Lynn sent the cookbook meme along my way and though I made a promise not to ignore the memes that I’m tagged with, I almost wanted to hide because I’m not in a position to say anything about cookbooks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: among food bloggers, I feel like a pariah. I don’t watch cooking shows and don’t follow food trends. I don’t buy cookbooks although I browse when in the bookstore.

The other day, I laughingly referred to myself a barrio cook. To non-Filipinos, a barrio (currently called barangay, reverting from the Spanish to the Malay term) is the smallest unit of local government, a nondescript village. Several barrios make up a town or municipality. Although we now refer to them as barangays, the term barrio still retains certain connotations, both negative and positive. If someone is from the barrio, he or she is seen as naïve and unsophisticated, even callous. Thus came about the term “barriotic” or almost primitive (in this sense a “barrio” is a far-flung community of considerable distance from the town proper). But as cooking goes, a barrio cook will know how to produce culinary gems from what seem to be ordinary ingredients and will spare no expense especially during fiestas. But this is only as far as traditional recipes cooked in the locality for decades is concerned. Present a new recipe with unfamiliar ingredients and procedures, a barrio cook will be at a loss. I may be more adventurous but I can still relate because I still have more cooking techniques to learn.

I intended to post this entry when Lynn gets back from Tibet but since I’ve also been tagged for another meme, I have to work on this now. Besides, I also found out that Ana, the lady at Pumpkin Pie Bungalow, is actually tracking down those who have been tagged for this meme.

1. Total number of cookbooks I own:

My mom and auntie have perhaps a whole bookshelf between the two of them and since I’m the heir apparent… hehehe! But those that I bought myself? Hmmmm… three!

Like a barrio cook I very seldom look up coded recipes but thanks to my mentors who have trained me to trust my senses, I can tell when something is cooked ‘properly’. It also helps that I can approximate the ingredients in a dish I eat somewhere and replicate the recipe at home.

2. Last cookbook I bought:

Oh, it’s been so long I don’t remember which. But the last food-related book I bought is Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture by the late Doreen Fernandez. I was trying to look for a layman’s introduction to Filipino food anthropology and somehow she’s the only source. She has other books which I plan to buy in the future but right now I’m looking for those with a political-economy slant. Hehehe, I’ll put a lot of people to sleep if I expound on this.

3. Last food/cook book I read:

Still Tikim, because I’m writing a paper which touches on our food culture. I somehow become wistful when I read the book, not because of the articles themselves but because of my indirect associations with Doreen.

In college, she was my roommate’s teacher - in freshman English and Journalism - and moderator in the student literary journal Heights - (correct me if I’m wrong Beatriz) and so I’d hear about how wonderful a mentor she was. Later on, when I came back to teach, we must’ve had classes in the same building and would pass each other in the hallways at least twice a week, see each other in the faculty lounge and be in the same university functions. I can’t pretend to have had deep and meaningful conversations with her but we had grown accustomed to seeing each other. Now, if I only knew then that I would be blogging about hometown recipes, I should have asked to sit at her feet.

Today, Dr. Fernandez for me is still Bea’s teacher and a dearly departed co-faculty member but she is also an author whose books I always refer to. With all the things that I want to ask her now, it’s bittersweet to think I knew her in her lifetime.

4. Five (cook) books that mean a lot to me:

Hmmm… this is going to be a challenge. In random order:

Vegetarian Cooking by Carole Handslip (Chancellor Press) - I am definitely not a vegetarian but we were brought up vegetable-loving. From this book I found a simple yet comforting minestrone, refined my recipe of hummous, found a fool-proof all-time everyone’s favourite stir-fry and other wonderful recipes.

Italian Kitchen by Alastair Little - it’s cultural and culinary notes are perhaps as equally valuable as the recipes, at least for me. This book reminds me of days when recipes were shared by neighbours and friends across fences or in the public markets. General instructions like “a pinch of this, a handful of that” yielded perfect dishes because one knew the principles behind cooking. Alastair sets out to show the principles behind Italian cooking from the start and proceeds on to build up from them as he progresses.

Eat Better Live Better (Reader’s Digest) - one of my mom’s cookbooks which I often consult for cooking western recipes. Like Italian Kitchen, it is more than just a set of recipes. It has whole chapters on knowing ingredients which include nutritional information, brief cultural notes, eating and exercise, cooking for special needs and so on. One of my favourite recipes from that book is a version of Pasta Provençale which I might post in the future.

We used to have a children’s cookbook which had mostly party food served in what I thought would be American children’s get-togethers (finger food like star-shaped sandwiches). I can’t find it now. A recipe I tested from that book is a strawberry ice cream pie using graham crackers, chocolate, marshmallows and strawberry ice cream.

The compilation of pamphlets on Filipino recipes from different regions my auntie gave me for Easter. I haven’t sampled the recipes yet but I’m now looking at similarities and differences between regions. Of course everything shall be written up in detail later on.

5. Which five people would you like to see fill this out in their blogs?

Charl – she’s been out of the country for most of her adult life, I’d like to see if her cookbooks are as cosmopolitan as she is.

Chronicler – she’s in the food industry, ladies and gentlemen! It would be interesting to learn what professionals read.

Marketman – he mentioned in one of his posts that he has a lot of cookbooks and other food-related literature. I would love to read about the particulars!

Minnette – a certified foodie, another disciple of Doreen (she and Bea were blockmates in school) who may have interesting stories to tell. I would love to know what food literature sits on her shelves.

Nupur – a recent blog acquaintance but I now look forward to reading her entries whenever I bloghop. I can’t believe she hasn’t been tagged for this meme yet (or I didn’t look hard enough).

That wasn’t so difficult! Thanks for tagging me Lynn and thank you Ana, for tracking us all!