Maria Eladia was born and raised in the Philippines with her mother and father who began a business sharing their cooking with the people in their community.
Eladia’s mother started a small, unofficial business in her backyard. With a factory in front of her home in the Philippines, her mom didn’t let the opportunity pass her by.
She began making food and selling it to the factory employees. Once they moved to a new home, her parents opened two restaurants. Now, Maria and her husband, Jay R. Cabasag, have started two of their own businesses in Muncie.
Eladia met her husband in the Philippines when they were in eighth grade. Following Maria’s move to the United States to finish college, Cabasag joined her.
In May 2023, Eladia and Cabasag opened PositiviTea, a boba tea shop on McGalliard. They hoped to branch out in their incorporation of traditional Filipino food, beyond pre-packaged snacks.
After selling boba and Filipino snacks to people in Muncie for over a year, they opened Baryo in August 2024 in downtown Muncie.
“Filipino food, there’s a lot of flavors in there, especially with my personal favorite, which is the pancit. It’s like noodles, and we have a lot of varieties,” Eladia said.
Baryo has pancit bihon or pancit canton, describing the thickness of the noodle. Either is served with your choice of meat. They also have a dish that blends the two as well as pancit palabok, served in a rich and savory shrimp sauce, and pancit malabon, served with a savory sauce and “generously” topped with seafood.
Onnie Adams has been a server at Baryo since the family business opened. He encourages people to ask questions when ordering and is happy to give recommendations to people less familiar with some of the items on the menu.
“That’s why I feel like I’m here. I mean as a server … I really just want to make their experience,” Adams said. “Don’t be shy to come through.”
He also recommends people come to enjoy their food in groups. He said it’s common in the Philippines for everyone to order individual entrees but share with everyone at the table so “everyone gets a little pick of everything.”
In addition to serving, Adams aims to bring a warm and welcoming atmosphere and set the tone for people’s expectations.
“The impact Baryo has had for the community is just introducing a new cuisine to Muncie,” Adams said. “It’s something different, for sure, than just going to a chain restaurant.”
The food at the restaurant comes from Eladia’s family recipes, and her family has been a big support throughout the process of them starting their businesses, especially her mom who has been there from the beginning.
“My family's very supportive. They're really proud of us, and then they're the taste testers,” she said. “They tell us, ‘Hey, this is too sweet, tone it down a bit [or] your tea is too strong.”
When they get the chance, the family will come out from the kitchen and greet customers. Eladia has been surprised by the distance people are willing to go for authentic Filipino cuisine.
“We like to go around tables, and there’s a lot of Filipino people but not from Muncie,” she said. “I was so happy, they came from Ohio, Fort Wayne, I was like, ‘Do you guys have restaurants there right?’ and they were like ‘No.”
She said people have told her they prefer the food at Baryo compared to Filipino options that are closer to where they live. In addition to Ohio and Fort Wayne, she’s talked to customers living in Richmond and even Chicago.
“Our hearts are full because we didn't expect a lot of people that's gonna support [us] because there's not a lot of Filipino people here. So we figured, ‘Hey, we need to cater [to] everybody,’” Eladia said. “Seeing the community, the location — everyone supporting us feels great.”
In Filipino, the standardized form of Tagalog, the word baryo, or barrio, means village. The community that the Cabasag family has built surrounding Filipino food in Muncie is something they highly value.
Laurie Lunsford is an artist and spends a lot of time downtown near the Patterson Building. She has been a returning customer at Baryo since it first opened and said the food is “delicious.”
“I love that place. The food is [authentic] and it’s made from scratch, and it’s just got a lot of heart in it,” Lunsford said.
In addition to the food, Lunsford said in her experience the service is excellent and everyone is really friendly. She said she enjoys talking with Maria when she goes in and often recommends the experience to friends.
Eladia said one of the most rewarding things about opening Baryo and Positivitea with her husband has been people’s reactions when she sees them try her family’s authentic Filipino recipes. She appreciates the “bed talks” she has at night with her husband.
“My husband and I, before we go to bed, we talk, it’s cringy, but sometimes we cry. But the best part [is] the smile. The smiles, not only the employees but also the customers,” Eladia said. “You know, we get to be a part of their day. It’s a privilege for them to give us their time of the day, and then make something good for them that makes them smile.”
Reporter Maya Kim contributed to this article.
Contact Ella Howell via email at ella.howell@bsu.edu.
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