Under the coconut skies
Australia joins Filipino Food Month celebration with Filipino-Australian food and travel content creator Yasmin Newman
The Australian Embassy and the Australia Global Alumni in the Philippines celebrate Filipino Food Month with a series of events that highlight Filipino cuisine with a taste of Australia. To headline the celebration, the Australian Embassy has brought to Manila Filipino-Australian food and travel content creator, cookbook author, and businesswoman Yasmin Newman, to share well-loved Filipino dishes using Australian ingredients from her cookbook Under the Coconut Skies: Feasts and Stories from the Philippines.
“One of the things that Filipinos and Australians share is our love for food. We love bringing people together to enjoy great food and have great conversations,” says Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Hae Kyong Yu. “We are delighted to have Filipino-Australian Yasmin Newman here in the Philippines to celebrate Philippine culinary heritage with the best of Australian products, a culinary fusion of the best our two countries have to offer.”
While in Manila, Yasmin will meet different communities of Australia-educated Filipinos for the Philippine launch of Under the Coconut Skies, which will include book signings and cooking demonstrations of Filipino dishes using Australian ingredients.
Yasmin will also hold a masterclass for the culinary students of the Joji Ilagan International School in Davao City. The school, which provides Australian certified education, was established by Australia-educated alumna Joji Ilagan Bian, who received the 2019 Outstanding Alumnus Award for bringing the Australian caliber of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to Mindanao.
As a proud ambassador of Filipino cuisine and Australian food products, Yasmin shares her love for food and her Australian and Filipino influences in a series of cooking videos called [A Taste of the Philippines](www.youtube.com/@australiaphilippinesbc/featured). The video series was produced by the Australia Philippines Business Council (APBC) in partnership with the Australian Government.
Under the Coconut Skies is Yasmin’s second Filipino cookbook. The book is a celebration of the Philippines and its food. It takes her readers on a journey to discovering classic Filipino dishes through beautiful photos and unique culinary traditions, folklore, and personal stories. In 2013, she also wrote and published her debut cookbook 7000 Islands: A Food Portrait of the Philippines, which was re-launched in 2019.