The Tatler Dining Guide Philippines
ALSO FILIPINO
75 REGIONAL DISHES I NEVER HAD GROWING UP
In this 194-page read that comes off more like an investigative joy ride rather than a straightforward Filipino cookbook, author Angelo Comsti, while still very much in his foodie element, delves into the delicious unknown. Sure, the world has come to know sisig quite intimately and then there’s the almighty adobo (case in point: we no longer have to italicise the exoticsounding adobo as per the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries), but it is the stories surrounding our little-known dishes that he found intriguing. And who wouldn’t?
His fifth cookbook to date, Also Filipino, as the title suggests, puts
forth 75 thoroughly examined recipes representing 22 provinces that are guaranteed to pique your curiosity. Seeking out these gems, not only to cure his own insatiable inquisitiveness but to spread the good word, Comsti traversed the archipelago, slurping and chomping his way up North to Batanes and then all the way back down to Tawi-Tawi.
Accompanying the list of ingredients and the step-by-step techniques required to recreate each curious creation are short stories that thoughtfully expose the dishes’ origins and how they are traditionally served. Whenever applicable, Comsti also attached a personality or a family to an heirloom recipe.
But why stop at 75? “It was all I could gather given the time frame,” justified Comsti of the RPD Publications' release, and whom has already given us four bestselling cookbooks, Home-madefor the Holidays, From Our Table to Yours, and Fuss-FreeFilipinoFood.
Concluded Comsti, “There is more to Filipino food than adobo, sinigang and leche flan. Growing up, that was my idea of our cuisine. The stuff I basically grew up eating at home. But as I travelled around the country, I realised that there is a lot more to Pinoy food and that it is quite diverse and varied. And since we’re hot on the topic of inclusivity, why not broaden our food knowledge and get to know the food of our people?” ■