the thesis blog

Okay…redid the layout of the Mindanao book and changed the size…decided to go with 11 x 4.5 in. Make it easier for me and the print shop. Got some fonts here and here. Going to make illustrations tomorrow, preferably in this style.

This is the logo I’ve started to make…not too happy about it, but it’s pretty cute. I want a better border…have to get back to it by drawing a nicer border by hand, or maybe none at all. I want it to kinda look like a postage stamp. See the thing about it is that if ever I decide to expand the book, the utensils the traveling plate will be holding can change…like chopsticks for China and Japan or a knife and fork for Europe. It’s also a cute little mascot. I can draw it doing all sorts of things on the pages in the books…like sitting down over some text or dancing…it will kind of be like the paper clip guy in the old MS Word. 😛

Okay, so I have finished my draft. There’s nothing more I can possibly add to it and it has reached 24 pages, 17 not including the bibliography and appendix. I have completed preliminary research on Mindanao, watched all the videos about it in the library and read nearly every book regarding the culture in Mindanao, which kind of made it hard for me since there weren’t a lot of books about Mindanaoan culture. There are no cookbooks about Mindanao so I have resorted to looking for popular Mindanao fare through the internet in the blogs of travelers who have been to Mindanao or live there.

The main islands like Luzon and Visayas have already been naturally segmentalized into three, Mindanao however poses a problem since it’s segmentalized into four, and it’s too spread out when the island mostly has the same crops and produce throughout the territory. To solve this problem, I have opted to just segmentalize it equally with three regions each. Instead of saying east, west, north or south, since Mindanao was previously categorized like that before the renaming of the regions, I might just call them “sets.” The first set will be Region 9, Region 10 and ARMM while the second set will be Region 13 (CARAGA), Region 11 and Region 12.

Right now, I’m kind of sick of working with the text for the book so I think I’ll go work on the branding and final dimensions of the books (got to remember to include this in the draft as well, why I chose this size for the book).

YES! After a couple of weeks of stress from filming my trailer, laying out the presentation and doing research in the lib (which reminds me, I haven’t returned the books I borrowed yet! >.>; ) I gave a rather good presentation when the day came. I did get asked a couple of questions which I think I could have answered a little more wisely and I want to come back to them now that all the departments of my brain are functioning correctly.

1) Do you plan on mass producing these books? If so, how do you plan on doing it since it seems like a lot of the elements in the book are handmade?

Yes, I do plan on mass producing the book. I don’t think it would be a problem if the book had a lot of handmade elements which has to be mass-produced since in my report I have given examples of similar books with a lot of pop ups, moving pieces, envelopes, etc. The mass production of such a book is very possible since it has been done many times already in the past. It’s all about finding the right publisher, like the one who made the egyptology, dragonology, wizardology and the other “ology” book series.

2) I don’t think the directory is a good idea, how would you know who makes the best version of the dish you presented? It might not be a good idea to include it, you might need to rethink that.

Okay, I did word that out wrong. The directory is not about finding the best person who makes the dish but finding someone who has a place where they can cook a more or less authentic sample of the meal for you. Of course it would be difficult to tell who makes the best dish and which is the most authentic or delicious recipe of the dish, but the point of the directory is to at least give the people a starting point where they can sample and enjoy the dish. The directory is not a list of the best, it is a list of where they can enjoy a good sample of the dish. With that being said, there is no way then that I can exclude making the directory. The whole point of my thesis is to get people to travel and sample food. not providing a directory would be like describing to a captain an island, its shape, the kind of sand there, the kind of trees and animals then sending him off to find it without providing him a map or even a heading. The directory isn’t the final word on who does or doesn’t make a good version of the dish. It is there to suggest to you where you can START your experience with the dish, you can always go look around the place and find someone who you think makes the dish best but the point is, the directory should help point you to some direction.

Okay…so now that that’s all said and done…what now? What am I supposed to do now?

Rest…yes I have rested and caught up with the requirements for my other classes, which only means that I now have to get back to working on my thesis again. So yeah, it’s time to consult my schedule (the one in my written proposal) and get cracking. It’s all a matter of convincing myself to stop being lazy.

Let’s get the ball rolling!

My thesis will be something like a food catalogue-slash-cookbook for selected representatives of the best food found all over the country. A breakdown of the stuff I want to include in it goes something like this:

Content:

• Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will be separated into 2-3 sections each (ex. Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon).
• There will be around 4-6 dishes per section (so I’ll end up presenting 30-40 dishes).
• Description of the process in making the food. It’s not really a recipe with the measurements and whatnot. Just to give people an idea on how it’s made.
• How they came up with the dish. The story behind it
• Recipes will be included only for the weirder/unfamiliar dishes so that the people can have a chance to try it on their own before setting out to enjoy the authentic (and immensely better) stuff.
• The dishes will have to be the best thing the people of that region can come up with with the resources found in their environment.
• Trivia about the local produce per region. What do they have, why can they only grow those, how do they use and grow them.
• MAYBE include variations of the dish in other regions? Side notes only, I guess.
• Food tradition of the place.
• Other traditions of the place (but this will be like side notes…not really major subjects…you can just find it every now and then in the book)
• Who to contact/where to go if you want to eat the best/most authentic version of the dish.

Output:

• Pictures of the food I’ve cooked at home based on the recipes I’ve collected.
• Pictures of scenery
• Illustrations of…whatever! Ingredients, decoration, scenery, materials, etc.
• Scrapbook type/Pop-up book type
• Maybe include some samples of dried goods

Goal:

• Build appreciation for Filipino Cuisine
• Promote diversity of our local food (we have more than just sisig, kare-kare and isaw out there people! XD)
• Encourage people to try out local cuisine when they visit a new place in the country instead of just sticking with food they already know
• There have been many cookbooks and recipe books out there about Filipino food. And from what I’ve seen so far, the problem with these books is that the recipes they present are food we already know making it boring. The layout of the books are not so great since they use these weird pictures or grids or illustrations with clashing colors, making it both boring (again) and unpleasant to the eye.
• It’s a scrapbook type giving it a feel of warmth, comfort, things you should feel when reading about your HOME (our country = our home). And most importantly make it INTERACTIVE. The best way to make people remember things is to integrate them into the process. I can’t give everyone in the Philippines a tour of the country, however, MY BOOK CAN (should) DO THAT. Just like those Egyptology books, my cousin who started with some interest in Egyptology ended up with a fanaticism for Egyptian culture after he got hold of that book. I want my book to do something like that
• Jamie Oliver has done something similar with British food (that’s why he’s famous, not just because he’s cute or makes delicious food). Jamie Oliver, through his shows, have rekindled the interest of the British people in British food and local produce. In his shows he almost always cooks with local produce and food he grew himself (another thing he’s famous for, growing and eating your own food). I want to achieve the same effect with the way I’ll present food in the book, just like how he presented food in his shows.

Problems/What I still need to work on but is necessary for the book:

• Selection process of which food will best represent the region.
• Food Photography. I am not a photographer. -_-
• Money for making dishes (I guess I can make my family pay for it? Like I’m going to cook the dinner for that night and it just so happened to be the dish I need for the book?).
• Will 30-40 dishes be too much?
• I need to make this EVEN MORE of a design project.
• Deciding on collective theme
• Effective branding scheme
• Market: 20-30 y/o women who are working as PR agents and need a guide on Filipino food while they’re on their travels?
• Getting people to contact about the best place to get these dishes when you go to the region.
• Will I be able to collect enough data on the subject?
• Not to make it into a Culinary Arts or Creative Writing thesis.