Support me on documenting our Food Heritage

Hello! I'm John Sherwin Felix, a food heritage advocate and a 2019 magna cum laude graduate of Communication Arts. I'm deeply passionate about featuring anything about the Philippine culinary heritage and history. I focus on documenting our native and indigenous food items, ranging from traditional sea salt to endemic fruits and vegetables to heirloom rice to artisanal food items, and more. Many of them are endangered ingredients/food that are on the verge of extinction due to lack of support and awareness, competition to commercialized products, environmental degration, and more. All of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

I already produced several content and research that have been picked up by several media outfits such as Esquire, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star, Philippine Daily Inquirer, etc. Aside from these, my personal posts collectively earned more than 60k+ engagements. These personal projects have raised awareness and introduced heritage food items to a lot of people, and they also generated income to our food producers. However, I'm using my own money for my research, travel, and purchase. It's unsustainable to depend solely on personal finances.

I'm asking for your support so that I can continue this passion project: Food Heritage Photography and Research. This will help our producers and fill the communication gaps, especially tapping the potential of new media that hasn't been utilized enough in food heritage advocacy and promotion. I want to extend the scope of my documentation to food producers, consumers, areas of productions, and the culture that surround our indigenous food items. The money that will be raised on this one-time crowdfunding will go to purchase of a better camera and equipment in order to provide better visual stories (excess will go to travel funds).

I believe that through this artistic endeavor, we can help our producers, and it will positively contribute in building our sense of nationhood. We have lots of amazing wildlife, street, fashion, and food photographers, but we only have few players in the field of food heritage photography. It's high time to put the spotlight on narratives about our rich food heritage.

This is a non-profit project and all of the contents are available for public viewing. Soon, I hope to publish a book about Philippine indigenous ingredients.

Sincerely,

John Sherwin S. Felix

+639154232432

[email protected]