Food video creators weigh in on preservation, innovation, and buying local

THERE’s been a palpable resurgence in Filipino food over the last 10 years. New restaurants are either finding new ways to prepare Filipino food, or are showing off with heritage recipes found through copious amounts of research.

- By Joseph L. Garcia Senior Reporter

That, or old favorite haunts are cherished again. But another effect of this is the proliferation of online videos about Filipino food: either it’s just another vlogger discovering an old carinderia (roadside eatery), or an established chef showing their beloved recipes online.

For The Histolinarya Collective’s Roberto Villarcabral and Martin Narisma, food editor at The Fat Kid Inside studios (his boss, Erwan Heussaff, won a James Beard Award in 2023 for his Instagram account that featured Filipino food), talking about Filipino food is a serious business. Nominations for the FEATR YouTube channel under The Fat Kid Inside followed the next year for three documentaries, including their films on chocolate and calamansi (a Philippine citrus), and their series on Filipino salt. As for Mr. Villarcabral, Histolinarya’s (a portmanteau of “history” and “kulinarya” — an approximation of “culinary history” in Filipino) Facebook and Instagram accounts have thousands of followers; and has worked directly with government institutions to promote Filipino food.

In previous interviews, Mr. Villarcabral expressed having a curiosity about Filipino food since before he was 10 years old. This went hand-in-hand with his own enthusiasm for film. This culminated with his 2023 project, The Lost Filipino Cookbook, which transitioned to The Histolinarya Collective. “Food came in before film,” he said in an interview in July over tea at Chef Jessie in Rockwell (where he had served as an intern), “From there,” — he made a schwoop sound — “it just went like that.”

A FOOD JOURNALIST

Histolinarya’s accounts dive deep into historical records and archives to teach viewers about how food used to be: without him, we wouldn’t have found out about tsin-tsdo, a predecessor to sagot gulaman (a sweet drink with jelly); or a prewar ensaymada (a Filipino sweet bread) using Bruun butter (a brand that no longer exists in its native Denmark).