It’s a delightful surprise to find out that Singaporean writer Bryan Koh is a fan of Filipino food.
Koh puts lechon de leche, ube halaya and other Filipino dishes in the limelight in Milkier Pigs and Violet Gold: Philippine Food Stories, his book containing recipes and tales from his travels in Batanes, Cavite, South Cotabato, and Samar.
Koh owns the Singapore-based cake company Chalk Farm. His first book on Filipino food was entitled Milk Pigs and Violet Gold. Below is a shoft video feature on the said book.
Why would a Singaporean writer be interested in our food?
Koh grew up with a Filipino yaya, who introduced him to the wonders of sinigang, monggo guisado, pakbet, tortang talong, and suman when he was in primary school, Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.
“Isn’t that a better way of promoting our cooking than opening restaurants abroad?” asked Michaela Fenix, who had the pleasure of editing Koh’s book after they met at the Madrid Fusion earlier this year.
Milkier Pigs is the more extensive version of Koh’s first book on Filipino food, Milky Pigs and Violet Gold, which was published in 2014 and has won two prizes, Best Book on Food at both the 33rd National Book Awards and the Pupul ning Banwa awards in Singapore.
Koh has also writtern a book about Burmese cuisine called 0451 Mornings are for Mont Hin Gar.
Bryan Koh’s books are available online.
