LORI BALTAZAR

FOOD MAVEN

LORI BALTAZAR IS NOT REALLY A FOOD WRITER. She is a romance novelist. Digitally cataloguing her lifelong love affair with food, her blog dessertcomesfirst.com is a gustatory tribute to the heart-racing, tongue-tingling, pleasure-inducing properties of what we eat. Effusive in her praise and poetic in her prose, one is both transported and hypnotized when sifting through Lori’s online journal.

“I’ve been called a food pornographer,” laughs Lori. Well, with suggestive phrases to describe a Margarita pizza like, “I want to bury my face in it and breathe deeply”, one wouldn’t exactly call this description unfounded.

She is on our Global Pinoys list because food is something that we are known for—tying Filipino families together, from carefully passed-on recipes to Sunday lunches with three generations in attendance. Through Lori’s writing, we vicariously feast on fresh seafood at Tsukiji Market or sip a P450-cup of Geisha Esmeralda coffee (noted to be the best in the world),

Lori writes, “Eating is such an intimate activity that to do it with those who don’t treat food with reverence is a heresy.” This philosophy permeates every lovingly shot dish and in her own kitchen experiments.

Speaking of food in pious, affectionately obsessive terms, it is no small wonder that dessertcomesfirst.com was featured in Wall Street Journal as one of the top dessert blogs in the world(-wide web). For many who claim to have food as their passion, few can meet the great act of Lori’s sevenyear-old blog.

“Life is an adventure, and Dessert Comes First is the story of mine. You’re always invited to come along for the ride – with plenty of stops along the way,” shares Lori.

Now for anyone who has bit into that lovingly baked cookie from mom or slurped that getwell-soon soup from a brother, you know Lori is special because she knows this simple truth— food is love.—MY