PH Hoffer Book awardee

Filipino cookbook emerges first runner-up in 2019 Eric Hoffer Book Awards


Roy Mabasa
Manila Bulletin
07 June 2019


Following its successful worldwide release last year, “The New Filipino Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Around the Globe,” a cookbook edited by Filipino author Jacqueline Chio-Lauri bagged the first runner-up under the Home Category of the highly-prestigious 2019 Eric Hoffer Book Awards.

The New Filipino Kitchen is a collection of well-loved Filipino recipes from the Filipino diaspora community around the world. (PHOTO FROM PHILIPPINE EMBASSY IN LONDO VIA DFA / MANILA BULLETIN)

United Kingdom-based Chio-Lauri said the recognition spoke volumes, and was an “affirmation of the rich pool of talent” in the Filipino diaspora.

“To stand out in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of books published is an incredible feat. It’s proof that if we work together—the book is a labour of love by many migrant Filipinos from around the globe—we make a bigger impact.

Each award or achievement the book garners is great light shining on Filipino food and the Filipino people,” she added.

The book is a celebration of Filipino cuisine and culture, with more than 30 personal stories and recipes from chefs, home cooks, and writers from the Filipino diaspora.

Since its release last September, the book has gained positive reviews from renown personalities such as Emmy-nominated director and executive producer of ‘Chef’s Table” Brian McGinn who described it as “an engrossing, page-turner of a cookbook.”

Among those who contributed their pieces in the book include White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, Bocuse d’Or Europe 2018 winner Christian Andre Pettersend, MasterChef New Zealand 2015 runner-up Leo Fernandez, five-time Palanca Award winner and poet Francis Macansantos, and the acclaimed Food Buddha, Rodelio Aglibot.

With nearly a decade’s experience in the food industry, Chio-Lauri’s writings have appeared in various anthologies and compilations such as “Tales of Our Lives: Fork in the Road”.

Her first book, “The New Filipino Kitchen”, won the Sunshot Prose 2018 Finalist Prize even before it was published.

Philippine Ambassador to London Antonio Lagdameo said the book’s recognition was a testament of how Filipinos around the world have done their part in elevating cooking into an art form and a powerful medium for telling the story of a diverse nation.

“The book underscores the important contributions Philippine cuisine has made in the rich culinary tradition of the world,” he said.

Founded at the start of the 21stcentury, the Eric Hoffer Award honors freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit, especially books that are from small, academic, and micro presses, including self-published offerings.