Sarap and Palayok Reprint Bundle by Doreen Fernandez

This is a reprint of Sarap (1988) and Palayok (2000) by Doreen Fernandez.

"Somewhere in [Sarap], Doreen writes, 'Eating is the act of ingesting culture? In essay after engaging essay, food is a lens through which to view the world Filipinos live in: a melting pot of flavors and ingredients that reflect a people's rich environment, cultural diversity, and complicated history." -Howie Severino, journalist

"To take food as seriously as Fernandez and Alegre did in 1988 was bold and daring in all sorts of ways, but it was made all the more important because there was a solid backbone that ran through the diverse essays: it was about Philippine food as an essential marker of Filipino identity; it was a performative act of being Filipino." -Clinton Palanca, writer, columnist, and food critic

"Dining with Doreen and Eddy was part of my cultural education. She provided the historical context, he the anthropological, both of them in love with literature and words spoken, heard, written, and read. Food was not just for eating, but a past unearthed from historical sources, an experience tasted and documented, a window into the Filipino soul." -Ambeth Ocampo, public historian

"What shall we praise first: her gleaming prose, her wicked wit, her uncompromising intellect? Doreen G. Fernandez's subject was food in the most expansive sense, as a means of interrogating-and illuminating-society and self. Her greatest subversion was simply to observe, with patience, curiosity and compassion, the high and the low; the celebrated and the scorned; what brings us pride and what we hide in shame. That is, to testify to the world in all its particulars, as it truly is." —Ligaya Mishan, writer, The New York Times