Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

It’s not dinuguan, if that’s what you’re thinking.

Rather, it is a dish that writer-director Edward J. Mallillin’s Iloilo-born grandmother created just for him when he was a child living in Texas .

"As a child, I asked her for the name of the dish, and she never had an answer," Edward shared with Asian Journal in a recent interview.

The tasty dish became Edward’s favorite and frequent requests for his lola to make him "the brown soup thing" are part of his childhood memories.

Years later, Edward would write and direct a film about being a Filipino in the USand what would the title be? Brown Soup Thing.

The movie centers on 10 year-old Lita and her quest to raise her average by putting together a video project for school about what it means to be a Filipino in America. Her birthday provides the perfect setting for the project since everybody is there: her parents who can’t relate to their kids, her immigrant sister Fely, her always-guilty over-achiever brother Jude, her hip-hop sister Maria, an array of cousins, her grandmother who just wants to cook, and her favorite sister Shana, who moved out of the country to get away from everyone.