Of Cuisines and a Traveling Bookstore

Where better to buy a cookbook than a bookstore that travels the world over?

The moment I came across the news that the MV Doulos was going back to Manila, I firmly decided to make the effort to go there- and leave at least with one book from the world's only floating bookstore. Besides, it was the ship’s last voyage after 93 years. So last after a brief meeting with my boss at lunch last December 21, I immediately went to the Manila port area where the ship was docked. A nice calesa- a horse-drawn carriage common in Manila and Chinatown took me to the ship.

Anyway, the MV Doulos experience wasn’t anything too grand, but the visit there was truly worth it. I headed to the cookbook area, though I should admit that there were plenty of other interesting volumes. The cookbook collection was quite charming- I spent about three- fourths of my stay there-flipping through French, Chinese, Italian and British cuisines. But what really caught my fancy was the hard-bound, full color “Authentic Italian” - Christmas gift to myself (It was the first of the two Italian cookbooks I received this Christmas). Much has been said about Italian cuisine and every human being knows that Italy gave us more than just pastas and pizzas. But that book, compared to others I've seen, didn’t only contain recipes but notes on Italian traditions and places. So for someone who hasn’t been to Italy, every page was a true treasure :)