RIDING on a renaissance of Filipino food (the first list of Michelin stars awarded to the Philippines is set for release later this month), Exploding Galaxies, the publishing house known for reviving lost classics, relaunched the books Sarap: Essays on Philippine Food by authors Doreen Fernandez and Edilberto Alegre, and Palayok: Philippine Food Through Time, On Site, In the Pot by Ms. Fernandez.
Ms. Fernandez’ name is still said with reverence in food circles, having made her mark through her long-running food column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer and numerous books. Despite her passing in 2002, she is still remembered fondly by proteges, and in fact a food writing award seeking to emulate the magic created by the columnist is named after her.
As the late Clinton Palanca wrote in 2018 in an essay that serves as the foreword to the new edition of Sarap, “Doreen’s fame came from her power as a reviewer, and the legacy of her restaurant criticism overshadows the scholarship of Edilberto Alegre, whom she collaborated with on many of her books, not just on food. But his participation in their joint exploration of the many facets of Philippine food gives it an academic and scholarly weight that anchors Fernandez’ effervescent memories of her hometown in Silay or her metaphysical musings on Filipino identity as seen through food (though this is not meant in any way to diminish her own rigor as a researcher).”
Mr. Alegre, a BusinessWorld columnist for nearly 19 years until his passing in 2009, was a poet, writer, and researcher whose special concern was the shape and shaping of Philippine culture as revealed in language and literature, and as manifested in popular culture. He propounded the theory of indigenization based on his linguistic study of Filipino and developed a decolonized framework to better understand identity in the domain of food.
He wrote extensively — poems, stories, articles, columns, and books: Inumang Pinoy, Pinoy Forever: Essays on Culture and Language, Pinoy na Pinoy: Essays on National Culture, and Biyaheng Pinoy: A Mindanao Travelogue, released posthumously (he passed in 2009; related story: https://tinyurl.com/3zpsv4ay).
THE BOOKS GET NEW LOOKSIn their new incarnations, the books come with revamped illustrations and photographs. Sarap (first published in 1988), features the work of Gianne Encarnacion, Kitty Jardenil, Elle Shivers, and Eva Yu; the book itself was designed by Kristian Henson. Palayok (2000) now comes with photographs by Jilson Tiu, documenting “the eateries and arteries of Manila, of first catches and ferments, of kitchens, tables, and fiestas all over the country,” according to a statement. The book was designed by Miguel Mari.
During the book’s launch at Karrivin Plaza on Oct. 11, Exploding Galaxies’ publisher Mara Coson talked to BusinessWorld about giving new life to the previously lost classics: Sarap had not been seen on shelves for 40 years; Palayok, for 25.
“I like to say that we’ve kind of remained within the orbit of fiction,” said Ms. Coson of the publishing house’s focus. They are behind the republishing of Wilfrido D. Nolledo’s But for the Lovers, Linda Ty-Casper’s The Three-Cornered Sun, and most recently Erwin E. Castillo’s The Firewalkers. “Because a lot of people have really — even my sister, everyone I know — been looking for a copy of Sarap, and also Palayok, I thought: ‘well you know what? We’re here to print the lost classics of Philippine literature, let’s go with food.’”
She also discussed the decision on revamping the book with new images and illustrations: “I guess it was my excitement to work with Miguel Mari and Kristian Henson.
“I wanted to keep, maintain the text as it is. But then, I thought, working with designers, I also wanted to give them freedom to reimagine and figure out what they wanted to do,” she said. “It was interesting because it was two books done in parallel by two different designers, but they had to somehow come together side by side and make sense.
“It was an interesting evolution,” she said, but emphasized, “The text is still the same — it’s still the same words that people looked for. That’s timeless. We just repackaged it.”
SAYING YES“We had stops and starts already, several times before,” Maya Besa Roxas, niece of Ms. Fernandez and representative of her estate, told BusinessWorld when explaining why she said yes to this republication of her aunt’s books. According to her, management issues from Palayok’s previous publishers (along with the other publishing houses she had approached) had stalled the book’s revival (Palayok in particular, which was her aunt’s last). “I felt like it should be perpetuated, but plans kept going awry,” she said.
According to Ms. Coson, photographer Neal Oshima connected her to Ms. Roxas. After a few meetings concerning Palayok, they also agreed to republish Sarap. “She was able to manage, she was able to negotiate,” said Ms. Roxas regarding Ms. Coson.
When these books were written in their day, few could imagine how the food scene would be shaped in the future, and the books provide a slice of what food then looked, felt, and tasted like. Both sources, however, discussed the timelessness of the books.
Ms. Coson pointed out that while several places (and prices) written in the books no longer exist, “It still feels really contemporary. I don’t think that there was that big a bridge for them to cross,” she said. “A lot of people are looking for somebody to talk about food in terms of language, in terms of the adjectives we use, the body parts we use… there are people looking for that.”
Ms. Roxas said that one of the issues she faced with previous publishers was that “They kept trying to update it.”
“I said the point is not… it’s not a restaurant guide,” she said (Ms. Fernandez and Mr. Alegre had collaborated on the Lasa series of dining guides including 1989’s Lasa: a guide to 100 restaurants. — Ed.). “The point is not whether these places (still) exist or not. It’s how they talk about food, as a reflection of culture, not just as entertainment.”
As we’ve mentioned, the books’ reissue comes during a pivotal moment for Filipino food: the Michelin Guide has finally arrived here, and in years past, we’ve seen Filipino food in focus at the food congress Madrid Fusion, and Filipino chefs have garnered international recognition. Here at home, meanwhile, Filipino food and its accompanying aesthetics have become, well, cool.
The book launch was held in Makati’s Karrivin Plaza, which is also symbolic; aside from housing the Exploding Galaxies offices, it is the home to restaurants that are always contenders for the country’s best restaurants, as recognized abroad. All these combined, in a way, are a triumph for the authors beyond the grave.
“For me, that’s the most relevant point, the most powerful point that makes it still relevant. It’s because she [Fernandez] teaches us to love ourselves through food.
“I think the word is ‘prescient,’” said Ms. Roxas. “She was right.”
Sarap and Palayok are available to purchase via the website,www.explodinggalaxies.com, and in select branches of National Book Store, Fully Booked, Kultura, Mt. Cloud Bookshop (Baguio), and Everything’s Fine (Makati). They can also be purchased as a boxed set. — Joseph L. Garcia