Lasa, means taste
and a peek into a delicious project
Food for me has been a sensory portal. A powerful tool for cultural exchange. And cooking a form of self expression and a symbol of resilience.
In an upcoming episode of Adobo Yarn, I share how food and cooking has been my connection to heritage. I focus on cooking Filipino dishes when we migrated to Australia, as a means for my girls to connect with their roots, considering language was off the books. Pun intended.
20+ years in Australia, cooking for the family has reaped its benefits. And more than twelve years creating content over at my old blog, I’ve amassed hundreds of recipes that have become staple dishes at home. My girls know the smell of adobo even without leaving their rooms. During primary years, they preferred bringing pork sinigang in their lunchbox over a ham-cheese sandwich. And proud to say, they themselves are now quiet advocates of the cuisine outside of the home - inviting their friends from uni or work to dine at restaurants that serve the beloved classics. I am proud. And also in awe. I notice this in social media. A wave of second, third generation migrants from all across the globe are embracing their roots through food - becoming content creators cooking the food they grew up with, eating/cooking with their parents/grandparents. There is a whole new world of digital kitchens, and I think it’s a beautiful evolution!
And like traditions and rituals that I spoke about in a previous post, I honestly feel (actually, I know!) that these are the ways to capture stories and flavours that define our cultural identity. Whether you’re Filipino, Lao, Sri Lankan these contents capture the authenticity of the family meals that are being shared and replicated online.
It’s this spirit of preservation and celebration that inspired my own project - Lasa, A Taste of Filipino Home Cooking.
A cookbook project that started back in August 2023. I enrolled in a cookbook writing workshop and wrote my manuscript. October 2023 when I submitted a draft manuscript to a few traditional publishers in Australia, despite the imposter syndrome nagging me from behind and the fact that it is a niche product. But I submitted anyway, and did not hear back. Long story short, it’s obviously piled in the rubbish submissions.
But I am not one to give up easily. And who needs those traditional big name publishers anyway. I will self publish and found a company who value food and heritage as much as I do. And so I have testing recipes, doing cooking classes (to test them) and cooking and cooking and cooking.
Why am I sharing this now? Because I’m excited and hope you guys will be excited too! Whether you’re Filipino or not, we all have stories to tell. And because food is a universal language, my aim for “Lasa” is to share the stories of our culture and bridge a savoured connection for all generations.
Here’s a sample e-cookbook I played around with back in December 2023 to get into the groove, so to speak.
From me here in the Philippines, learning to cook our own food relatively late in life: thanks for the sample, and looking forward to seeing your full cookbook! 💗
Exciting!! Looking forward to seeing it come together!