Tikim: Essays on Food and Culture by Doreen G. Fernandez


I promised myself that I would never buy a book that I wouldn't read. I have a pile of books I shopped years ago, enough to supply me with reading materials for quite some time. However, aside from leisurely reading, I also buy books for research. Sometimes, it would cost me an arm and a leg, but never mind, that's another story... Not feeling well today, I dropped by the mall to buy medicine and my spirit guide (if ever I really have one) whispered I should drop by the only bookstore in town... There I saw a good find! Doreen Gamboa's seminal work, Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture. A first edition or original print would cost a huge some from Filipiniana booksellers, but thankfully, this latest edition Anvil is fairly affordable. 

This  Negrense writer  may be described as the "compleat writer". Her writing could be defined as "incisive yet soulful" and her ability to grasp the Filipino culture lies on her ability to permeate in the hearth and home, as well as in Filipino cooking.  In her words, writing about Filipino food should not be solely left to food critics, columnists or restaurant reporters. It should be the business of historians, dramatists, essayists and poets. Food writing "is an act of understanding, an extension of experience of experience. If one can savor the word, then one can swallow the world." She died 18 years ago but her work as a food historian and writer lingers to this day. This year, Anvil has revised, updated and reissued this 1994 original to allow us to explore the local and global nuances of Philippine cuisine through its people, places, feasts, and flavors.

Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture is a groundbreaking work that introduces readers to the wondrous history of Filipino foodways... After indulging on this purchase, I went home feeling better.  (Originally posted on my IG handle @khristian_george_writer last February 2019.)

About the Author 

Doreen Gamboa Fernandez (1934-2002) was born in  Silay City, Negros Occidental. She otained her A.B., major in English and History in 1954 from St. Scholastica’s College, Manila; completed her M.A. in English Literature (1956) and Ph.D. in Literature (1976) from the Ateneo de Manila University. She began teaching at the Ateneo de Manila in 1972 and has chaired the departments of Communication, English and Interdisciplinary Studies. In 1998 she was recognized with Metrobank Foundation’s Outstanding Teacher Award. She was twice a recipient of the Fulbright Asian Scholar in Residence Award (1983, Ohio University Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute; 1992, Michigan University Seminar on Southeast Asian Literatures in Translation).

A prolific writer, she authored: the “Iloilo Zarzuela: 1903-1930” (1978); “In Performance” (1981); “Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture” (1994); “Face to Face: The Craft of Interviewing” (1995); “Palabas: Essays on Philippine Theater History” (1996); “Fruits of the Philippines” (1997); “Palayok: Philippine Food Through Time, On Site, In the Pot” (2000). 

She received the Achievement Award from the National Research Council in 1997; and in 1999, was recognized with the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts (Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Philippine Centennial Commission), honoring 100 Filipinos who helped shape the arts in the Philippines in the last century (1898-1998).

You can order a copy of Tikim via Anvil's website, Shopee and Lazada

Some more interesting reads about Doreen Fernandez and Tikim:

She Was Filipino Food’s Greatest Champion. Now Her Work Is Finding New Fans. (via New York Times) 

Here’s Why Food Historian Doreen Fernandez is a Vital Part of Today’s Culinary Scene (via Pepper) 

Why 'Tikim' is the essential book on Filipino food (via CNN Philippines) 


Libraries and Cultural Heritage: A National Heritage Month Webinar


May is declared as the National Heritage Month in the Philippines. The celebration aims to create among the Filipino people a consciousness, respect, and love for the legacies of the nation’s cultural history. The Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office of Capiz has organized a series of webinar for this monthlong and I was privileged to have been invited to speak on the topic "Libraries and Cultural Heritage." You can watch my full presentation here:

Here is a portion of my talk:

Culture is an endless source of inspiration in whatever endeavour one wants to take. For every cultural worker, be it a writer, dancer, singer or performer, drawing on one’s culture and heritage is an opportunity to popularize and disseminate our rich traditions to the younger generation, who, more often than not, get absorbed into foreign culture. While reading popular literature, savouring international fare, or singing foreign songs are not wrong at all, one should not forget that our stories are as colourful as theirs, our food as tasteful as any other country’s and our imagination is as creative as any one else’s. Librarians are at a great position to effect cultural advocacy and literacy to fellow professionals, the younger generation and the community to rise up and embrace our own culture and heritage as Filipinos. 

Nick Joaquin said, “identity is the history that has gone into the bone and blood and reshaped the flesh. Identity is not what we were but what we have become, what we are at the moment.” Whatever identity we have at the moment is the product of our culture and heritage.

You can download a full copy of my lecture notes here.

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