Meet Didi Paterno | Writer | Food Aficionado | Corgi Mum

We had the good fortune of connecting with Didi Paterno and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Didi, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I don’t consider it a business per se, but rather a creative venture, a platform for me to share stories that capture my mind, heart and tummy. It is a blog after all.

Food is more than just something to satisfy one’s hedonistic desires whether it is to revel in tastes or see and be seen. It is as basic as nourishment, but as complex as a food system such as large scale farming, immigration – who works in the fields, ranches, restaurants and who owns businesses, personal and history, a reflection of economic stature and more.

On Dayo Kitchen, I focus on and share stories about other people I’ve met in person and online, where we talk about food – dishes, recipes, restaurants, experiences we enjoyed, puzzled about or fascinated with – in relation to our racial/ethnic identities – how different we are, yet how the same we are with other people and their cultures.

Looking deeper, casting a wider net, you’d realize that we are all different threads that make a colorful weaved fabric!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am proud that I have lived and worked in three different countries across different capacities in my advertising career. This is one that widened my perspective about the world, people and food.

Absolutely not, easy for me as an immigrant.

While I admit, I am very much privileged growing up in the Philippines with a debt-free education (Thanks to my parents!) and the ability to jumpstart my career with a robust network of people, it was not easy when you are taken out of that context.

When you leave your home country, you do not know people. People have a limited knowledge about the country you’re from and, more so, your capabilities. Plus, they can be flippant about where you’re from and what you can contribute because you’re an outsider.

I admit it was a lot of luck. I know, here in the US, hard work is valued, but I will never ever discount the luck I’ve had.

I put myself out there, yes, but if there weren’t people who would not have given me their light of day and a chance, I would not have been able to do what I have and achieve what I did.

There were and are still a LOT of lessons I’ve learned. But right now, what stands out are:
1. Believing in yourself is the most difficult lesson for me. To be honest, I still am learning this every single day.
2. You do have to set boundaries. I think this is especially important in the circumstances we are in. You are not your work. You are a multitude of other amazing things and you should give yourself time for that. Full stop.
3. Prioritizing one’s self is not an indulgence, but a need. All your hard work will amount to nothing if you are not able to enjoy it with the best of health – physically, mentally and emotionally.

You know what, while I did come from that advertising space and have a deep understanding about branding; I am not a brand.

I am a person – complex and nonlinear. I am extremely curious about you, what you like to eat and why. I’d also love to show you what I like to eat IF you are open enough to not yuck on other people’s yum. And I enjoy writing, telling and sharing my stories about them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I always base the itineraries of our visitors on what interests them, what floats their boat. I mean, I would love to take them to the best eating places, but if they’re not into food as much and would rather hit the malls to shop, then that’s what I would make sure they get to do. I’m a marketeer after all – thinking of the customer first.

But most friends, if not all, who come visit us are not as familiar with what Dallas or Texas has to offer, coming in with preconceived notions, trepidations about where we live. Sure, it is definitely not New York, Chicago, LA or San Francisco, but there’s a lot to see and do that they would not experience in any other place in the world!

Regardless of what they like to do, my husband and I make sure, at the very least, we take them to one barbecue joint.

Hutchin’s is our ol’ reliable because they are open until late, 9PM. They serve solid, consistently good Texas barbecue! My personal favorites are their pork ribs and the jalapeno cheese sausages.

Cattlelack BBQ IF they are here on the days they are open and they are willing to fall in line for an hour or so for great barbecue.

Then if they are here for the weekend, the Fort Worth Stockyards for a taste of Texas cowboy country. Most of our friends are big city folk, who’ve never seen the rodeo in their lives and it is always a pleasure to see their wonder, hear their shrills and have them squirm in their seats the same way we did when we first watched it.

Depending on where they come from my husband and I love to bring our guests to restaurants of interest. When a cousin from Madrid came over, we took her to restaurants to eat cuisines Madrid didn’t have like Vietnamese. When friends, who’ve lived in the Middle East and miss the food from there, are here, we take them to our favorite Arab, Persian and South Asian restaurants. There are a multitude of them!

They are easy to find if you ask me. All you need to do is look for them! Enter a search word on your search engine or Yelp or social media, you are sure to come across something. Or even keep your eyes wide open as you drive through the metroplex. The strip malls are teeming with life!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh my, I think I would fail to mention a LOT of people. So in advance, apologies and thank you.

I first want to thank Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet (https://awesome.blog) for introducing and mentoring me for the online possibilities. He is really the catalyst behind all my blog projects (Yes, I have some that I have retired.).

Also, I do want to shout out to my friend, Arva Ahmed of Frying Pan Adventures Dubai (https://fryingpanadventures.com) as she has helped me through challenging times in my life and her passion just jumps out of social media, inspiring me every day, despite us being many, many miles and countries apart.

But, most of all, I would like to thank my husband for his unwavering love and support as well as sharing the same passion of learning about new cuisines, meeting new people through it and driving to far off places!

Website: https://dayokitchen.com

Instagram: @dayokitchen

Image Credits
Some photos by Duane Magpali