Calling all UPLB students, faculty, staff, alumni, residents, friends and foodies...

Let out those nostalgic and recurring thoughts of food in and around UPLB. Help immortalize and celebrate the Los Baños community’s bountiful and colorful food scene. Be a part of the CHE Centennial Coffeetable Book: UPLB Eats! : A Centennial Keepsake of Recipes and Food Memories

Share your food stories and recipes today!

Start constructing those essays on food facts, memories and experiences on:

• Local food folklore
• Traditional and contemporary food and food uses/practices for all walks of life, across the lifecycle
• Food places/hubs/hang-outs
• Food activities and programs

or on anything that has/had influence on Los Baños’ (and its environs’) food use and meanings or alternately on the foodscene’s effects on the inhabitants’. The tentative outline below might be of help to you in starting up.

Send in your tried and tested recipes, artwork (poetry, photographs, illustrations) and other interesting materials relating to UPLB/LB’s food culture.

Prescribed Format for Entries

Essays should be no longer than 500 words. For those submitting recipes, we highly encourage you to submit as well anecdotes/description and photos of the recipes and recipe information as cooking tips, yield (no. of servings), preparation/cooking time and serving suggestions.

Electronic copies of documents and images are preferred. Entries should be submitted in MS Word (for text) and JPEG format (for photos/images). Images should not have sizes/resolution lower than 3.2megapixels or 300DPI (for scanned images).

The entries should include the name of the author/s (articles may have multiple authors), address, email address, phone number, UP batch and course or UPLB position/affiliation.

Let us all take pride of and celebrate our community’s foodways. Write your recipes and food essays today!

Submit your materials on or before April 30, 2008.

For submissions and queries, please do not hesitate to contact:

Prof. Melanie H. Narciso
Institute of Human Nutrition and Food
College of Human Ecology
University of the Philippines Los Baños
Office Phone No.: (49)536-2445
Email: nienarciso@aol.com

Note: The Coffeetable Book Committee regrets that not all entries may be included in the book due to space limits.

Tentative Outline with Suggested Topics

Introduction

Unit 1 - The Story of the Slopes of Makiling, UPLB’s Planting Ground

This unit introduces the reader to UPLB’s and neighboring communities’
history, past and present landscape and inhabitants food-related folklore (i.e., Maria Makiling lent cooking utensils to folks of Bay but the latter did not return them…) historical tidbits (i.e., food during the Japanese occupation, food served in revolts)

Unit 2 - The Harvests of Elbi

2.1. The Harvests
This chapter presents collective/individual memories of some of LB’s agricultural/processed products (i.e., thoughts of chocomilk from DTRI, LB version of the traditional gumamela bubble recipe, cocktail recipes from Biosci’s honeywine or Food Science’s fruit wines).

2.2. Of Markets and Marketers
This chapter introduces the reader to the food buying practices in the area. The suggested topics include: “pamamalengke” to the uninitiated usual/occasional market lists specifications of the nosy and meticulous
rituals unique to LB shoppers and their shopping preferences character of the different LB markets’ and their special/unique products tales of traditional roadside vendors (i.e., those selling mice, snails, snakes), and hawkers. other activities in the markets (i.e., rummages of UP students)

2.3. Divergent Palates
This chapter orients the reader to the culture of UPLB community members particularly to their diverse roots and itinerant nature spicing up the Los Baños food scene. This section will feature: restaurants in the area (including LB’s dining/take-out capital – Grove) individuals’ and organizations’ favorite recipes with local, regional and international flavors foreign influences and ingredient sources indigenization of regional and international dishes/tastes
favorite foods and caterers in the area

2.4. Taste buds in the Academe
UPLB residents are unique in their foodsense. Through the years they have enjoyed academic environs (including brilliant neighbors, programs and activities) which largely contributed to their being critical, even in the choice of food/diets. This chapter will tell of the various opportunities/events seized by the different UPLB generations which have affected their food practices and health. These include: diet consciousness in LB diet fads that came, went and returned for re-makes food events, nutrition counseling, programs (BIDANI and BIDANI balls) at Institute of Human Nutrition and Food feeding/food distribution (i.e., gift packs during Christmas/fiestas) programs of churches, schools, doctors, adult and student orgs kiddie cooking classes at the CDL (with matching food drawings)

Unit 3 - Partaking in and Celebrating the Bounty

3.1. Inside the Elbi Kitchen
Kitchens in LB, be it in the homes, orghouses, church convents, laboratories and faculty lounges, buzz with activity and interesting conversations. Sights and actions in the kitchens tell and teach a lot of the community’s prevailing culture and that of the old and new schools. This chapter thus shares with the reader essentials of the Elbi kitchen-what is never absent in the cupboard or fridge what variant of this goes into this dish and what doesn’t work some kitchen tips (i.e., measurement of ingredients as in rice, etc) other things done in the kitchen (i.e., concocting herbal stuff in the kitchen, product development) kitchen designs/architecture and kitchen tools.

3.2. Feasting in Los Baños
This chapter will take our readers to dining events of the past and present consumed, relished and celebrated by LB. To be particularly featured in this section are dinners/meals and dinner settings of: church celebrations (there are a handful! - St. Therese, San Antonio de Padua, Church Among the Palms, Victory Church Fellowship, Lakas Angkan, etc) family occasions (i.e., birthdays, anniversaries, milestones---including infants’ and children’s ‘firsts’, graduation, summer breaks, holidays) school reunions, loyalty day picnics civic fundraisers, meetings parties after a cultural show or thesis defense, graduation/recognition parties funerals

We may also include here: tales on etiquette (there was a course offered by Home Tech then regarding social graces) caterers and personalities famous for their parties/food left-over food management use of food waste (i.e., slops, garden use, etc.)

3.3. Extended Feasts
Existent in LB is a culture of eating after a meal. Some students have their after-dinner gimiks (read as B-O-O-Z-E or B-E-A-N-S). A number of yuppies proceed to the coffeeshops, if not to the bars of LB square or Grove. This portion thus describes the food that really punctuates some resident’s meals. Of interest here are: favorite hang-outs (i.e., Agrix, frathouses, watering holes, coffeehouses) best-selling pulutan and alcoholic drinks concocted by students and beerhouses/bars drinking games streetfood at night after-booze shops (i.e., lugawan, 7-11, ministop)

Unit 4 - Sating Appetites, Savoring the Land

This portion will serve as the summary and conclusion of the book (also the food tourism portion of the book). We will leave the reader excited for “pabaons” like buko pie, espasol, etc.