BRITISH LIBRARY RECEIVES DONATIONS

FROM MAMA SITA FOUNDATION

27 April 2016 – The British Library received on April 26 a set of cookbooks and commemorative stamps from descendants of Philippine food icon, Teresita “Mama Sita” Reyes.

Mrs. Clara Lapus, President of Mama Sita Foundation, together with her daughter Joyce Lapus Sandoval and grandson Carlos Fidel Sandoval, presented the donations to Dr. William Frame, Head of Modern Archives & Manuscripts, and Mr. Richard Morel, Curator of the Philatelic Collections, in the presence of Chargé d'Affaires Gilberto Asuque and other Philippine Embassy officials.

The Foundation donated three sets of cookbooks filled with popular Filipino recipes to further promote Philippine cuisine globally, and to make Filipino cooking more accessible to the UK.

It also donated three sets of Mama Sita’s commemorative stamps issued by the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) honoring the Philippine food icon’s contributions as maven historian and champion of culinary heritage.

Mr. Asuque said that “the Mama Sita’s donations are an appropriate addition to the rich collections of the Library considering the Filipino food company has captured the Filipino taste and has served as a model for Filipino entrepreneurs for its business acumen.”

In accepting the donation, Dr. Frame expressed appreciation to Mama Sita’s for the cookbooks and the commemorative stamps which are now part of the Library collections.

Prior to the formal turnover of donations, the British Library curatorial team showed the Philippine delegation samples of their collections which included, among others, Noli Me Tangere, an 18^th century English-Maguindanao vocabulary, old maps of Manila, rare postage stamps and banknotes.

The donation to the British Library was initiated by the Mama Sita Foundation and the Philippine Embassy in London as part of the celebration of the 70^th year of establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and the UK. END

Notes to Editors:

1. The Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) has recently issued a series of commemorative stamps celebrating the 100^th birth anniversary of Teresita “Mama Sita” Reyes, a Philippine culinary products pioneer who introduced the ‘flavors of the Philippines’ all over the world. The series include stamps designed by Paete-based folk painter, sculptor and printmaker Manuel Baldemor.
2. The British Libraryis the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world-class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilization and includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. Up to 10 million people visit the British Library website - www.bl.uk - every year where they can view up to 4 million digitized collection items and over 40 million pages.