Filipino American Author Reimagines Hybrid Novel “Not My Bowl of Rice” as a Telenovela-Style Novel/Cookbook

 E.R. Escober blends food, fiction, and Filipino folklore in a bold new edition that fuses storytelling, imagery, and authentic recipes.

 

Filipino American author E.R. Escober introduces a reimagined edition of his debut novel — a telenovela-style fusion of family drama, art, and Filipino cuisine. In Not My Bowl of Rice: A Telenovela-Style Semi-Graphic Novel and Cookbook, Escober transforms the Filipino family kitchen into a stage where love, rivalry, and identity simmer together, framed by recipes that double as emotional storytelling.

Escober’s writing blends imagination with genuine emotion. Each recipe becomes part of the narrative itself, woven into the dialogue, action, and tension among the characters. When Ligaya De Guzman faces her mother across the kitchen counter, the cooking isn’t background. It’s the battlefield. Dishes like adobo, pancit guisado, and bibingka mirror the conflict between modern independence and inherited tradition. Each meal carries memory, pride, and the quiet hope of reconciliation.

“Every recipe is a story, and every story leaves a flavor,” says Escober. “Food is where our histories live. I wanted to show how a single bowl of rice can hold the weight of a family’s love, loss, and legacy.”

A Cinematic Reading Experience

Not My Bowl of Rice borrows the pacing and passion of a classic telenovela, complete with visual elements that echo the drama’s larger-than-life emotion. Black-and-white illustrations of food, family, and folklore guide readers through a story that’s equal parts spectacle and intimacy. The narrative blends laughter, heartbreak, and humor in a style Escober calls “literary melodrama”—a celebration of the extremes of love and family that define Filipino storytelling.

Folklore threads through the book as well, with nods to the Aswang and Manananggal, mythical creatures from Philippine legend. These supernatural touches heighten the book’s theatrical flair while grounding it in the cultural imagination that shaped Escober’s storytelling voice.

A Celebration of Heritage and Creativity

While Not My Bowl of Rice entertains with the energy of a soap opera, it also reflects a universal truth: the struggle to preserve culture in a rapidly changing world. Escober captures the dual identity of being Filipino American with humor, empathy, and unfiltered honesty. The book’s hybrid form—part novel, part cookbook, part graphic experience—mirrors that very duality: the fusion of old and new, roots and reinvention.

Readers are invited to move through the story as they would through a meal—savoring each chapter as an experience of sight, taste, and emotion. It’s a novel that can make you laugh, cry, and crave home cooking, often all on the same page.

About the Author

E.R. Escober worked as a copywriter before becoming a freelance writer. He has authored several works, including The Givenchy Code, The Facebook Nostradamus, and Adobo in the Land of Milk and Honey. As a Filipino American, he has spent years exploring the intersection of culture, identity, and storytelling in contemporary America.

A passionate foodie and storyteller, Escober draws inspiration from authentic Filipino and Asian cuisine, weaving sensory and cultural detail into his work. His time living abroad and his eventual return to the Philippines deepened his connection to his roots and shaped his distinctive literary voice. Escober continues to experiment with form and genre, blending visual art, food, and narrative in ways that celebrate creativity and cultural connection.