“Filipino food is at the center of the social calendar. It’s at the center of how we live our lives. It’s a way of expressing love and it’s a way of expressing community.”
Chef Alvin Cailan, one of the country’s most celebrated Filipino chefs, and award-winning director Alexandra Cuerdo are out with a new cookbook all about Filipino food. The book, titled "Amboy: Recipes from the Filipino-American Dream,” paints a rich and exciting picture of Filipino food and Alvin’s melding of tradition and innovation as he brings this food into the kitchens of America. There are almost four million Filipinos in the Unites States. Why is Filipino food not more commonly found? How should we approach making this in our home kitchens?
Alvin Cailan's career began with a classical French culinary education at Oregon Culinary Institute, followed b stints at some of the West Coast's finest restaurants. Chef Alvin first grabbed the public's attention as a trailblazer in the culinary world when he launched the Eggslut food truck in Los Angeles.
Chef Alvin is now focusing on his true passion: bolstering the modern Filipino food movement across the country, and today, he is arguably America's most high-profile champion of it. He is planning to open his next restaurant, Amboy, in Los Angeles soon. He has been featured in prestigious publications like Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, and Bloomberg. Alvin is also the host of the hugely popular The Burger Show on the Complex/First We Feast YouTube channel. Alexandra Cuerdo is a writer and director, recently named one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women In the World by the Filipina Women's Network. Her feature directorial debut, Ulam: Main Dish, is the first Filipino food documentary to achieve worldwide distribution, which Jonathan Gold called a "love letter" to Filipino food. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Vogue, TimeOut, Eater and more. She is based in Los Angeles and New York.
