Book Review: Filipinx - Heritage Recipes from the Diaspora

Editor's Note: This review was originally published in San Francisco Book Review.

Chef Angela Dimayuga

Food traditions symbolize family history and represent cultural pride. For Filipinx from different generations in the worldwide diaspora, the cuisines enjoyed by our ancestors and immediate relatives are what brings us close together as a community. Influences from our colonial history and contemporary streams of migration have transformed the Filipino palate. In an elegantly written and illustrated book, chef Angela Dimayuga and writer Ligaya Mishan collaborated to bring beloved and soul-satisfying Filipinx recipes to more than four million Filipino-Americans.

I read the book from the point of view of an immigrant who has been in the U.S. for more than thirty years. I was delighted to see traditional recipes for classic dishes like kare-kare, pancit palabok and embutido. I was intrigued by dishes that are not so familiar to my Tagalog palate, like homemade spam and pastel de lengua. Some featured recipes have an obvious American influence, such as Filipino spaghetti hotdogs.

This book belongs in every FilAm’s library, as well as everyone who appreciates Filipinx culture and cuisine. What sets the book apart is the rich storytelling that comes with each heritage recipe, where the authors share personal experiences and reflections. Memories of family icons and gatherings accompanied by historical photos may cause readers to long for the comfort and closeness of large family gatherings that make good food more enjoyable.

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