We’re going to the province of Cebu, in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, to talk about a much-beloved way of cooking with Louella Alix, author of a book called "Hikay: The Culinary Heritage of Cebu".
Cebuano cooking in itself - like many regional cuisines of the Philippines, is a reflection of its landscape - with local communities that each have distinct ways of preparing meals and various traditional food products. Like "puso", those perfectly steamed heart-shaped rice packets, and the famous "sutukil".
I am so excited to dive into the regional cooking of Cebu. Let’s get to it!
Show notes
02:30 About
03:25 "I was commissioned to write about food"
05:30 The meaning of "Hikay"
08:05 How families eat
09:30 Writing to preserve culinary traditions
10:25 Cebuano adobo
12:10 Flavours of Cebuano cooking
13:30 The essence of tinolang/tuwang isda (fish soup)
14:00 Cebuano escabeche
14:50 "There's ginger in everything"
16:50 Utan bisaya and the need to keep vegetables whole
20:00 Finding "Lagda Sa Pagpangluto"
25:30 Recipes from the book
29:30 All about torta
35:30 "This is my life's work"
36:30 "Reality makes you optimistic"
41:00 A little context on local food culture
43:15 What happens when you eat an "old" dish
44:10 "Filipinos are all about food"
FIND THE FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE.