On a Sunday, when families usually get together for lunch or dinner, a motley group of food writers gathered onstage for the National Book Store (NBS) and Anvil Publishing Cook+Book event at NBS Glorietta. We were all authors published by Anvil and the event hoped to inspire the audience to write about food, publish their recipes, maybe blog better and, of course, buy our books.

 

In the group was Clinton Palanca, whose “The Gullet: Dispatches on Philippine Food” (2016) quietly made its way into the book scene. He writes for various publications and is a regular Inquirer Lifestyle contributor whose food and restaurant reviews stand out for their honesty.

 

But if you like to read him because he writes well, his book should be a good gift to yourself. His food writing is certainly helped by his studies at Le Cordon Bleu Paris and because he used to be a restaurant owner. His articles are part treatise on Filipino food, part travel series, and personal musings about his life.

 

During the open forum he had a good insight on Instagram—photos that cannot be featured are stews or those presentations with height because those are difficult to capture by the mostly amateur photographers. So, Instagram has made chefs do food that can be “Instagrammed.”

 

Another writer in the event was Blanche David Gallardo whose book, “The Expat Kitchen: A Cookbook for the Global Pinoy” (2016), has more than 200 recipes. Blanche, an overseas Filipino worker when the word didn’t yet exist in the 1960s, worked as a journalist in Hong Kong, writing in The Asia Magazine.

 

She admitted not knowing how to cook, but because the magazine needed to feature food as part of the Lifestyle section, she was forced to try out recipes. Her husband Bert, the magazine’s artist who also cooked for the family, guided her.

 

It also helped that when she was writing for the Philippine Herald before her Hong Kong stint, her editor was Enriqueta David-Perez, whose “Recipes of the Philippines” (NBS) was one of the earliest published cookbooks in the country. My copy, published in 1973, was already its 19th printing.

 

Because Blanche lived in Hong Kong and Singapore, she found Chinese recipes simple enough for amateur cooks.

 

Her question during the forum was, how come the spices that our Malay ancestors used and are still using didn’t seep into Filipino cuisine?

 

Editha Singian, known in food circles as a recipe/menu consultant and a trainor, said she wanted to be a doctor and ended up marrying one. But even if she didn’t want to be a housewife, she excelled in cooking. Her book, “Sweet Temptations: Cakes, Pastries and other Bakes” (2014), was nominated for best book, food category, of the National Book Awards.

 

The rest of us, Nancy Reyes Lumen, Claude Tayag and yours truly, are veterans at these events that include book launches.

 

Nancy’s “Adobo Book” (2004), written with Reynaldo Alejandro, is a compilation of recipes that illustrate just how varied adobo is in the country.

 

Claude’s “Food Tour” (2008) and “Linamnam: Eating One’s Way Around the Philippines” (2012) written with his wife, Mary Ann Quioc, are records of their travels and the food to be found in those destinations.

 

My “Country Cooking” (2014) focuses on regional foods, their ingredients, methods of cooking and the cooks who have kept the local cuisine alive.

 

Some questions from the audience: whether everything should be revealed in a recipe, including ingredient quantities (no secrets, we said); do we authors all love to eat (a requirement to become a food writer); and what is important for an aspiring food writer to do (read and read).

 

Glenda’s Via Mare

 

There were two book launches last week.

 

“Via Mare: 40 Years of Iconic Events through Menus, Recipes and Memories” (Via Mare, Anvil Publishing) at Ayala Museum drew friends and long-time customers of the restaurant.

 

The book tells the story of how Via Mare began as a fine dining seafood place in Makati in 1975—when such restaurants and five-star hotels were needed because the International Monetary Fund was holding its annual meeting in the Philippines the following year.

 

Eventually Via Mare shed off its high-end concept to become a casual café serving Filipino food, though the fine dining continued through its catering arm that has done catering for thousands of international conventions as well as small private receptions.

 

The book’s last chapter, titled “Glenda’s touch,” focuses on the person behind Via Mare’s success.

Felice Sta. Maria, in her foreword, wrote that “Glenda Rosales Barretto would move Philippine cuisine upwards onto a new high plane of creativity, innovation and artistry over decades.”

 

And yet, in her welcome remarks, GRB, as Glenda is known at Via Mare, directed her gratitude to the people she considers her partners in the enterprise, and who that evening proved why Via Mare is still running strong—as the oysters, bibingka, bisque, fine wines and other fare served by efficient and attentive staff attested to.

 

Sofitel Philippine Plaza also launched “A Decade of Spiral: Celebrating a Journey of Taste” (Sofitel, ABS-CBN Publishing). It is a recipe book of food served at one of the best buffets in the country, with chapters on salads and vegetables, fish and seafood, lamb, cheese, chicken, pork, duck, beef, and essays on wine.

 

Instead of just sampling everything, guests were treated to cooking demonstrations such as the proper way to do shrimp tempura (batter should be cold so the coating is crisp) and how to successfully cook foie gras (pan should not be too hot so the fat doesn’t ooze out of the liver).

 

And because ABS-CBN was involved, Judy Ann Santos was on hand to bring guests to the demos, as she, like all of us, relished the foie gras that brought guilty smiles on our faces.

 

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