Linamnam: Eating One’s Way Around the Philippines (Claude Tayag and Mary Ann Quioc)

A foodie couple eats their way around the Philippines in search of the proverbial Holy Grail. In this culinary travel guide book, not only do they lead the reader to the best eats every region has to offer, scouring the length and breadth of the archipelago, but also the why’s and how’s of what makes each dish unique and outstanding in its own right.

As staunch keepers of the flame of traditional Philippine cuisine (albeit leaning to Pampangan), the couple discovers the sheer variety and intricacies of this multi-layered cuisine, making it easier for the uninitiated to better understand what makes the Filipino eats what he eats, debunking the pronouncements of armchair pundits that Filipino cuisine is all brown, oily and unappetizing. Indeed, there’s more to it beyond the adobo, pancit and lumpia.