Filipino American community members in Northern California are mourning the loss of Pearl Parmelee-Cabrera, affectionately known as “Tita Pearl,” a beloved organizer, mentor and tireless advocate for Filipino cuisine and culture in the Bay Area and beyond. She passed away on June 10, at age 69, leaving behind a legacy rooted in food, community and service.
A memorial and fundraiser celebrating her life and “legacy of love” will be held July 11, at The Lumpia Company on 9th Ave. in Oakland, Calif., according to a family announcement posted by Roan Ly-Ro Manguera Makishi. The gathering invites friends, collaborators and community members to come together in remembrance, prayer and support for the family she loved.
In a widely shared tribute, community leader Sonia Delen honored her dear friend and Filipino Food Movement co-founder as “a tireless champion of Filipino cuisine and a true food diplomat who brought people together through culture, community, and generosity.”
Delen, a managing partner at AcuGlobal Endeavors, executive producer at OneUp Film Studios and a trailblazing public member of the State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees, has long worked to advance Filipino leadership and arts across the United States.
Parmelee-Cabrera was a fixture in the Filipino American community.
As one of the early organizers of San Francisco’s Pistahan (now recognized as the largest Filipino American outdoor festival in the country), she helped create beloved traditions like the balut-eating contest and made sure volunteers and performers were well-fed and appreciated. Her festival work reflected a conviction that food is more than nourishment; it is culture, heritage and a way to make people feel seen and included.
Her impact deepened when she joined Delen and other advocates to co-found the Filipino Food Movement, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving, promoting and progressing Filipino cuisine in the mainstream. Within the movement, Tita Pearl mentored aspiring chefs, taught food management, built partnerships with chambers of commerce and community groups, and helped connect Filipino food purveyors to broader audiences. She worked across communities (including Latino, Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Filipino organizations), seeing food as a universal language that could bridge cultures and create shared spaces.
Service also defined her response to crisis.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she supported programs that provided meals to first responders and frontline workers, extending her food diplomacy to those on the front lines of public health. Colleagues recall that if there was a need, she showed up; if there were people to feed, she was there. Her influence could be felt not only in San Francisco, but also in places like Las Vegas and Los Angeles, where she helped connect people, create opportunities and make everyone feel like family.
In a tribute published by Positively Filipino, Delen wrote that Tita Pearl measured success “by how many people she helped along the way,” and that her legacy will live on “in every meal shared, every chef mentored, every culture celebrated, and every heart you inspired.”
For many in the Filipino Food Movement and the wider diaspora, Parmelee-Cabrera will be remembered as a quiet force who helped make Filipino food and culture more visible, celebrated and understood across America — a legacy further underscored when the Filipino Food Movement was named to the TOFA100 list of Most Influential Filipino Americans in 2020, reflecting the impact that she and her co-founders have had on Filipino cuisine and community life in the United States.
