Filipino food appears in my novel as a metaphor for love in The Mango Bride. For millions of expatriate Filipinos like me, traditional dishes also help us recreate the sounds, scents and delicious flavors of home. I’ve invited a marvelous panel of home cooks to discuss our culinary obsessions and adventures.

After contracting Covid 19, Emot Verzola continued to cook despite losing her sense of taste and smell. Learn how she adjusted her recipes to accommodate that temporary but significant disability. In the Before Times, Michael Gil Magnaye traveled the world attending conferences for his day job as a development director. He is assembling a collection of essays on obscure but wildly popular Filipino restaurants in Europe. Professor Martin Manalansan outlines the political context behind mainstream American culture pinning Filipino food down to stereotypical dishes like adobo, lumpia and pansit. Finally, cookbook author Betty Ann Quirino zeroes in on a food-centric scene from my novel that resonated with her own efforts to recreate home by cooking Filipino dishes.

The talk is free and promises to be delicious. To register for this conversation, please click on this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/revisiting-mango-bride-with-marivi-soliven-tickets-137214447105