Sarap

Book

I wrote and illustrated “Sarap” to explore my identity as a person of Filipino and White heritage, through the lens of food.

People naturally include and exclude certain facets of their identities as a means of survival. Immigrants in particular often assimilate into their new country, and end up abandoning parts of their cultural traditions. I interviewed my mom and grandmother about their experiences moving to the U.S. and researched how colonialism impacted the Philippines’ “fusion”-style cuisine. With that research, I discovered interesting parallels between the food, my identity, and my family’s history.