Nina Daza-Puyat is truly her mother’s daughter

Nina Daza-Puyat is truly her mother’s daughter Last March 26, my cousin Nina Daza-Puyat launched her first children’s book, Ang Alamat ng Lumpiang Shanghai, at the Miriam College Environmental Studies Institute. When she invited us cousins to the launch days before the event, we were surprised because none of us had any inkling that she was working on a new book, let alone one for children.

The youngest child of the late culinary icon Nora Daza, Nina was the former editor-in-chief of Appetite Magazine. In 2020, she updated the classic 1965 cookbook of her mom, Let’s Cook with Nora, for today’s generation of cooks and foodies. Nina is truly her mother’s daughter. She loves trying out new dishes, buying food from street vendors, and going to the wet market to buy fresh ingredients so she can prepare a meal for the people she loves.

Because of the pandemic, I had not seen Nina for quite some time, but I could not let a milestone like this pass without congratulating her and picking her brain about what it was like to write a children’s book. Here are the highlights of the chat we had about Ang Alamat ng Lumpiang Shanghai.

Why did you decide to write a book about Lumpiang Shanghai?

“I was inspired to write a children’s story when I became a lola. I suddenly felt this need to start building a more concrete legacy that my children and grandchildren could be proud of.  The first decision was to write an alamat because I wanted the story to have substance and a moral lesson. The next decision was wanting the alamat to be about food and about a particular dish, not just a fruit, vegetable or place, like most legends tend to be.

“While Lumpiang Shanghai is not an indigenous Filipino dish, I don’t think anybody can dispute the fact that it is a dish that all Filipinos know and love. It’s an everyday dish as well as a party dish, and it can be street food or gourmet food. Fried lumpia is easy to make and it’s quite versatile. You can stuff the wrapper with almost anything — meat, seafood, vegetables, and it has evolved into so many variations over the years.”

What was your inspiration for the story?

“I want children and teenagers — the youth of today in general — to be more appreciative of food not just for the taste and pleasure it gives them when eating, but also for the hard work of so many people responsible for each step before it becomes a meal. Every little ingredient comes from somewhere and it’s made by someone, from food producers like farmers and fishermen, the person who shops for ingredients, the cooks in a restaurant or the cook at home.

“In the story, you’ll notice that there is an issue about hunger and lack of food, and that is something that really tugs at my heart. Hunger and social injustice are issues that I want children to be more aware of so that they don’t waste food and they will be more compassionate to those who have little to eat.”

What was the process of writing the book like?

“My process was very instinctive and not academic at all. I wasn’t even thinking of the key elements of a story that we learned about in grade school. I just wrote from the heart and what I thought would be interesting to the reader.

“After I zeroed in on Lumpiang Shanghai, I asked myself: How will the ingredients come together? That was the challenging part. The second challenge was, how do I justify the name without using the Chinese city of Shanghai?

“But the biggest challenge of all was looking for an illustrator. It’s really crucial to have a good collaboration between the author and the illustrator, and there has to be a meeting of minds. Out of curiosity, I signed up in an online job marketplace for artists and designers. I wrote a project brief, posted it, and in less than 24 hours, there were several artists from all over the world offering their services. I was so impressed! But then I realized that I needed a Pinoy artist who would get the nuances of Filipino culture and traditions. And so I changed my request and specified ‘Filipino artist.’

“My project was titled Ang Alamat and Sean Erwin Santia knew right away that I was also a Pinoy client. After he gave me two character sketches as samples, I fell in love with his work and hired him immediately. He’s really good with color, perspective, lighting and characterization. I asked him if there was anything he couldn’t draw because I needed to have people, animals, and landscape scenes, and he said, “None, I can do all that.”

“He would send me sketches first so I could see the angle and the layout, and once approved, he proceeded to color. This was all done digitally using freehand drawing. Sometimes, I would request him to add elements on the table or fix the facial expression of a character.

“This is Sean’s first children’s book project and he admitted that he didn’t expect me to be so involved in the process. He’s an animation artist/director and he’s used to working independently. But I also had my own vision and he had his own approach to the story, but we listened to each other. In the end, it was really a collaboration.

“Of course, not everything was smooth-sailing. In the beginning he would submit two illustrations in one week, but there were times, especially when the scenes became more complicated, I would wait 10 to 12 days and there was nothing. I was on pins and needles!

“I didn’t want to pressure him because I thought his work might suffer so I tried to be patient. He probably had other clients, too, and not just me, right? It turns out he got sick and couldn’t work for several days. So, I sent him little gifts to cheer him up. Imagine, I only met him for the first time in person during the book launch!”

Please share more anecdotes about the book’s development.

“Sean and I could get each other’s references even though he’s younger than me. There was a scene in the book where the Reyna had to look masungit and he said, ‘Dapat ba parang si Jaclyn Jose?’ And from then on we started calling her ‘Jaclyn Jose.’

“There was a time when he questioned how the female character could fly. He was thinking about the aerodynamics of it all and I said, ‘It’s a magical moment, OK? Anything can happen!’

“I also wanted the book to have something that will make it stand out from other children’s stories so I put in a recipe page. It gives me so much joy thinking about how the kids and parents will want to cook Lumpiang Shanghai together after reading the story.

“There’s also a QR code on the back cover which when scanned leads to an audio recording of the characters talking. This was recorded and designed by my son Joe, who’s a sound engineer. I hope that unique feature will entice people to know more about the story and eventually buy the book.”

How is writing a cookbook different from writing a story book?

“With my Mom’s cookbook, I stayed within certain parameters because I had to keep the recipes as close to the original as possible. Well, I did have a certain amount of creativity, too, because I had to make the recipes more contemporary with the addition of new ingredients available to home cooks today.

“With my story, I literally could do anything so I felt free and uninhibited. The whole creative process was so much fun and I truly enjoyed imagining scenes and dialogue, and made sure the emotions were real and relatable to both kids and adults. Now that I think about it, I would say it’s similar to concocting a new dish. You choose random ingredients that might go well together, apply cooking techniques and seasonings, and then make sure it tastes good in the end.”

Is this the beginning of a series of Alamats?

“Let’s see if the Holy Spirit will inspire me once again. I actually have another children’s story in the pipeline but it will only be published as an e-book.”

(Ang Alamat ng Lumpiang Shanghai is available on Shopee and Lazada for P395 per copy.)