Nisha Balaram’s doc series, Meals That Made Us, premieres at the Center for Asian American Media’s 2026 CAAMFest (May 7–10). In three short episodes, Balaram travels around the Bay Area asking the question, “What is a meal?” With each story she tells, the Oakland-based filmmaker finds a way to broaden and refine the definition. Her narration opens the series and lays out many of the main themes: Meals can connect us to the land, preserve traditions and create a space for community.
Meals That Made Us takes a cinéma vérité approach to its subjects. They’re filmed in the familiar spaces where they feel most at home, even if that’s outdoors. Balaram also adds in short animations—made by Alyssa Huang—to each segment to illustrate dreams or abstract ideas. “Originally, I wasn’t going to have any VO or narration,” she explained. “But I realized very quickly that if I was talking about emotion and more complex stories, animation was such a crucial part, as well as voiceovers.”
Balaram has worked closely with CAAM as a videographer, editor and co-producer. Meals That Made Us initiated out of a conversation that started there: What would a food documentary look like about Asian American food in the Bay Area? The series was meant to be shorter but ended up as three 20-minute episodes. She structured each one thematically and found people who fit the subject matter: from food as a legacy in the first episode, to food as a form of service and giving back to the community in the second one. “And the third act is the future of food,” she said. “Whether that’s innovative techniques or just new perspectives on food.”
She decided against producing a food show with a host. And she took more inspiration from the live performances staged by Pop-Up Magazine. “There would be these very short vignettes, a spotlight on someone’s story that would be tied to a larger theme,” Balaram noted. In her series, she develops an ongoing dialogue between the participants and the viewers around the central question.
Her East Bay subjects are both engaged with meaningful ways to serve a meal. Yuji Ishikata is the nutrition program chef at Emeryville’s J-Sei, a community care and cultural organization that specializes in elder care. When Balaram started filming there, she was struck by how vibrant it felt. “It’s very much a community hub,” she said. There are writing and art workshops as well as book talks and exercise classes.
Balaram decided to feature J-Sei when she was thinking about food as a form of caretaking. “I was really interested in food as nostalgia,” she explained. Cooking familiar dishes for immigrants is one way they can connect with their homeland. Balaram added, “There are places that really value elders where they cook the food to ensure that it’s healthy.” For her, J-Sei also served as a model for how we all hope our older relatives would be looked after in a care facility. “People treat each other like family,” she observed.
Across town in Oakland, she interviewed the owners of 13 Orphans. In 2025, chef Eman Garcia, Jenn Lui and Alan Chen opened a mahjong “clubhouse,” cocktail lounge and restaurant. The filmmaker chose them, not only because they’re “lovely people,” but because of the way they’re using the space. “It ties to their personal background, which was really fascinating to me,” noted Balaram.
Downstairs, Garcia is cooking Canto-Filipino food. In the doc, the chef is filmed in the kitchen cooking his version of sisig with mushrooms instead of pork. He says, “Filipino food has always taken a back seat when it comes to Asian food, not really given the same respect.” Part of the problem, Garcia believes, is that people haven’t been exposed to it.
Balaram said the food space there is akin to an Asian snack shop, “which is reminiscent of Jen’s childhood. And then upstairs they have events: It’s like a speakeasy, a mahjong den.” 13 Orphans also hosts artists and serves as a cross-generational community hub. “It’s emblematic of what people have to do to survive and thrive in the Bay Area,” she concluded.
‘Meals That Made Us’ is showing Friday, May 8, at 5:30pm at the AMC Kabuki; caamfest.com/2026.
