Highlights
- Passing cultural memories to younger generations is our responsibility
- Filipino cuisine is about sharing happiness to the entire food chain
- Filipino food historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria will be speaking at the Sahog Talks on June 13, 2020
"It's like being a detective. You put the evidence together and you come up with the story, with the conclusion," Filipino food historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria shares.
By turning the past into a narrative, history creates a public ethos and influences culture. It also moulds the outlook of the younger generation.
"We have a responsibility of passing on our cultural memory to the younger generation"
Felice has been gathering written and oral histories of our cuisine since the 1970s. Among her books is The Governor-General’s Kitchen: Philippine Culinary Vignettes and Period Recipes, 1521 – 1935, where Sta. Maria gives readers a glimpse of the changing social dynamics in colonial Philippines. The book placed second at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
Her other books include The Foods of Jose Rizal, A Cultural Worker’s First Manual: Essays in Appreciating the Everyday, and Heirlooms and Antiques, which received The Manila Critics Circle's 1981 Best Art Book award.
She also penned and researched the book Kain Na! (Let's Eat!) as she tirelessly sought to understand the Philippines’ richly diverse culinary traditions.
"I study food in order to find out what our food history would reveal about being a Filipino. Are we going to be a society that is honorable, excellent or virtuous?"
Source: Felice Prudente Sta. Maria
For Felice, Filipino Cuisine is not just about the cooking nor the food, it's about the spirit that the food represents.
"Filipino food is not just about the food and beverages. It's the attitude on which it is served. We want to make it a happy experience for everyone."
On June 13, 2020, Felice and Filipino Food Movement Australia will be taking her audience on a journey into the diverse and colourful cuisine of the Philippines through history in the first Sahog Talks.
Source: Filipino Food Movement Australia
The interactive virtual discussion will focus on the history and influences behind the classic Filipino dish Kare-kare.
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