Sarap!

The coming of Michelin Guide to the Philippines has sparked a renewal of interest in food literature and classic Philippine cuisine.

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

It must be remembered that food literature began years ago with food scholars and literary figures like Doreen Gamboa Fernandez. I believe that Doreen, more than anyone else, was the person who really popularized food literature and the study of the history of food in our country. More than this, she was the first scholar to explain to the Filipino people the role of food in our culture and everyday life.

It seems timely that Doreen G. Fernandez's and Edilberto N. Alegre's "Sarap: Essays on Philippine Food" (Anvil Publishing, 1992) should be reissued today by Mara Coson's Exploding Galaxies with its philosophy to bring back Philippine classics almost forgotten and long out of print. Fernandez's "Palayok: Philippine Food through Time, On Site, In the Pot" was also a newly released companion volume.

The book title "Sarap" is the Filipino word for "delicious," meant to be taken in its literal and metaphorical sense. It explores not just the flavors of Philippine cuisine but also "the sarap of life, memory and culture that food embodies."

Between Fernandez and Alegre, the very readable book arouses such curiosity and pride in Philippine cuisine. In a sense, their goal was not producing an academic textbook but a book that awakens and engages succeeds. Originally written as short essays for newspapers and magazines, they combine interesting narratives and cultural insights.