Preparing for an Online Author Visit: Ms. Natasha Vizcarra

GET TO KNOW OUR GUEST AUTHOR, MS. NATASHA VIZCARRA!

We are excited to watch and listen to Ms. Natasha Vizcarra share her experiences as a Science writer and editor on Assembly this Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 2PM. She writes interesting topics on science that are grounded on sound research and integrated into different subjects and disciplines.

Here is a sample of Ms. Vizcarra's article on fermentation. The storytelling voice is strong but the history and cultural background of fermentation to Asian cuisine and its relevance to health, wellbeing and a nation's economy are given emphasis. How can non-fiction sound so, ah, literary?

"In early March, Filipino writer and plant-based cook Mabi David plunged her hand into a vat of a bright red purée, Chinese cabbage, julienned carrots and radishes, and chopped green onions. She was mixing a fresh batch of kimchi, a fermented side-dish from Korea. Sharp scents of ginger, garlic and hot pepper wafted in the air as a crowd of vegetable farmers watched and jotted down notes.

David was teaching the class in Bauko, in the Philippines’ Mountain Province, where the high altitude and low temperatures allow farmers to grow temperate weather crops – like cabbage, carrots and salad greens – in the country’s hot and humid climate.

Like other Asian cuisines, Philippine cuisine is rich with well-loved fermented foods, turning local fruits, vegetables and seafood into dishes and condiments such as pickled green papaya and permutations of fermented rice, fish and shrimp pastes. Many evolved decades before the age of refrigeration, subsequently passed on from generation to generation

But David is expanding traditional practices by borrowing from other Asian cuisines to take advantage of new market demands for fermented foods as well as reduce food waste; as the Korean migrant population in the Philippines has grown since the 1990s, so too has Filipinos’ taste for Korean food. “We wanted to introduce [different] fermentation techniques to help the farmers deal with surplus harvest,” says David.

Barely a week after the kimchi-making class, however, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreaks a pandemic on 11 March. A few days later, the Philippine government placed Manila under lockdown, keeping people home from shopping in stores to avoid infection. By late March, lower demand for their produce began forcing farmers to give away much of their harvests or dump them by roadsides.

Had David’s students explored kimchi-making as a side-business much earlier, tons of produce would not have gone to waste."

~ Excerpt from HOW FERMENTATION’S NEW HEYDAY IS BENEFITTING HUMAN AND PLANETARY HEALTH, April 29, 2020

You are highly encouraged to read the article on the topic. What piqued your interest? What did you observe on the handling of language and the rendition of facts to an intended audience? Imagine the amount and time of research the writer invested on a piece such as this. Visit Ms. Vizcarra's website for more interesting non-fiction.

See you all on Wednesday!

PS - Ms. Vizcarra has a new book, Spikeys, Prickles and Prongies: A Corona Virus Story published by Ilaw ng Tahanan. The publisher will sell copies!