At first glance, Pinas Simpol: The Love and Lore of Filipino Cooking may look like another cookbook. But within its pages, Chef Myke \u201cTatung\u201d Sarthou constructs something much deeper: a framework that explains why Filipino food matters, not only to our palate but to our sense of identity.<\/p>\n
Launched at Lore by Chef Tatung in Bonifacio Global City, the Michelin-selected 2026 restaurant he founded, the book marks his tenth year as an author and a defining moment in his career as a culinary thinker. Pinas Simpol is both a cultural manifesto and a love letter to the Filipino kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis book is not just about recipes,\u201d Chef Tatung said during the launch. \u201cIt is about remembering; giving words to what we already know by heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the center of Pinas Simpol is a concept Chef Tatung calls The Four Legs of the Filipino Table: Rooted, Resilient, Respectful, and Responsive.<\/p>\n
To be rooted, he explains, is to carry our history while adapting to the present. Filipino food, he writes, is a living archive of our past: absorbing influences but never losing its soul.<\/p>\n
Resilience speaks to the Filipino ability to turn thrift into sustenance and grace, to create beauty out of limitation.<\/p>\n
Respectful reflects our deep hospitality, where every meal is an act of care and every guest is family.<\/p>\n
Finally, “responsive” captures our genius for adaptation, evolving with the times while remaining authentic.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur cuisine has never been improvised,\u201d Chef Tatung explained. \u201cThe laga, the ihaw, the gisa, and the gata: these are not just cooking techniques. They are gestures of care, proof that simplicity can hold great wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
The book also introduces the Simpol ABC Framework: Assemble, Build, Complete, a teaching method that turns tantsa, the Filipino instinct to cook by feel, into a structured learning approach. As Filipino-American restaurateur Nicole Ponseca writes in the foreword, \u201cChef Tatung doesn\u2019t erase complexity; he reframes it. Simpol but never simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinas Simpol is richly photographed, deeply reflective, and emotionally resonant. It celebrates the kitchen as a place of intelligence, creativity, and national identity: a space where food becomes memory, meaning, and movement.<\/p>\n
Published by Vertikal Kreatives Inc., the 208-page full-color edition retails for \u20b1790 and is now available online and soon in leading bookstores nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chef Tatung\u2019s latest work bridges tradition and innovation, redefining how Filipinos understand their cuisine. #PinasSimpol<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":257791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19291],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spotlight"],"zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":{"nxtgen_comments":[{"1431":"saludo chef tatung \ud83d\ude4f\ud83d\udc96\r","1432":"rooted food culture \ud83d\ude0d\r","1433":"sarap ibasa habang kumakain \ud83d\ude02\ud83e\udd58\r","1434":"food identity\r","1435":"ayos lng po\r"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=257790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/257791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=257790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=257790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorious-yellow-sloth.194-233-75-192.cpanel.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=257790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}