S1 E06: Josh Decolongon (@sommeligay) on bringing diversity to the wine & beverage industry.

Josh Decolongon

is an avid lover of flavor experimentation, especially through a queer and Filipino lens. Josh is dedicated to making the wine world inclusive and fun.

Josh’s links:

Josh Decolongon | @sommeligay | Instagram | TikTok | @readbotelya on IG

Mentioned in the show:

Book: “I Am Filipino” by Nicole Ponseca

Terms:

• Tagalog, Ilocano - two of the 100+ distinct languages spoken in the Philippines.
• Tinikling - a traditional Philippine folk dance that originated during the Spanish colonial era. The dance involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance.
• Adobo (the national dish of the Philippines) - chicken marinated in a sauce made up of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, and black peppercorn.
• Piaparan a manok - dish consisting of chicken cooked in a coconut milk-based broth with grated coconut, garlic, onions, ginger, turmeric, young wild shallots, labuyo chili, and various vegetables and spiced with palapa.
• Lumpia - spring rolls commonly found in the Philippines and Indonesia, made of thin paper-like pastry skin enveloping savory or sweet fillings.
• Manok - the Tagalog word for “chicken”
• Lechon - a whole roast pig dish usually prepared for special occasions and gatherings.
• Palabok - a rice noodle dish composed of minced pork, tinapa flakes or smoked fish flakes, and annatto water.
• Sinigang - a soup or stew with a tamarind base, meat, vegetables, onions, tomatoes, tamarind, and fish sauce.
• Pinakbet - an indigenous dish from the northern regions, made from mixed vegetables sautéed in fish or shrimp sauce.

Takeaways:

1. Wine is at the intersection of science, art, culture, food, and connecting people.
2. Wine making in a lab might sound like heresy, but with California struggling with severe droughts, it might be just the innovation the industry needs.
3. Broad recommendations like “Asian food pairs well with dry riesling” is way too simplistic.
4. The rules of Western wine pairing don’t always apply to pairing wine with Asian foods.
5. Diversity is not just about gender or skin color, but also language, cuisines and occasions around wine.
6. Sometimes, leaving the comfort of home is the price to pay to freely explore our truest selves, but of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t miss aspects of living closer to our family.
7. Many of us now crave the foods that we used to take for granted as kids.
8. Not all Asians like Boba/Bubble Tea!

Say hi: Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

Hosts: Ariadne Mila & Sherry-Lynn Lee

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