“There’s a message to it: It’s our responsibility to keep Filipino food popular!”

At the launch for her book What Recipes Don’t Tell: Philippine Food History in Fifty Words, author and historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria talked to a rapt audience at the Philippine Book Festival about a long career of writing about food. What new things can food tell us about our own history? How did we adapt techniques and ingredients from abroad… while still preserving our own? And how should we nurture this knowledge for future generations?

Joining her in this panel were publisher and editor Karina Bolasco, graphic designer and fellow food scholar Ige Ramos, and printmaker Marz Aglipay. Through their shared history with Felice, they deepened the conversation with their own perspectives on creativity, design, and the space for food in the publishing landscape. 

Special thanks to the Ateneo de Manila University Press for inviting me to moderate this panel, and for letting me record this conversation.

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The Colonial Dept. Interview is a series where I talk to researchers and authors shining a light on our past.