Where to Start with Nicole Ponseca
Nicole Ponseca is a Filipino-American restaurateur, cookbook author, and advocate for Filipino cuisine. Born and raised in San Diego to Filipino immigrant parents, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in advertising before discovering that the city had almost no restaurants serving authentic Filipino food. That realization changed her life. Together with chef Miguel Trinidad, she opened Maharlika in 2011, followed by Jeepney in 2012, two pioneering restaurants that introduced New Yorkers to dishes like sisig, kare-kare, and halo-halo. Their cookbook “I Am a Filipino: And This Is How We Cook” (2018) was a James Beard Award Finalist and was named Best Cookbook of the Year by multiple major publications. Ponseca is widely credited with helping elevate Filipino cuisine from an overlooked immigrant food tradition to a recognized and celebrated culinary category in the United States.
Start here
I Am a Filipino: And This Is How We Cook
Nicole Ponseca and Miguel Trinidad · 304 pages · 2018 · Moderate
Themes: filipino cuisine, adobo, sinigang, lumpia, home cooking, cultural heritage
The definitive modern Filipino cookbook, co-authored with chef Miguel Trinidad. This book is part cookbook, part cultural manifesto, combining over 100 recipes with personal essays, immigration stories, and cultural history. It was a 2019 James Beard Award Finalist and was named Best Cookbook of the Year by The New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.
Why Start Here
This is Ponseca’s signature work and the book that cemented her reputation as a champion of Filipino cuisine. It covers the full range of Filipino home cooking, from adobo and sinigang to lumpia, kare-kare, and lechon kawali. The recipes are written for home cooks in Western kitchens but never compromise on authenticity. Beyond the recipes, Ponseca weaves in the cultural context that makes each dish meaningful: the role of vinegar in Filipino flavor, the communal tradition of kamayan feasting, and the stories of Filipino immigrants who brought their food traditions to a new country.
What to Expect
A beautiful hardcover at 304 pages with stunning photography. You will need to stock a few specialty ingredients like fish sauce, cane vinegar, and annatto seeds. The difficulty ranges from simple weeknight dishes to more elaborate preparations, so you can start easy and build up your confidence with Filipino flavors over time.