The coming of Michelin Guide to the Philippines has sparked a renewal of interest in food literature and classic Philippine cuisine. It must be remembered that food literature began years ago with food scholars and literary figures like Doreen Gamboa Fernandez. I believe that Doreen, more than anyone else, was the person who really popularized food literature and the study of the history of food in our country. More than this, she was the first scholar to explain to the Filipino people the role of food in our culture and everyday life.
It seems timely that Doreen G. Fernandez’s and Edilberto N. Alegre’s “Sarap: Essays on Philippine Food” (Anvil Publishing, 1992) should be reissued today by Mara Coson’s Exploding Galaxies with its philosophy to bring back Philippine classics almost forgotten and long out of print. Fernandez’s “Palayok: Philippine Food through Time, On Site, In the Pot” was also a newly released companion volume.
The book title “Sarap” is the Filipino word for “delicious,” meant to be taken in its literal and metaphorical sense. It explores not just the flavors of Philippine cuisine but also “the sarap of life, memory and culture that food embodies.”
Between Fernandez and Alegre, the very readable book arouses such curiosity and pride in Philippine cuisine. In a sense, their goal was not producing an academic textbook but a book that awakens and engages succeeds. Originally written as short essays for newspapers and magazines, they combine interesting narratives and cultural insights.
If that sounds like a tall order to think critically while eating or feasting, it is only to invite us to share the authors’ scholarship, humor and affection for their subjects. Ultimately, to allow us to discover what it means to be Filipino.
It is a plus that with their travels and eating discoveries through Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, they were able to document regional specialties and local practices. Thus, “kinilaw” (raw fish marinated in vinegar) in Mindanao is documented as is the pancit Malabon or Ilocos empanada. This regional diversity attempts to cover the richness and variety of eating in the islands.
Fernandez writes that the Philippine table is “a living palimpsest,” with the rich layers of influences from Malay roots, Chinese traders, Spanish colonizers, American modernity and indigenous ingenuity. But she resists the simplistic view of Filipino food as merely a fusion cuisine, pointing out that the dishes are always “indigenized the foreign” – the outside influences transforming the dishes to the Filipino taste. Think of the pancit and lumpia, originally Chinese in origin, but adapted in a variety of ways in the regions. There is, of course, the Spanish adobo, cooked with vinegar and soy sauce, which has become a national comfort dish with enough variations for Kapampangan chef Claude Tayag to come up with a bestselling adobo book, “The Ultimate Filipino Adobo: Stories + Recipes from the Heart.”
A memorable essay by Fernandez is “Why sinigang?” as it explores the Filipino taste for sourness as reflecting both “climate and temperament, refreshing in the tropics, balancing richness and representing the Filipino’s pragmatic acceptance of life’s bittersweetness.”
Alegre writes about the carinderia or local eatery, calling it “a democratic institution, a space where rich and poor, student and worker, share the same dishes, equalized by appetite and conversation.”
Worth pointing out is how Fernandez and Alegre highlight the Filipino food vocabulary which is rich with words like sarap, asim, linamnam, malinamnam – all evoking different nuances and emotions.
To them, there is no single “Filipino cuisine” but many, with these common characteristics, the use of sourness, the staple sawsawan or dipping sauces to fine tune the dishes to one’s preference, the importance of rice as the heart of every meal. It was important for them to highlight the Ilocano pinakbet to Bicol’s laing, to the Visayan kinilaw to the Tausug tiula itum, so as not to define food only in terms of Manila standards. Because of their attention to provincial cooking, they have, in a sense, “democratized the culinary map, showing that authenticity resides not in elite restaurants but in the kitchens and markets of everyday people.”
The two authors are credited and acknowledged for their special expertise and writing style that has resulted into a successful “Sarap.” Two voices in harmony in their writing and retelling. Both allow us to experience sensory details that whet the appetite, “the sizzle of garlic, the tang of vinegar, the crackle of lechon skin.” Fernandez writes as a literary scholar in her graceful prose, while Alegre contributes humor and empathy. Alegre provides the academic and scholarly weight to the book.
As serious interest in Philippine cuisine is growing, “Sarap” provides the “historical and cultural grounding that prevents simplification or exoticism. The book is not a cookbook nor a guide, but one about relationships and values of everyday life. It is about the context that today’s food writers, scholars, chefs, cultural historians and food aficionados will appreciate and value, whether towards more food studies and explorations.” Fernandez points out that “food writing is not just about eating; it is about thinking, remembering and imagining.”
Three decades after its publication, “Sarap” remains relevant, useful and timely. And enjoy this edition’s attractive illustrations that enrich the book.
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Email: elfrencruz@gmail.com