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| Felice Prudente Sta. Maria |
Felice Prudente Sta. Maria
is an award-winning writer who takes a multidisciplinary approach in promoting
Philippine food history and culture. Since the 1970s, her essays, feature
articles, and columns about Philippine culinary arts have appeared in books and
periodicals that include, among others, the first coffee table book about
Philippine cuisine,
The Culinary History
of the Philippines (1976, edited by Gild Cordero Fernando).
Among her most
critically-acclaimed work include In Excelsis:
The Mission of Jose P. Rizal, Humanist
and Philippine National Hero, which won Best Biography and Best Designed
Book at the National Book Awards by the Manila Critics Circle. In 2002, she
authored the pioneering book A Cultural
Worker’s First Manual: Essays in Appreciating the Everyday, which was
awarded the Best Reference Book Award from the same organization and remains a
go-to resource for cultural workers.
In 2006, Sta. Maria
published her most-lauded work, The
Governor-General’s Kitchen: Culinary Vignettes and Period Recipes, 1521-1935, the huge book, which “gathers interesting and
little-known stories from historical sources about the Philippines’ culinary
culture” that spanned four centuries. It placed second in the prestigious
Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, the first time a Filipino book won an award in
the food history category.
In 2013, she released
another interesting tome, The Foods of
Jose Rizal, which emerged as the Country Winner and Finalist in the Food
History Category of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards presented in Paris.
Her ceaseless efforts in
advancing her cultural advocacies have showered
her with awards and adulation from generations of readers who find her work
evocative and enriching. For her
insightful cultural action, she was awarded the rank chevalier (Knight) in the Grand Ordre de Artes et Lettres by the
Republic of France. In 2001, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts
honoured her with the Dangal ng Haraya for her committed and significant
contributions to the field of cultural management. In the same year, she was
inducted in the prestigious SEA Write Award for Southeast Asian writers. In
2020, Manila Bulletin named her a
Living Legend for paving “the way for future generations to get to know how our
gastronomy has influenced our identity and shared values.”
Sta. Maria is the founding
chairman and president of the International Wine & Food Society Manila
Ladies Branch, and has served on the board of judges of the annual Doreen
Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award since its inception in 2002. Sta. Maria also served as president
(1986-1993) and vice chair for Cultural Development (1993-2000) of Metropolitan
Museum of Manila, founding Commissioner for Cultural Heritage at the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts (19920-1995) and a Commissioner to retool historical
site museums for the National Centennial Commission (1993-1999). She has also
served on UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines as a commissioner
(1992-2011), and has chaired its National Committee for Social and Human
Sciences since (1999-2011).
Presently, she is a
trustee at the National Museum of the Philippines and a member of the Ayala
Museum Board of Advisers. In 2019, she co-authored Kain Na! An Illustrated Guide
to Philippine Food, together with
Bryan Koh and illustrated by Mariel Ylagan Garcia. She is also experimenting
with the use of social media in promoting Filipino food history and culture.
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| Books written by Felice Sta. Maria in my home library. |
It’s indeed a privilege
that the “muse of public history” has spared us some time for this Q&A.
1.
How did you discover that you have the passion and the
talent for writing?
My university years at UP
Diliman began in 1965 before mass communications became a course offering. Journalism did not appeal to me as a career.
English literature was enjoyment but I did not want to teach the subject professionally. Speech and Drama had a major in broadcasting
that was appealing. The other majors
were theater arts (that I adored but did not have the courage to commit to) and
speech therapy (clearly not my interest).
The kind of writing we were trained in was for radio and television
shows although one of my favorite subjects was play writing. Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero taught the subject and
opened our teenage eyes to social realism. Behn Cervantes had just returned from
completing his masters in the USA so his acting classes were riveting. They helped us understand how to improve the
writing of dialogue and turn theater into both a serious realm and one that
could likewise sparkle with fun, laughter and song.
The meager training aided
me when suddenly writing for women’s magazines seemed to offer the flexible
hours and home-based work I thought appropriate for a new bride during the
early 1970s. Serendipity gifted me with
an introduction to the likeable Gilda Cordero Fernando, one of the most popular
newspaper columnists of The Manila Chronicle.
Over lunch around 1974 we decided I should write a test article for
Eggie Apostol, editor of Woman’s Home
Companion.
My byline began to appear
almost every week in articles that were well-researched. Gilda was associated editor of Filipino Heritage, a series about
Philippine history and culture being assembled for Paul Hamlyn, Ltd. of
Australia. She invited me to write on topics such as how the Phil-American War
began in 1899 and pangguingue (an old
card game) of which I knew absolutely nothing.
Carlos Quirino, the esteemed historian, was also an associate editor. He approved the war story, for which I
discovered what no one knew: the soldier who fired the first shot was a British
citizen not an American.
Gilda enjoyed the lifestyle approach I used
for the card game that my mother-in-law’s mother just happened to have played
in her Binondo home. At Lopez Library (what
I now consider my second home), the first book I picked from a shelf just
happened to have a footnote about panguingueon the first random page I looked
at! Talk about good luck.
It was others who
discovered I could research and create a story with depth for their popular
readership. Not until 2001 when I was
added to the SEA Write Award roster was I convinced I could write. The award is
considered the most prestigious for ASEAN authors. By then, I had written three
newspaper columns, an uncounted number of magazine articles, and several books
most of which had garnered national and international awards. When I saw the list of my esteemed and iconic
predecessors during the ASEAN ceremonies at Bangkok, however, I felt I had to
live up to having been given the award.
2.
What you do usually do when you write? Could you share
us your routine when you’re writing your books and articles?
I write almost every day.
Writing is my work, work I happen to enjoy very much. Because I have the reputation
of meeting my deadlines, if not being ahead of them, I need to stay focused.
Built into the daily routine are regular breaks to clear my mind, rest my
fingers, stretch and walk around for circulation, and give my eyes a break.
Being that I am a non-fictionist, there
is so much research, synthesizing of facts, analysis, and broadening of the
imagination required. I research several
works simultaneously, generally with a research plan and timetable. A work can also be the result of having so
much material about it already, information accumulated over years.
I commence writing by
creating a progression of ideas with keywords and often guiding sentences. Then
I fit in the research data. Only then do
I allow myself the freedom to decide how to treat or style the written
piece. Will it be written from the first
person singular or plural? Will it be
written in the past or present tense? Is
rhythm important to the work. For
instance if the article were about chopping ingredients, its rhythm would be
different from one about creating mayonnaise and other emulsions. Are taste
words vital to the article? Aroma
words? Textural feel words? Academic jargon? Terms from the street and
the new youth?
Since published works have
word counts, I determine how many parts and how many paragraphs per part are
needed. Word counts demand respect. For my newspaper columns I was always conscious
that every square inch was a privilege and a responsibility. The length of a manuscript affects the
selling price of a book. No author wants
to price a work out of its market. Word counts discipline selection of priority
ideas and literary techniques.
3.
What do you think are the parallels between food
[writing] and cooking that make each a satisfying endeavour?
Cooking is
multi-sensorial. Sometimes I dance as I
cook. Being passionate about preparing
food and styling a meal are very rewarding for me because they are creative
outlets for me. I might make place cards and menu cards from scratch, drawing
out patterns and coloring them in. Whatever strikes the fancy.
Food writing can be used
to awaken multiple senses like in cooking.
Those are fun works to write. For
whatever reason I am asked to write works that are less sensual and more
thinking pieces, though. In our advocacy
for writers to broaden their culinary works beyond relating first-person
experiences I probably have had to show examples. Whether the food or the article aim to be
sensorial or not, cooking up a pleasant meal and writing up a respectable work
worthy of sharing both feed me well. I always hope hey satisfy their readers.
4.
Why do you think it is important for every generation
to take a keen interest in documenting and writing about the food and the
culture associated with it?
It is a known fact in
cultural development that every generation must learn its culture. Learning
occurs through exposure to formal, non-formal and informal experiences. On a home and family level, elders transfer
cultural knowledge ranging from heroism and valor exhibited by ancestors during
wartime to favorite music pieces and how to prepare favorite foods. On a societal level a national narrative
should provide a cultural baseline that everyone feels they share. It unifies as it reassures a continuation of
attitudes, behavior, and values. Do we continue to enjoy culinary diversity
and international food without feeling our inherited culinary culture is
threatened? Do we continue to select
which foods from the past we will continue to cook and which we will simply
forget? Perhaps, because the ingredients
are not around or the techniques to make, the dish are too difficult to make?
Or will we innovate to keep the dishes alive but altered? Will slow-cooked
sauces become available in pouches to heat in a microwave oven or simply steep
in hot water? Will traditional foods
come canned or bottled or boxed and ready to eat?
Culture is a combination
of choices made by a generation. Every generation decides what it will become,
how it will be defined, how it will express itself. Writers are important in helping a generation
make choices. Writers express opinions
and help readers and listeners find their own voice, even the courage to voice
out their feelings and aspirations.
5.
What tips could you give to aspiring writers?
Writing requires skills in
thinking and expressing. Thinking is the
product of learning throughout a lifetime about a multitude of subjects. Today the sciences are important. So are their applications. Scientific findings affect everything from
what to eat and how to produce it. They
warn about pollution that can poison food while innovating means to make
post-modern nutritional discoveries palatable. Science also strengthens earlier
findings about the chemical effects of food on one’s mood and emotional
responses, on anger and on rage, on alertness for exams as well as calming for
a good sleep. Food writers need the
continuing curiosity to delve into scientific domains urging changes that range
from the ethical treatment of animals to fair trade. Are their botanicals and strategies for food
security and food safety from the past that might help in restoring a
sustainable food chain?
Food writing is not only
about what grandmother or grandfather cooked.
It is not only about personal preferences in food choices and the
excitement of tasting the world. Food
writing can become social and humanitarian advocacy just as it can feed
imaginations hungry for an elegance on the tongue from finest coconut sugar
blended seductively with delicate coconut cream or the beckoning sweetishness of a just caught maiden
shrimp for kinilaw.
How to express is the
writer’s signature voice. If one writes
for the reader and not for the writer there is a better chance at achieving
that amazing bond possible only from words of wisdom and wonder, words that
satisfy cravings for delight and even delusions of gluttony.
