Nina Daza-Puyat: Promoting Food Through Children’s Stories
Former Appetite editor and food writer Nina Daza-Puyat has transitioned to writing children’s stories, one of which started as a gift for her grandchild
Nina Daza-Puyat’s name has been associated with food. She is, after all, the daughter of the late culinary icon Nora Daza. She has worked in food all her life, growing up in her mother’s restaurants, appearing on the show Let’s Cook With Nora.
“My memories of her are going through the kitchen, tasting the soups, tasting sauces inside the kitchen. Whether it was in Manila or Paris,” Nina recalled from the three establishments her mom put up in the 60s.
Surrounded by food
Having served and assisted in the restaurants, Nina and her siblings later appeared on her mom’s show, Let’s Cook With Nora. They soon took over the show when her mom left to take care of personal matters.
“People seem to like it kasi parang younger [hosts] pero cooking show din. But everybody knew her name – Nora Daza. So we ended up taking over for her until it became me and Sandy [on the show].”
The combination of her and Sandy on the show was a hit and it aired for several years.
Her love for food led her to write and co-author several cookbooks. She also served as editor-in-chief of the defunct cooking magazine Appetite, a sister publication of One Mega Group Inc.
Updating her mom’s cookbook
In 2020, Nina updated her mom’s cookbook Let’s Cook With Nora. It’s still the same book but tweaked for today’s audience. She worked with a friend of hers to re-edit the cookbook.
“We went through each and every recipe. And we read each line by line,” she shared about the process of editing the book.
“And I was like, parang I don’t understand this. What are we supposed to do with this procedure? Because, you know, I grew up with that cookbook, and I’ve been cooking from it.”
As she and her friend went through the cookbook, Nina said she was surprised that there were recipes she never got to make. The book included 260 recipes. She retested many of the recipes in the book and reworded the procedures until she was able to simplify and update them.
“The procedure for me had unclear parts. It was very general, in paragraph form. I preferred in steps,” she explained.
“I noticed also there were some ingredients that were available today that were not there before. Before, when you said mushrooms in 1965, [it was just] canned mushrooms. But now, we have fresh shiitake, we have enoki. We have all kinds of mushrooms that we never [used to have], that now we have access to. And we should include that because that’s what’s available to the homemakers today.”
Nina’s transition to children’s author
Nowadays, Nina is making a name for herself in children’s writing, releasing two books – Ang Alamat ng Lumpia and The Forlorn Rice Cooker. Writing children’s stories came about when she was looking for something to impart to her grandchild, Charlotte Gabrielle.
“It was the pandemic, and my daughter had a baby girl. I suddenly thought of the connection between my mom and me and my daughter and granddaughter,” Nina shared. ” Parang, wow, that legacy I’m passing to my daughter, but what can I pass to my granddaughter? I was done with my mom’s cookbook then, but I still wanted to do something that’s still related to food”
” I thought of writing a children’s story about food because I wanted to teach my granddaughter something about food, mainly about ingredients.”
Explaining further, Nina said: ” I want them to be more mindful of where the ingredients come from. So, in my story, it’s about how the ingredients are made and how they are planted and farmed.”
In Alamat ng Lumpia, Nina writes how lumpia was created and how the ingredients were brought together through a story of two villages. The Forlorn Rice Cooker tells how a rice cooker keeps comparing itself to other appliances.
Since the publishing of the books, Nina has done several book readings around the Philippines, the US, and Paris.
The Daza name lives on
Food will always be part of the Daza household. At gatherings, Nina said that when their respective families get together, dishes you find in the household are on the Spanish side.
“It was influenced by my lola, my father’s mom. My mom loved her cooking In fact, she wrote about my grandma in her last cookbook.”
Filipino and Asian dishes are also part of the Daza household. Name it, and it’s served during the gatherings.
Having created her dishes through the years, is there any dish she would like to replicate from her mom? Nina pondered for a moment.
“I’m always using the cookbook – all the time,” she said. “Sukiyaki, chicken marengo. For special occasions, chicken relleno, especially for Christmas.
Other dishes she loves to do include fish, shrimp, and pork chops with gravy.
More than working on children’s books, Nina is proud of the tweaks she made on her mom’s cookbook.
” It’s more contemporary and appealing to today’s market even to the younger generation. I want her to be introduced to the younger generation,” she said. “I don’t want her name to disappear forever.”
Judging by the work she’s doing, it’s clear that Nina Daza-Puyat is not over from her mission of promoting food not only through her mom’s cookbooks but also through other platforms like children’s cookbooks. There’s definitely more to come.
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