Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 22 | Page 21

November 16 - 30, 2018
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
21
A buffet of Fil-Am and Fil-Canadian cookbooks
NEW YORK — This year
offered
a
smorgasbord
of
cookbooks by Filipino American
and Filipino Canadian authors.
Here’s a handy recap for those of
you who are looking for gift ideas
for the year-end holidays.
But before listing the new ones
down, a cursory internet search for
the lineage of Fil-Am cookbooks
reveals that one of the earliest
published ones that is still available
seems to be Philippine Cooking
in Americaby Marilyn Donato. It
was first published in 1972, and
according to its website, is now on
its 8th edition.
Global
This year, Filipino Canadian
Liza Agbanlog, an educator
and
homemaker
who
also
maintains the food blog Salu Salo
Recipes, authored the cookbook
Quintessential Filipino Cooking: 75
Authentic and Classic Recipes of
the Philippines. Agbanlog provides
personal takes on the recipes
she has brought over from the
Philippines to Canada.
Filipino Americans such as
White House chef Cris Comerford,
cable channel TLC’s “Food Buddha”
host Rodelio Aglibot and TV cooking
competition shows “Top Chef” and
“Chopped Grill Masters” former
contestant Chrissy Camba, are just
a few of the personalities featured
in The New Filipino Kitchen:
Stories and Recipes from around
the Globe.
This book contains not only
recipes but also essays and interviews
with Filipino chefs, restaurateurs
and other personalities around the
world. It’s edited by Jacqueline
Chio-Lauri (based in the United
Kingdom) with food photography
by
Rowena
Dumlao-Giardina
(based in Italy).
Other Filipino Americans
featured in the book include
Paolo Dungca (Restaurant Eve
in Washington, DC); Cristina
Quackenbush (Milkfish, formerly
a restaurant but now only pop-up
dining events, in New Orleans); Ray
Espiritu (Isla Pilipina in Chicago);
Robert Menor (Bonifacio in
Columbus, Ohio); and Alexa Alfaro
(Meat on the Street food truck in
Milwaukee). Filipino Canadians
include Allan Pineda (Manila Nights
pop-up dining events in Winnipeg)
and food writer Nastasha Alli.
Fil-Am writers and organizers
featured in the book include Dalena
Benavente (author, Asian Girl in a
Southern World), Marilyn Donato
(author, Philippine Cooking in
America), and Joanne Boston-
Kwanhull (co-director, Filipino Food
Movement).
Barbecue and bar bites
Writer and graphic designer
Alex Paman spent more than
a decade to research for his
book Filipino Barbecue, where
he discusses marinades, rubs
and grilling traditions from the
Philippines and “scrumptious pork
skewers” all the way to “centerpiece
whole roasted pigs.”
Self-taught home cook turned
food-truck entrepreneur, Marvin
Gapultos has written his second
book, Pulutan! Filipino Bar Bites,
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
Appetizers and Street Eats,this
time focusing on bar snacks. Here
he uses his Certified Cicerone
level (Cicerone is a beer expertise
certification program) to good use
as he recommends beer pairings
with his recipes.
Instant
Food journalist Elizabeth Ann
Besa-Quirino (who maintains the
food blog Asian in America) has
added another title to her series of
books, this time targeted at busy
individuals who need to get their
food cooked quickly.
Instant
Filipino
Recipes:
My Mother’s Philippine Food in a
Multicooker Potshows how to use
digitized pressure cookers (the
popular brand these days is Instant
Pot) to reduce the traditionally
long-ish times for braising, boiling,
simmering, and roasting that’s
required of typical Filipino recipes.
In this case, her own mother’s
heirloom recipes.
Restaurateur Nicole Ponseca
and her Dominican American
partner, chef Miguel Trinidad, have
authored I Am Filipino: And This
is How I Cook. The couple owns
restaurants
Maharlika
Filipino
Moderno and Jeepney Filipino
Gastropub, both of which are
in New York. The book is part
travelogue, chronicling the pair’s
research forays to the Philippines.
The couple’s recipes range from
traditional to contemporary, spread
across nine categories. (Walter Ang
- @inquirerdotnet)