Everything you need to read, watch and listen to this month
READ
For alternative Filipino cuisne
IN THE KUSINA: MY SEASONAL FILIPINO COOKING by Woldy Reyes
Owner-operator of a boutique catering company in Brooklyn, New York, Woldy Reyes clearly knows his native Filipino cooking. But there’s something radical about his approach: doing away with meat and seafood almost completely. His Filipino spaghetti, for example, relies on burst cherry tomatoes and swaps out the fermented seafood paste (bagoong) at the core of that recipe for a veggie alternative with mushroom powder and coconut jam.
For the love of whimsical dishes
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO: THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK by Studio Ghibli
Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki, of the movie workshop Studio Ghibli, is beloved as much for the quiet domestic moments in his films as for their wild flights of fancy. Though filled with trolls and woodland sprites, his 1988 classic My Neighbor Totoro also takes time for many scenes of old-fashioned rustic cooking. The recipes on display, and others inspired by the movie – from Granny’s Ohagi to Soot Gremlin Donuts – are now complied in this beautiful official volume.
For the lover of fragrant Asian meals
SAOY: ROYAL CAMBODIAN HOME CUISINE by Chef Nak
Chef Nak has done more to promote authentic Cambodian food than any other advocate of modern times. Named Best Cookbook In the World at 2024’s prestigious Gourmet Awards, this handsome volume deploys solid kitchen sense with a keen eye for aesthetics and a certain storytelling flair, putting each dish in thoughtful cultural context. Some recipes have an aristocratic air that befits favourites of the Khmer royal household, but the grass roots are not forgotten in these gorgeous pages.
WATCH
FLAVORFUL ORIGINS
It’s bingeable enough with quick, short 15-minute episodes, but this survey of authentic Chinese cooking is not remotely superficial, and often more like a documentary travelogue than a simple resource for recipes. Each of its three seasons so far has covered a different geographic region (Chaoshan, Yunnan, Gansu) and each part has its own culinary focus, from gluten to mutton to tofu cake. The viewer learns a huge amount of new information and ideas with every densely packed deep-dive into a food culture that many just assume they know.
Available on Netflix.
LISTEN
TAKE A BAO
Malaysia-based host Jun Yi Loh presents this winningly curious-minded podcast on Asian foods and beverages, ranging across the Far East and its manifold gastronomic domains. Leading the listener to rice fields, tea plantations and fruit farms, she’s got a deep interest in the processes behind a given product, while her guest roster draws on the expertise of chefs, agronomists and anthropologists as well as chefs and food writers.
