This Filipino American Life

This Filipino American Life•thisfilipinoamericanlife.com

Society & Culture

A podcast that explores the nuanced experiences of Filipinos in the United States, atbp.

Last refreshed: April 26th, 2026 at 6:01 PM ⓘ

Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.

Follow on

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

Episode 166 – TFAL Goes to Chicago: Traveling to Chi-Town

The TFAL Crew is in Chicago! Over the next three episodes, TFAL brings you to the capitol of the Midwest! We will talk to some of the city’s community leaders and small business owners and discuss what the MIdwest Filipino American experience is all about. In this introductory episode, the TFAL crew discusses traveling for the first time since the pandemic and all of the anxiety that fuels. We also talk about our thoughts about being in Chicago and meeting our Chi-Town TPals during our meet-up. ...

May 06, 2022•27 min

Episode 165 – The 2022 Philippine Presidential Election

In less than two weeks, Filipinos across the Philippines and dual citizens around the world will go to the polls to elect a new president. This is a very important election for the Philippines and will affect those of us in the diaspora tremendously. We at TFAL want to make sure you all know the basic information about the election. Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr., aka BBM, remains the front-runner ahead of current Vice President Leni Robredo in national polls. There are many people running for...

Apr 29, 2022•1 hr 11 min

Episode 164 – Belligerence Has Arrived! TFAL gets real with Melissa Beck from Real World NOLA Homecoming

In the year 2000 MTVs Real World took the audience to New Orleans and introduced Filipino Americans to Melissa Howard. Over 20 years later Paramount Plus is giving Gen Xers the opportunity to revisit classic Real World casts. In 2021 Real World New York and Los Angeles opened the door to these Homecoming reunions. These shows did not take place in the vacuum. The casts dealt with the impact of Covid, the Black Lives Matter movement, and LGBTQA+ issues. In this episode the crew learns about Melis...

Apr 15, 2022•1 hr 17 min

Episode 163 – Who’s le beouf? TFAL talks food criticism with Annabelle Tometich

Surprise, surprise, TFAL talks about their favorite subject – FOOD – in this episode! Specifically food criticism. The team talks about the rise of Yelp reviews to which one of us wanted to be a food critic? Could you guess who that might be? If you suspect a TFAL food appreciator, you might be correct! In this episode, the team talks story with Annabelle Tometich, a Florida based writer who revealed that they wrote under the pen name of the long established food critic Jean Le Beouf for The New...

Mar 25, 2022•1 hr 1 min

Episode 162 – Estatue, Filipino America? A Memorial-able Discussion about Filipino American Monuments

Monuments, statues, street signs, plaques, memorials, murals. Our communities are filled with tributes to the people, places, and things that hold some sort of significance to the people who live there, and this holds true in past and present Filipino Communities throughout America. Jose Rizal Bridge, Larry Itliong Village, and the upcoming gateway arch in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown are all signifiers of the impact of Filipinos here and abroad… and yet, do people outside of our community...

Mar 11, 2022•51 min

Episode 161 – The Complicated History of SPAM with Gabrielle Berbey

Oh SPAM…the delectable, delicious soft pink slab of pork meat so ubiquitous to Filipino and Filipino American weekend breakfast meals. You love it fried, crispy, maybe with a sprinkle of sugar, served with a warm heap of garlic rice and egg. It tickles our taste buds and tummies with such delight, but also clogs our arteries with fat and cholesterol…one of the sinful contradictions our Filipino American lives deal with constantly. How did this beloved processed part the pig become so commonplace...

Feb 25, 2022•1 hr 11 min

Episode 160: TFAL talks The Girl Who Sees with Pattie Umali

It’s no secret that TFAL Producer Mike and Elaine love a good video game from Animal Crossing to Uncharted to Final Fantasy. Role Playing Games (RPG) are a favorite pastime. If only there was a Filipino inspired one we could explore? Well turns out there is! In this episode the crew shares their experiences with video games and speaks with Patti Umali, creator of The Girl Who Sees, a video game set in World War II Philippines. The game is a point-and-click adventure and turn-based RPG hybrid tha...

Feb 11, 2022•1 hr 21 min

Episode 159 – The Secret’s Out: Secretly Filipino

Ever wonder why that peculiar Chinese restaurants have no chopsticks on their table settings? Have you noticed that your finance branch at your work has a lot of Filipinos? Did you ever think, what’s up with basketball leagues that are 6 feet and Under? These questions are some of the same things we’ve asked. We all know about places, businesses, or things that don’t look or sound Filipino or owned by a Filipino, but are DEFINITELY Filipino. But on this episode we spill the beans on things that ...

Jan 21, 2022•47 min

Episode 158 – Baybayin atbp. with Kristian Kabuay

Baybayin, the pre-colonial written script of the Philippines, is a major foundation of our cultural heritage. The alphasyllabary script consisting of 17 characters was understood and used by communities throughout much of the archipelago prior to colonization. Spanish missionary Pedro Chirino, who lived and studied Philippine society in the early years of Spanish colonization, documented in 1604 that “there is hardly a man, and much less woman, who does not read or write in the letters.” However...

Jan 07, 2022•59 min

Episode 157 – A Few of TFAL’s Favorite Things – Small Businesses to Support this Holiday Season

In this episode, we shout out some of the many Filipino Small Businesses that we are personal fans of, ones that you should definitely support this Holiday season! Here is the list of who we mentioned on the show, along with some other ones that are also near and dear to our hearts: Jewelry Honey My Heart – honeymyheart.com / @honeymyheart Maaari – maaari.co / @maaari_co Cambio & Co. – shopcambio.co / @cambio_co Clothing Illa Manila – illamanila.com / @illamanila Pineapple Industries – pinea...

Dec 17, 2021•58 min

Episode 156 – Freethought, Faith, and Politics with Filipino Freethinkers

Gotta have faith! Freedom Like many Filipinos and Filipino Americans, the TFAL crew grew up around Christianity, specifically Catholicism. We speak of our upbringing in our podcast, mainly about how it’s shaped not just our adult selves, but the continued practices and traditions of many family, friends and listeners alike. Although we all look at religion differently today from when we were younger — some practicing religiously and others traditionally — we may be able to agree that we believe ...

Dec 03, 2021•1 hr 10 min

Episode 155 – Filipi-mnemonics: Remembering the Tagalog with Geoffrey Ocampo

Oh, the dad joke. We all know it. We all love it. And for Filipinos it gives us life. While Dad jokes can be a myriad of things, dad jokes to Filipinos are especially punny (get it?). For one Filipino American, dad jokes have become a way to learn Tagalog words. In this mini-episode, the TFAL crew joins forces with Geoffrey Ocampo of the Remembering the Tagalog Podcast. As is the usual set up for his podcast, Geoffrey helps the TFAL crew create funny mnemonics of Tagalog words to help us all rem...

Nov 12, 2021•49 min

← Prev

For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android