A 22-province food trip

Food writer Angelo Comsti recently launched his fifth cookbook called Also Filipino: 75 Regional Dishes I Never Had Growing Up, with Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat as special guest. In this book, Angelo recorded unfamiliar recipes he picked up throughout a  22-province sojourn.

The launch, held at the Garden Ballroom of EDSA Shangri-La, Manila in Mandaluyong City, gathered some of the who’s who in the local F&B industry including Margarita Fores, mother-and-daughter foodies and excellent cooks Bella Yuchengco and Sunshine Puey, author Beth Romualdez, and siblings Nina Daza-Puyat and Sandy Daza.

Others who came to celebrate the man of the hour were Discovery Primea’s David Pardo de Ayala, The Peninsula Manila’s Mariano Garchitorena, City of Dreams Manila’s Charisse Chuidian, Liz Uy and Karylle Yuzon.

During the program hosted by Ces Drilon, Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat gave a speech before Angelo thanked guests and the people who made the book possible.

Guests enjoyed a Pinoy merienda buffet that included select dishes from the book.

Recipes in the book include Bibingkang Abnoy, which is rotten duck egg omelette, a specialty from Laguna; Sinuwan and Palusag from Bicol, both of which use taro leaves;  and Inkalti from Ilocos, a dessert made with bilo-bilo and root crops. Angelo said he never had those dishes growing up. That was the first time that I heard about these very interesting dishes.

There were recipes in the book that were handed directly to Angelo, and there were some that he adjusted based on how it was told to him. He also had to rework some recipes so people can do it in their home kitchens like the Bingka, which is usually cooked over burnt coconut shells.

The wonderful book was conceptualized by Angelo, design was executed by Alpha Garcia and photography by Mylene Chung.

(The book is available at www.thekitchenbookstore.com.)