SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Vince Caguin spends most of his time in the kitchen after learning how to cook as a child. Now he's teaching students in Natomas the way he was taught.
"I was born in the Philippines," said Caguin. "My grandma owned a culinary school in the Philippines. She taught people how to cook on cruise ships. My mom carried that on. I just remember being little and peeling lumpia rice paper."
Vince has been working in the food service industry for 26 years and worked his way up from a dishwasher to an executive chef. Now, he's the Executive Director of Nutrition Services and Warehousing at Natomas Unified School District.
He teaches students about everything that goes into a meal, including showing students how to make traditional Filipino dishes.
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"I'm in the business of teaching kids about foods that they don't know they like yet," said Caguin. "We've made lumpia and pancit in three different forms, like pancit palabok, pancit canton and pancit bihon."
For Vince, chicken adobo is his favorite Filipino dish. The popular dish includes chicken, cane vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, bay leaves and garlic.
With October being Filipino American History Month, Vince says one way people can celebrate is by cooking Filipino meals for everyone to enjoy. He says the month is about highlighting all of the achievements of Filipino Americans.
"We are a culture that surrounds ourselves with food, pride ourselves with food and our recreation is food," said Caguin. "One of the major ways that Filipinos show love is by cooking for someone else, so whether it's Filipino cuisine, cook for someone, people that you love, and gather around the table and eat."