conversations to be had to lay the groundwork of what Filipino food is," Mr Rivera said.
"I longed to bring to the world the wonderful flavours that I grew up with, especially seeing how, during my own upbringing, our cuisine was generally unknown compared to other Asian cuisines.
"And gelato gives us that opportunity."
The fusion of Filipino-inspired desserts and street-style barbecues has become popular in Melbourne's western suburbs.
Aside from Kariton Sorbetes, restaurants such as Pecks Road, Mama Lor, Enelssie Cafe and Grill and Barkada are among the many Filipino-owned businesses sharing Filipino culture with those outside the community, with franchises opening more locations across Melbourne within the past year — including in the CBD.
Albin Lawang said he and his two brothers started Pecks Road, an artisan doughnut cafe, to pay homage to their motherland's cuisine.
Starting as a home delivery service in 2020, the cafe in Melbourne's inner western suburb of Caroline Springs sells ube-flavoured doughnuts (a purple yeast-raised doughnut filled with purple yam cream and dipped in purple yam glaze), Halo Halo, and other Filipino-inspired foods.
In the future, Mr Lawang hopes to extend some of the menu items that reflect the heritage of the Philippines and the sense of community.
"Similar to the barbecue pork that you would see at all the Filipino festivals or any backyard barbecue cook-up, we really want to share that experience with everyone when they come in to eat our food," he said.
Dani Valent is a food journalist and restaurant critic based in Melbourne who has reviewed dishes from countries in South-East Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America.
With more than 20 years of experience, Valent said that how many Filipino restaurateurs and entrepreneurs share their food with the community is what makes it easy to fall in love with them.
"I definitely think I'm seeing a surge in popularity," she said.
"Anybody who's curious about food can find a lot to love in Filipino cuisine.
"There are ingredients that people aren't familiar with, but then they eventually latch onto them easily, like people who love seafood and grilled meats.
"People will start to look for it, and also people from a Filipino heritage will think more about food as being a viable way to express themselves."
How a history of colonisation has shaped Filipino fare
The history of the Philippines' colonial rule has played a significant role in the nation's cuisine, introducing a mixture of Eastern and Western influences.
Before colonisation, the Philippines did not have a national identity, as different tribal groups occupied the nation's islands and territories.
But for almost 400 years, the Philippines was governed by the Spaniards when explorer Ferdinand Magellan claimed the archipelago in 1521.
However, when the Spanish-American War ended in 1898, the Philippines was soon colonised by the United States for a further 48 years after Spain sold the nation for $US20 million and signed the Treaty of Paris.
As the country was in the process of becoming independent, World War II broke out, resulting in Imperial Japan occupying the Philippines and taking over the nation's capital, Manila, from 1942 to 1945.
Ingredients and cooking techniques that were once unknown to Filipinos became a staple in their dishes, with inspiration drawn from the Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese, as well as other neighbouring countries like China, India and Malaysia.
This included foods like Halo Halo (a type of cold dessert made with shaved ice, milk, fruits, jellies, sweetened beans, and other sweet treats) that was introduced by the Japanese, and the cooking method of roasting whole pigs, Lechon, that was brought by the Spaniards.
As a result of its colonisation, the Philippines offers dishes that are different from other South-East Asian countries, presenting foods with distinct colours and aromas that explore sweet, sour and salty flavours.
Australia's most multicultural suburbs
The most multicultural region in Australia, Melbourne's western suburbs are home to residents from 148 different countries, according to the latest 2021 census, with 60 per cent of residents in suburbs like Point Cook, Tarneit, Melton, and Werribee having both parents born overseas.
Filipinos are one of the fastest-growing cultural groups in Australia, with more than 400,000 people in Australia having Filipino ancestry.
More than 20,000 Filipinos — 31 per cent of the total Filipino population in Victoria — live in Melbourne's west, mostly in local council areas like Brimbank, Melton, and Wyndham.
Fides Mae Santos and Grace Guinto of The Entree.Pinays — a Melbourne-based collective of Filipinas bringing Filipino cuisine and culture to Australia — said the Filipino community in the west had allowed people from different ethnicities to engage with the food and the stories behind it as well.
"I'm really happy that a lot of these Filipino food-forward eateries and cafes and other food businesses have originated from the west, and that it's also in celebration of the western suburbs' deep migrant roots," Ms Guinto said.
Rivera said he was not surprised to see people from different backgrounds enjoying Filipino food but was amazed that the majority of his customers at Kariton Sorbetes come from outside the Filipino community.
"What is amazing is that only about 30 per cent of our customers now are Filipino," he said.
"If you look at the line in any of our stores these days, you'll see people of all ethnicities, and to me, that's what I'm most proud of."
Addressing the past
Historically, Filipino food restaurants have not been as common in Australia as other South-East Asian cuisines.
Food journalist Valent said this was at least in part because of Filipino migrants' desire to fit into the wider community.
"A lot of people who came to Australia from the Philippines as immigrants were ambitious for themselves and their families but not necessarily ambitious to share their culture with the broader community," she said.
"They were more interested in working in professional fields."
However, Rivera said the current generation had learned to connect with their cuisine differently from their parents.
"What has changed is my generation has answered their longing and interest in exploring and promoting our culture as opposed to adopting our parents' mindset of blending in or assimilating," he said.
From what started as a vision during the pandemic to the opening of new locations, the growth of these restaurants is helping to strengthen Melbourne's Filipino community and its identity.
"Food has allowed us to have that starting point of the conversation, but it's not the endpoint," Ms Guinto, of The Entree.Pinay, said.
Co-founder Ms Santos said she wants to continue the progress in building the Filipino community in Melbourne, working to have the cuisine be recognised and treated with the same regard as other South-East Asian restaurants.
"I think that's where the evolution has been for us, that we're now starting to see more Filipinos in the front of house," Ms Santos said.
"More Filipino Australians, Filipinos living in Australia, and Filipino women are no longer waiting for their seats at the table.
"We are taking the lead, building our own tables and chairs, and we're inviting the rest of Australia to come and join us."
