LOOK: Two Classic Doreen Fernandez Books on Filipino Food Are Coming Back to Print

(SPOT.ph) "What goes around comes around" is often an ominous saying, but as with anything, it can also apply to good things that simply deserve their resurgence. In this case, that means that two books by the late, great editor and food writer Doreen Gamboa Fernandez are being republished this October.

It's not every day that we get back pieces of the past, and whenever we do, it's always a cause for celebration. Here's why the return of these books to general circulation marks a great time for Filipino readers and foodies alike.

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If there is one name anyone in the food writing and culinary scene ought to know, it's Doreen Gamboa Fernandez. Often referred to as "Filipino food's greatest champion," she dedicated her life to documenting, describing, and preserving local cooking traditions, flavors, and techniques. But Doreen—as she is personally and professionally called—didn't do this plainly; her prose, as seen in her numerous published essays and columns in publications like the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Manila Chronicle, was poetic and colorful, painting a picture of Filipino cuisine in ways it hadn't been before, with unmatched historical and factual reverence, long before anyone else.

Like the dishes she described, her prose was layered and seasoned with wit. A taste of it can be found in Sarap, where she writes: "So squeeze calamansi on your food; sprinkle it with patis; dip it in vinegar sprinkled with crushed garlic, black pepper, or incendiary chilis . . . Surround yourself, if you so please, with a galaxy of little saucers containing different flavor-teasing combinations."

Although Doreen passed away in 2002, her influence on the Philippine culinary scene transcends her lifetime, with many "new blood" chefs specializing in Filipino food, here and abroad, citing her work as transformative and required reading to gain a full appreciation of the cuisine. Think of it this way, if French cuisine has Julia Child, and American cuisine has M.F.K. Fisher, Filipino cuisine has Doreen Gamboa Fernandez, with New York Times food editor, Raymond Sokolov, once referring to her as "the most impressive food writer and historian I ever encountered."

Doreen has written countless essays throughout her illustrious career as a food historian, writer, and editor. Most of these were compiled into over 15 books, which she published from the late 1970s to 2000. Of all her books, readers may be most familiar with the book Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture, originally published in 1994 and currently in circulation thanks to Anvil Books, but that's not to say that it's her only book of note.

In 1988, Doreen partnered with Edilberto N. Alegre, who, like her, was a writer-researcher who concerned himself with understanding and shaping Philippine culture through language and literature. Together they created SARAP: Essays on Philippine Food. As implied by its title, it's a "compilation of essays about the life and ways of Filipino food." If you're not familiar with it, we don't blame you. It hasn't been republished since it first came out almost 40 years ago, but this October, SARAP joins PALAYOK: Philippine Food Through Time, On Site, In the Pot—another Doreen hit detailing the origins and evolution of Philippine cuisine—as it gets a new life courtesy of the publisher Exploding Galaxies.

More than just giving the new generation of readers and Filipino food enthusiasts access to the wealth of knowledge from Fernandez and Alegre, it's also an opportunity for more creatives to take part in the storytelling.

For the new edition of SARAP, the essays are accompanied by the work of four illustrators: Gianne Encarnacion, Kitty Jardenil, Elle Shivers, and Eva Yu. Meanwhile, for PALAYOK, Fernandez's writing is accompanied by photographs of the eateries and arteries of Manila, of first catches and ferments, of kitchens, tables, and fiestas all over the country, taken by Jilson Tiu.

Exploding Galaxies will be launching the new editions of SARAP and PALAYOK on October 11. It's the publishing house's first foray into non-fiction following the release of three fiction novels dubbed as "lost classics of Philippine writing."

"We started Exploding Galaxies so that we could bring the best of Philippine literature back to readers. Novels and fiction have been our focus, but we heard the call of Doreen Fernandez’s books as something just as urgent to republish. These books have long been out of print and yet so sought after," says Mara Coson of Exploding Galaxies.

So keep your eyes peeled and grab a copy of these two reborn classics when they come back to bookshelves this month.

For more information, visit Exploding Galaxies' Instagram account.

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