There is a familiar ritual to traveling across Cebu.
Headed north to Bantayan or south to Oslob, bus rides often come with more than just changing landscapes outside the window. At every stop, vendors carrying woven baskets and plastic containers climb aboard, calling out the names of delicacies that have become just as memorable as the destinations themselves. Budbud wrapped in banana leaves. Fresh torta still warm from the clay oven. Masi sold in humble packets.
For many travelers, these fleeting encounters are simply part of the journey. Few stop to wonder about the generations of hands that continue making these delicacies or the communities whose livelihoods depend on them.
For Cebu food historian and author Louella “Tita Loy” Eslao-Alix, however, these stories were too important to disappear with every passing bus.
On July 15, 2026, Eslao-Alix launched “Tam-is: Heirloom Delicacies of Cebu” at The Kabilin Center in Cebu City, finally unveiling a book that took nine years to complete after its publishing contract was signed in 2017.
Standing before friends, colleagues and fellow heritage advocates, the author became emotional as she reflected on the long road that led to the book’s release.
“I hope that all that waiting is worth it,” she said. “It takes a barangay to write a book.”
The statement was not merely figurative.
Researching “Tam-is” meant traveling across Cebu, often to remote mountain villages and coastal communities where traditional delicacies continue to be made using recipes passed down through generations.
“When I started researching ‘Tam-is,’ I traveled around Cebu again because the makers of budbud, bibingka and puto seemed to be living in out-of-the-way places,” Eslao-Alix shared. “My husband, Rudy, used to drive me everywhere. We went to the mountains, the seaside and almost all the towns in Cebu Province.”
The result is more than a cookbook.
Published by the University of San Carlos (USC) Publishing House, “Tam-is” combines recipes with oral histories, cultural narratives, photographs and documentation of the towns where these delicacies originated or flourished. Readers encounter Catmon’s budbud kabog, Argao’s torta, Bogo’s pintos and bukhayo sa bagol, among many others.
During the launch, USC’s Genesis Bedio described the work as a collection of stories as much as a culinary archive.
To him, the book traces not only the procedures and ingredients behind Cebu’s beloved delicacies but also the journeys that shaped them. It explains how corn arrived from Mexico, how coconut sap became tuba and how coconut itself transformed into ingredients found in many traditional pastries and sweets. Equally notable, he said, is how Eslao-Alix reveals the influence of religious communities in preserving many local delicacies.
The book reminds readers that food is rarely just food. Every ingredient carries a history of trade, migration, faith and community.
Those who know Eslao-Alix often describe her as warm and generous, qualities that mirror the sweetness of the delicacies she documents. Fittingly titled “Tam-is,” the book reflects the kindness and persistence of the woman who spent nearly a decade ensuring these sweet traditions would not be forgotten.
The vendors who step onto buses may only have a few minutes to sell their goods before the journey continues. But through “Tam-is,” the stories behind those familiar treats finally have a place to stay.