Wilma B. Consul - Crossroads of Creativity: Exploring Journalism, Culinary Arts, and Culture

In this episode of SLANT Podcast, host Dana Tai Soon Burgess sits down with the dynamic Wilma B. Consul for an insightful conversation that spans journalism, culinary arts, education, and culture.

Wilma's journey from Manila to San Francisco, her impactful work in radio production, and her commitment to community engagement shed light on the power of storytelling and advocacy. From her experiences reporting on HIV-AIDS in the Asian American community, her experiences in theater, and in her role as a caregiver, Wilma shares her empathy and dedication to making a difference in the world.

As they delve into Wilma's career at NPR and her deep dive into gastronomy in Italy, they frame the understanding of the intersections between creativity, culture, and life.

Tune in to discover the stories behind Wilma's remarkable journey and the insights she shares on the importance of storytelling, food, and education in shaping our understanding of the world around us.

Find us on www.slantpodcast.com and follow us on social media @theslantpodcast

Transcript

Dana 0:05

Welcome to slant podcast. This is your host, Dana Tasson Burgess. This podcast is an ongoing conversation around the Asian American experience through the lens of artists and luminaries. Thank you for tuning in. Today's guest is Wilma Consul. Wilma is a journalist, chef, artist, and educator. She was born in Manila and joined her family in San Francisco when she was 14. Wilma has worked as a newscaster for Manila. A Bay Area produced TV program, and she was the Artistic Director of the Filipino theater group TNT, Teatro Engtenan, Theater for Everyone. After being awarded a fellowship with NPR's Diversity Initiative, she established a long career in public radio. At NPR, Wilma produced, edited, and reported for many of the public network's flagship programs. Her works also have aired on NPR member stations, WNYC, WIDA, WYPR, and KQED, and have been published in National Geographic, Art 202, and the Asian American Literary Review. Wilma was also the co host of AARP's podcast, Take On Today. She is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and San Francisco State University, and holds a master's degree in gastronomy. Wilma now weaves together her expertise in journalism, the culinary arts, education, culture, and the arts. Welcome Wilma. I'm so glad you're joining us today. Wilma. I'd like to start at the beginning to understand our guests and their journey. Will you share with us where and how you grew up?

Wilma 1:59

Hi, Dana. Listeners. Thank you, first of all, for having me here on the Slant Podcast. It's weird being interviewed. When I'm always on the other side, I was born in Manila, and I lived there until I was 14 years old. My father died when I was five, so I grew up with a single mother. And she got remarried, probably 1978, she was She came to the Bay Area, a place called San Leandro, just next to Oakland, California in the Bay Area. And then my two brothers came after her a year later. And then a year later, my sister and I joined the family.

Dana 2:43

What did your family do in the Philippines before your mom moved to America?

Wilma 2:50

I think the defining moment of my childhood was probably my father's death. I was five years old. They had four children. My sister was, what, 10? And then I have two younger brothers. The youngest one was like a year old, And in the Philippines, when you lose a parent even one, they called you like an orphan. Like I'm orphaned with a father or something like that. And my mom was always the Viuda, widow. Mom was a midwife. She was working for the city hall. We lived in Pasay City. And then she would also take patients at the house. And. Two years after my father died, maybe a year or two the neighborhood burned down.

Dana 3:37

Wow. So you were really, as a young child faced with a lot of sadness, a lot of transition. Really scary situations.

Wilma 3:48

Yes. When you're a child, you don't really like process these things.

Dana 3:53

Children are so resilient in that way.

Wilma 3:56

yeah. I had written about it in one of my school papers before I called it Fiesta in Flames because it was our fiesta and the day of the fiesta at night, there's a procession, it's a religious procession. So everybody's gathered on the main road and our street ends in, the corner was like this school, a pretty big school. And where the procession is coming. And then someone said, fire, you and it was right there. And so it was panic, chaotic. This is all I remember. And it's still vivid in my mind. And I remember my uncle picked me up and my brother, and we ended up at the Boulevard, the Rojas Boulevard and I remember everybody was just there, evacuated there. grandmother standing, we're looking at the fire and then seeing the ashes the next day.

Dana 4:55

When you moved to America, were you already bilingual?

Wilma 4:59

Yes, While we were, colonized by Spain for 371 years or so in 1898, the Spanish American War, we were handed over, actually we were sold to the Americans. We call it in the community, 50 Years of Hollywood. So, our form of education English. All the programs that you had here that we see over there, they were all in English. I was surprised when I went to places and it's like, well, why are these things translated in their languages? Because to us, it was in English.

Dana 5:36

And in the midst of watching all those things, how did you seek out an understanding of your family, where your grandparents came from, where your great grandparents came from and where your place was within those generations? Because here, the world is suddenly changing, isn't it? And you're starting to really see and connect with American media.

Wilma 6:05

This analyzation of what my family is. I'm actually at this age is when I'm starting to unearth a lot of these things. When I got my Filipino tattoo, I had to find out where my grandparents were all from. Because Filipino tattoo, your tattoo has to come from where your ancestral roots come from. And I only know my grandparents. My paternal side, grandfather's from Bolinao, Pangasinan. My grandmother is from Leyte. So I have Visayan and me, Pangasinan. And then on my mother's side, the grandparents, I think they came from Ilocos. So I have all these blood in me. And I want to, Find out more about it now.

Dana 6:53

It's interesting, too, because when I think about your multifaceted career and your perspective of the world, so much of it is about trying to bring community back together and trying to have APA voices heard. You have a deep commitment to the APA community. When did you start to delve into activism?

Wilma 7:17

College at San Francisco State, I was part of PACE, Filipino American Collegiate Endeavor. And I used to wonder, like, why is it that all these college organizations, Filipino organizations in California are with peace? So I had to learn that too, because I was meeting these Filipino Americans, people born here people who can't speak the language, because they're from a generation that their parents were made fun of. For their accents. So they made sure their children,

Dana 7:50

didn't have an accent,

Wilma 7:51

my generation did not have accents and talk as white as possible, really, so I remember I became involved with it. The word activism to me was scary at first. Because in the Philippines, I grew up during the Marcos years. If you said anything slightly bad or a complaint or something, all I heard was like shh, someone might hear you.

Dana 8:19

Right. You could get imprisoned.

Wilma 8:20

But I didn't know these things. To me, Marcos was great because he had the green revolution. I always wondered like, why is it like we learn in the social studies class? All these different word leaders, they change every time. So it's hard to memorize because we had to memorize these things. And then it was like, but here we only have one, for a long time. I never thought of these things. And for a long time, I considered myself in the middle of where politics is, because I didn't really know until I met people. Who, yes, they were imprisoned during the Marcos years. Families have died the looting, the media coverage here during the people power, I learned about the Filipino American history. I thought I knew my history and no, there are these farm workers, right? There's Carlos Bulosa. Now the name Larry Itliong is very big. They just had a musical. But I met Philip Vera Cruz. We would go to Agbayani Village the retirement place for the Manongs in Delano, California. And I remember that very well to actually meet. And I have a VHS of it, I recorded it because these folks that are history.

Dana 9:40

And when you left San Francisco and you came out east, you worked at NPR and you're one of the few Filipinas working in journalism at NPR, but you gave great visibility to many APA stories, which wouldn't have been covered at the time. What was it like? to move these stories forward, especially in the midst of having come from the Bay Area, which has a much larger Asian American population, which is more ingrained within organizations and then coming to the East coast in which that wasn't necessarily so in Washington DC.

Wilma 10:23

coming to the East Coast, D. C. was the second time. The first time was when I went to New York to get my master's in journalism. And that was an eye opener for me because I expected New York to be better than San Francisco in terms of Asian American community. but they were so like five years behind. This was in the early nineties, by the way, I was doing a lot of work in San Francisco with HIV and AIDS, and in theater, Asian American theater and the community seniors, youth. So when I came to New York, I wanted to still work in the HIV AIDS, volunteer arena and I was looking for Asian AIDS babies because at that time we're hearing about babies coming out, with HIV

Dana 11:11

Right. Right.

Wilma 11:13

and I wanted to do my project there and I couldn't find anything. So I ended up doing my project on Filipino nurses. It was a one year intensive program, but you know, after second semester I love New York because, of dance. I worked at a dance studio, the Lesley's Dance of School and Skate. So it was great being there at that time. And then coming here I just got burnt out in San Francisco with the theater group after 10 years. I needed a change and I needed to give more time to my journalism because in San Francisco, even though I was working full time as a journalist during the day, at night. I was in theater I never thought that I gave my journalism all. And. I was like, yeah, there was only other one Filipina at NPR then. She was working for radio expeditions, Tina Pamintuan, who ended up becoming a professor at Fordham and a station manager at KALW. But I was the only woman on the weekend edition Sunday at that time, besides the host, Leanne Hanson. And I brought in Helen Zia, Bill Wong,

12:28

Vienna

Wilma 12:28

Tang, the musician. And it's interesting because they're like, Oh, where did you find them? Like what?

Dana 12:37

Yeah.

Wilma 12:38

And these are like the stars in our community, I was only supposed to be here in DC for like two months because I was on a NPR diversity initiative fellowship. But before it ended, I decided, let me try it here. And I applied. And luckily after four months, I became full time. Something opened up and that was on weekend edition Sunday. I think it was Helen Zia when I put her on as a commentary or when they did a two way with her. I realized then that I was meant to be here because now my work is not small anymore. It's not in one community. It's bigger than that. My work is bigger than me.

Dana 13:19

you have this broader voice, right? This larger audience that's going out. Not only do you have this love for journalism, but you also have carved out a place for the culinary arts as story. Can you tell us about this?

Wilma 13:34

My going into cooking stemmed from my desire to be a food writer. Remember when I was in my little tiny apartment, a studio. When I was plating something and I just said, Oh, wow, that's why they call it culinary arts. Because It's like, I'm trying to paint this freaking plate, and I felt like this is what I do in theater, as a director, I'm trying to direct this plate. I Said, okay, I'm going to go to culinary school and become a food writer.

Dana 14:08

Mm-Hmm.

Wilma 14:09

to the academy, the cuisine and went to Mexico. But I didn't want to be a critic who didn't understand culinary world, the restaurant world. I wanted to have a very good foundation. I wanted to have this experience in the kitchen. So that's what I did. But along the way I ended up freelancing then up enjoying it and then work came. I just wanted to learn. And as a freelancer, I did my own culinary Institute of America, by working for different chefs different caterers I worked for one of the chefs for the ambassador's house of the Netherlands. I worked for Susan Gage caterers. I baked king cakes overnight for Bayou Bakery for their first ever Mardi Gras party. I taught cooking during my freelance time. You were amazing because you supported my art, my, my passions. With the youth that I worked with in the arts teaching dance, teaching, cooking writing text. It's just amazing. I am so grateful for you.

Dana 15:20

Oh, that's so sweet. We worked together over 10 years ago now in the dance company's Asian American Youth program, and you were such a thoughtful mentor and what you brought to them was. This diversity of skill sets from being able to teach hula to teaching how to cook traditional Asian dishes and really like bringing them together as a community, but like through movement and food. And both of those were about healthy living. So thank you. Well, will you tell us about how you're bringing your careers as a journalist, a chef, and an artist together now? What is that recipe?

Wilma 16:01

well, it's all shambled up recipe,

Dana 16:05

Hehehehe.

Wilma 16:06

I don't write anything down. So like most fabulous cooks, you go by what's in your head.

Dana 16:14

Mhm.

Wilma 16:15

But I left my job. I was teaching culinary arts at Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, the first adult charter school in the nation. I did that for five years through pandemic. And I thought I needed a change. I wanted to have a master's in gastronomy. When it just sounded so good. But, I was like, that sounds so cool. I can't get a PhD, but I can do this and I can do this in a year. Cause you know, I don't know. I can't do two years, honey. So I had saved up some money what I was teaching. I also got a second job. I was co hosting a podcast on AARP called take on today. And my earnings from that job had allowed me to save up some money. And go to school and live in Italy for a year in Piemonte region, in a little town called Bra, to go to school in Polenzo it's called the University of Gastronomic Sciences. And I have a masters in world food cultures and mobility. So contrary to everyone's belief, my friends, that I learned how to cook there. No, I did not. I already know how to cook when I went there. I thought that my gastronomy is my way of really putting together the journalism. Now I can write about food. I know a lot more about community, but I'm also more informed now about the world of food, not just culinary arts. That's just part of the world of food. There's so many things. Food in the diaspora, food waste, indigenous food waste, activism the psychology of food food education and it brought me to the part of the world that I didn't know much about, I'm an expert in Hawaii, but so it's like, let me go to another part of the world and It was fabulous. It's. A few months in Italy and then I did my internship in the UK, and meeting producers, I don't just want to write about food reviews, I want to write about stories, how food intersects one with art, with, technology, politics, economy, food is used to colonize people, right? And food is also a great way. To bring community together, I have this ring made in Italy, my ring says, food is love,

Dana 18:44

And it's a universal, right? That's bringing people to the table to not only eat, but to be heard and to be understood. Think back when you were younger When you came home, it was always the older generation that had cooked the food. The younger generation would sit at the table and this amazing food would be delivered to them. And now here you are bringing not just food itself, but the idea of food. It's networks, it's connectivity around the world to people. And I think that's a very generous thing.

Wilma 19:22

There was one part of my life that I was cooking for the family when I was young, because remember, my mother was a single mom. She would go to work. My sister had to go to work in the morning. I had two younger brothers. I was left at home to take care of the brothers, to get them ready for school. To go to the market every day, because you buy your food every day. You don't do grocery. And put it in the refrigerator. Learned how to bargain. My mom told me who the people to go to. And then come home, start cooking rice at 10 o'clock, a lot of people in the food world when they talk about, this romanticizing nostalgia of like, oh, yeah, I grew up cooking with my grandmother or watching this and that wasn't mine You know, mine was like this is part of life. I had to do it, no complaints You just had to do it. You had to learn.

Dana 20:15

It seems like listening to the story of a young child in a moment of transition within a family, who is being placed in a very adult role in order to take care of siblings, to try and keep the family together after a very traumatic event Is a place that sometimes as an adult, we can return to places like this over and over again to make sense of it, but also to heal it and then turn it around and make it into something that becomes a positive experience where the child has a place within the journey.

Wilma 20:55

Well part of that and I was just telling this to My friend last week, the author Ginger Park, who also owns Chocolate, with her sister Frances Park, I was telling her that, Filipinos, the way we show we care, we love is food. When somebody cooks something. You give some to your neighbors, and then the neighbors give you something back the next day or two days. You never bring an empty plate back or something. And living alone here in Washington, D. C., I've become known as someone who gives food. I don't know, it's just part of me, food is the way I give. I'm not much of a material person, but food and experience. is what I give. Besides hula, right? Hula is a gift. When I dance for you, I'm gifting you. The same with food. I give it to my elderly neighbors because I live in Ward 7 in a predominantly African American neighborhood. A lot of retirees, and we would gather and I would bring food. That's just natural. I don't know. That's just the way I do it. But people think like I'm actually doing a service, but no, that's just the way we are as Filipinos. It's that's culture for me.

Dana 22:15

That's the community. when you picture or you dream about the potential of where you'll be in five years from now, where is that? And what are you doing?

Wilma 22:30

Five years from now, I should have at least two books, one, a memoir, my dream cafe featuring Filipino coffee beans and chocolate. My dream for a long time and I will be, writing, freelancing for like magazines and, or having a podcast, because sometimes it's just good to do your own thing, I just want to tell the story, the life that I know and the people that I meet, my experiences, I want to tell that story my way.

Dana 23:03

That's beautiful. Well, in five years from now, I look forward to being in your cafe, having a cup of coffee, eating some chocolate cake, and reading your memoir. Wilma, I want to thank you so much for joining us today. It's so exciting to hear about your journey, to better understand how you're bringing together journalism, the culinary arts, and the arts in general. And we wish you the best of luck on your future endeavors.

Wilma 23:33

Thank you Thank you. Ciao.

Dana 23:35

Bye.

Wilma 23:36

Bye bye.

Dana 23:37

Thank you for tuning in today. Please rate the podcast on your listening platform and tell your friends. Feel free to contact me at slantpodcast. com. It's always great to hear from you, our listeners. A special thanks to our sponsors, the Dana Tassun Burgess Dance Company, the Cherry Blossom Giving Circle, and the Dehde Liam Gunawan Hickory Legacy Fund.