Pastillas-Making Workshop at Create Culture Space, Vilnius, Lithuania, April 29, 2025  

As a final activity for the Filipino Food Month celebration this year, I have coordinated with the Create Culture Space Team, one of the most hip, creative, and dynamic cultural hubs in Vilnius, Lithuania, which centers on event collaborations (https://createculture.space/main-eng), to offer this event, and promote Filipino food and flavors.  

The workshop was held at the Creative Culture Space hub, located at Karmerlitų street 5, Vilnius, Lithuania. It started at 18:30 and ended before 21:00.  

Link to the event made by Create Culture Space Team here: https://fb.me/e/2sspfKKZq 

We planned to accommodate a maximum of 15 participants during the workshop, but a total of nine (9) participants arrived and participated, including one child.  Some participants have already attended my polvoron-making workshop a few weeks ago (April 10, 2024) hosted by MiCenter Lithuania. Most participants I have only met during this workshop but expressed their curiosity about Filipino food and flavors. 

The first part of the workshop was a short introduction about myself and my business, and my goals on promoting Filipino food and flavors in Lithuania. This introduction phase also includes giving information about the Filipino Food Month, and its importance for the Filipino people. I have emphasized that this month is essential in the appreciation and preservation of Filipino food and flavors, not only in the Philippines but also in many countries around the world, where there are plenty of Filipinos. It was also a way for Filipinos to connect globally and showcase their unique and delicious dishes. 

The second part of the workshop is the pastillas-making process itself. We started by trying the variety of pastillas I have prepared for the participants, to give them an idea of how pastillas taste and what to expect from their final products. Food tasting also includes smelling and tasting some add-ins – such as ube, pandan, jackfruit, and mango.  The add-ins I brought included ube, pandan, mango and jackfruit essences – all from About Flavors, a company based in the Netherlands, owned and established by Filipino entrepreneurs, www.aboutflavors.com. Add-ins included dried jackfruit, cubes of cheese, cubes of coconut and dried mangoes. We made the pastillas together by combining all the ingredients and flavoring as well.  

In addition to their handmade pastillas, I also gave the participants some snacks – ube and pandan puto, and puto with cream cheese filling. I shared a short history about puto and why steaming is an important technique for Filipinos until this day and age.   

Before the end of the workshop, the participants were invited to take home some brochures and map of the Philippines provided by the Philippine Department of Tourism based in Frankfurt, Germany, through the help and guidance from the Philippine Embassy Warsaw, Poland. I have also included some pens with my website written on it to help endorse my small business. Overall, the participants had a great time and expressed their appreciation for Filipino flavors and ingredients.  I have also invited them about my future events happening in June 2025. In my opinion, it was a good way to end a busy and eventful Filipino Food Month celebration in Vilnius, Lithuania.