My name is Gaby M. Tantuico. I’m an illustrator and designer with a passion for thoughtful storytelling, and this past week, I’ve had the unique challenge of capturing my family’s love affair with food and the lengths we go to, to share that food with whomever we can.

The heart of any Miñana home has always been the kitchen, so for us cousins, family meals have always been a great source of comfort—a sentiment I’m sure many Filipino families can relate to. There’s nothing quite like indulging in long, lazy lunches that melt into dinners, reveling in the joy of secret family recipes handed down, or savoring the familiar tastes and smells that we’ve come to associate with home. Suffice it to say some of our fondest memories of childhood involve food.

Some of the older cousins have since moved away from home, but we’ve found ways to keep the foodie torch burning bright. Even now, in the wake of all the restrictions and uncertainties caused by the pandemic, we continue to stay connected and bond over food.

Between 11 cousins, we’ve started three separate businesses with one common goal: to share the food that continues to bring us together with a wider audience.

Wowa’s Home Bakery

The first of the three, Wowa’s Home Bakery, is a homegrown business owned and operated right out of our kitchens.

Our menu is made up of tried-and-tested family recipes, ranging from the decades-old secret recipes of our wowa to recipes that our generation has whipped up over the years. Each recipe has a deep significance to our family and is handled by a different cousin:

Wowa V’s Banana Cakes are prepared by Carl F. Miñana, an avid baker who prides himself in putting his own twist on Wowa V’s recipe by adding candied walnuts. Because of his background as an Industrial Engineering senior at Purdue University, he’s also in charge of much of our R&D and logistics.

Wowa C’s Classic Polvoron recipe has been in our family for 60 years and is now being prepared by me, Gaby M. Tantuico. Having graduated with a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts and now working as a graphic designer, I’ve found my true passions in packaging design and marketing the business as a whole. I collaborate on the creative side of the business with my brother Angelo M. Tantuico, a sophomore Film major at Savannah College of Art & Design.

The Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Sea Salt are the best representation of the recipes our generation one day hopes to pass down. The recipe was created by Luis F. Miñana when he was only 9 years old. Luis, now a De La Salle University Business Management sophomore and UAAP baseball pitcher to boot, has enthusiastically been perfecting and elevating the cookies now seen on our menu.

We also feature limited-edition menu items that run for a few weeks at a time, depending on the availability of the baker. One such item was our Vegan Bites box that was available in August. The box contained two vegan-friendly desserts: Peanut Butter Fudge Bombs and Cinnamon Chickpea Blondies. Both recipes were created by Timmy M. Tantuico, an Industrial Engineering senior at Rochester Institute of Technology and new vegan determined to continue to share food with the family despite her dietary restrictions.

We do everything in-house, from selecting and perfecting recipes, product shoots, packaging concepts, marketing, to even coordinating the logistics of how to get the goodies from us to you. Viber, tel. 0917-8338232; email [email protected]; follow @welcometowowas on Instagram.

Rooted Wellness

The second business, Rooted Wellness, began as a conversation at the start of the enhanced community quarantine about how we could make this world a little sweeter, a little happier and a little kinder. It then grew into a collaboration between partners dedicated to healing and well-being from the inside out. It is run by siblings Alejandro and Carolina W. Miñana, a Boston College Economics major and a senior at International School Manila, respectively.

This is the basis of Rooted Wellness which has become a part of a daily ritual for many of our families, friends and now our beloved customers. It is so fulfilling to hear them share their stories about how they feel better in so many ways.

Our digestive tonic, immunity booster, avoid-the-flu rescue, cough, cold and feel-better remedy Ginger Elixir is made fresh, cold-pressed and prepared in small batches. It is best consumed within three to five days, and may be kept for up to two weeks, with a noticeable intensity of heat and sweetness.

Pickups are from Thursday to Saturday, with the option for customers to coordinate their preferred courier service. We also have deliveries to Muntinlupa and Parañaque every Friday.

Viber, tel. 0927-5840437; order at bit.ly/RootedWellnessOrder; follow @ROOTEDWELLNESSPH on Instagram.

The Sweet Stash

The third enterprise is The Sweet Stash, an elevated take on Almond Bark candy by Boston College Economics majors Alej and Maxine Alindogan. “Almond Bark has always been a vivid part of my food memories, as this candy brings me back to my summers in Boston as a kid,” says Alej. “Because I’d only ever have this candy every year or two, it was always such a special treat.”

Through The Sweet Stash, we were able to recreate the nostalgic Almond Bark of our childhoods and share it with our family, friends and customers. Based on the recipe of Alej and Carolina’s mom Denise, we’ve been able to develop and elevate it to make it our own.

Our Almond Bark is made with Belgian chocolate and topped with toasted almonds. It is a definite must-have in your sweets stash.

Tel. 0915-3145398; follow @thesweetstashph on Instagram.

Behind the cousins in the kitchen, we also have our “consultants”: New York-based cousins Ysabel M. Cacho and Bea F. Miñana, who help with anything under the sun, from copy and content advice to fine-tuning effective sustainability practices; our junior taste-testers 14-year-old Marco and 11-year-old Robby M. Tantuico; and of course, our bevy of ever-supportive wowas, parents, titos and titas, without whom none of this would be possible.

These businesses may allow us cousins to celebrate our love of food, but they do more than that. They are an ode to the flavors of our childhood, and hold memories of the wonderful people behind them. We continue to share our products with the hope that you’ll enjoy them as much as we have. —CONTRIBUTED