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‘Kain Na!’ is the first illustrated guide on Filipino food and wow, what a deliciously beautiful book!
Check out “Kain Na!”
It claims to be the first illustrated guide to Filipino food, written by award-winning authors culinary historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria and Bryan Koh of Singapore.
Apart from the delicious stories, both informative and aha-inducing, the 212-page book is filled with incredibly beautiful illustrations by young artist Mariel Ylagan Garcia.
“That’s what sets it apart. It’s something that no publishing company has done in the past. We’re kind of the rebels, we do a lot of crazy things,” said a beaming Rajiv Daswani of RPD Publications.
It is divided into 12 clever chapters: Almusal (breakfast), Lutong Bahay (home cooking), Meryeinda (afternoon snacks), Lutong Kalsada (street food), Paghimagas (dessert), Pulutan (bar food), Pang-Pista (festival food), Inumin (beverages), Sa Panaderya (baked goods), Kakanin (rice delicacies), Sawsawan (dipping sauces), and a glossary on must-have Filipino ingredients.
Supported by Asia Society, the “very first illustrated guide to Filipino food” was launched over the weekend at Shangri-La at The Fort’s High Street Lounge, attended by celebrated chefs Sau del Rosario, Margarita Fores, Josh Boutwood, and Myrna Sequismundo, as well as culinary personalities Joel Binamira (of Zubuchon fame) and famed author and visual artist Ms. Gilda Cordero-Fernando.
Publishing rebels
The idea for the book came to Rajiv Daswani (of RPD Publications) and his business partner Miguel Angeles while on a trip to Vietnam in April 2018.
“We saw this Vietnamese illustrated book on Vietnamese food, so we came up with the idea of doing something like that for Filipino food,” Daswani shared with GMA News Online on the sidelines of the launch.
“From the start, we really wanted to work with Felice Sta. Maria because she’s a very good friend. Bryan (Koh) came into the picture much later on. We wanted it to be substantial. Ms. Felice did all the common [food] and we spoke with her and said we wanted to include a lot of the stuff that are not exactly very common, too. The book is geared towards tourists and the international market.”
Miguel adds, “It’s one thing to talk about Filipino food, but it’s [another] thing to represent Filipino food visually to introduce it to the world. If a picture can paint a thousand words, (how much more) can ‘Ka?in Na?!’’ do?”
Giving back to the community
RPD Publications has partnered with Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte so that a portion of the proceeds from the book sale will be donated to the Quezon City Performing Arts Development Foundation (QCPADF).
“I am very grateful that Rajiv [Daswani] has chosen the foundation that I established back in 2001 the QCPADF. It is a foundation composed of children coming from very marginalized families in Quezon City, families whose total monthly income is P5,000 or less but who have a talent in the performing arts,” Mayor Belmonte said, sharing that the foundation now has about 400 scholars in voice, dance, and musical instruments training.
“They have won many medals for Quezon City and the Philippines from all over the world… If you buy this book, you will be helping a scholar pursue his or her dreams. This generosity of yours will help them achieve a better future,” the newly elected mayor adds.
A veteran, an adventurer, and a novice
With veteran author Felice Prudente Sta. Maria at the helm of the project, “Kain Na!” boasts of richly informative and mouth-watering content.
Addressing the audience at the book launch on August 31, Felice said “For Filipinos, food and hospitality are not about a place, they are about loving you, wanting to make you happy, and so in the Philippines when everybody asks you what’s Philippine food? It’s what we serve you so that you will all be happy,” the soft-spoken author of multi-awarded books “The Culinary Culture of the Philippines” and “The Governor-General’s Kitchen”.
Joining Felice in this culinary endeavor is Singapore native Bryan Koh, author of “Milkier Pigs Violet Gold” (another book celebrating Filipino cuisine).
Between the two, he is the traveler with “Ka?in Na?!” becoming his repository of stranger and delightful culinary finds throughout his six-year travels around the Philippines.
“I was actually approached while I was in the UK last year, Rajiv [Daswani] gave me a call and he said, ‘Given all the years you’ve spent traveling around the country, we felt that since we want to speak to an international audience that it’ll be good to know from a foreigner what you think would best describe or represent and illustrate the diversity that Filipino cuisine has to offer’. So, that’s exactly what we did,” Koh recalls.
“Ka?in Na?!” — with all the painstaking detail that went into the research, writing, and illustrations — feels like love letter for Filipino food: Unapologetic, warm, and in its own way, nourishing for the soul. — LA, GMA News
“Ka?in Na?!” is available at The Kitchen Bookstore for PhP995.
