Anthony Bourdain loved Filipino food

PEOPLE around the world are in shock over the news that acclaimed chef, writer and journalist Anthony Bourdain died on Friday at 61.

In the Philippines, a frequent destination of Bourdain, admirers and acquaintances also mourned the passing of a culinary idol and storyteller.

Bourdain had cited sisig as one of his favorite Filipino dishes.

“It’s simple, flavorful, delicious and goes perfectly with beer. All you can ask for,” he enthused in a visit to Manila in June 2017.

The American celebrity tried the original

Pampanga sisig and its Manila version while eating at a local carinderia he featured in his show.

Bourdain first tried sisig during a 2008 trip with noted chef Claude Tayag. In 2015, he was spotted at a local pub enjoying the traditional bar chow with drinks, among reporters. That same year, he learned how to cook adobo.

In Parts Uknown’s episode on the Philippines in 2016, Bourdain immersed himself in the streets of Metro Manila as the country prepared to celebrate Christmas.

In 2016, perhaps his most famous video in the Philippines came about when he was spotted trying out Jollibee’s fried chicken, halo-halo and spaghetti.

He described the chain’s sweet spaghetti as “deranged yet strangely alluring.”

“Filipinos are, for reasons I have yet to figure out, probably the most giving of all people on the planet,” Bourdain said in that episode.

In June 2017, when he made a special appearance at the World Street Food Congress at the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, Bourdain talked about his “personal connection” with the Philippines.

“I’m grateful to be back [here]. This is a personal connection for me. My daughter, like so many American children, has been largely raised by Filipinas. Her brother from another mother is a Filipino kid… I’m personally grateful to be back,” he said.

During the event’s dialogue, Bourdain said food—particularly street food, which abounds in the Philippines—is a “reflection of who we are, where we come from and what we love.

“There is nothing more political than food… The things that we eat are the direct reflection of our histories. The ingredients, whether they are dried, they are pickled or preserved, these are reflections of long, often painful histories. That’s how we got to these dishes.”

“I often say wealthy cultures that are lucky and fortunate and prosperous generally don’t cook very well because they never had to,” he continued.

“It’s the countries that struggle that make the most of what they have who, over time, learned to make wonderful things.”

In an interview with ABS-CBN at the same event, Bourdain shared his thoughts on why Filipino food is yet to become popular even if it had been dubbed “the next big thing” for years already.

He told ABS- CBN News’ Ces Drilon that the rise in popularity of any cuisine is “an organic process” and that people will have to discover it for themselves.

Bourdain said, “But certain chefs and restaurants can help speed things up.” He cited Japan as an example, “Sushi isn’t a brand. Nobu (Matsuhisa) is a brand, but sushi is not. Sushi is a culinary tradition.”

Bourdain advised Philippine culinary players to “create something good, serve it long enough and people will find it. People would build their own conceptions and misconceptions about what an entire nation’s cuisine is based on their exposure to it.”

“There are restaurants now [in the US] that are serving either classic Filipino food or influenced by Filipino food… and it’s getting a lot of traction, a lot of appeal, and that’s great. These are Instagram restaurants, like people come in and take pictures of the food and share them on social media… That makes it something,” he said.

Chefs Rolando Laudico and Tatung Sarthou told The Manila Times that while they are grateful that worldrenowned chefs like Bourdain have put the spotlight on Filipino food, they agree with him that it will take a combined effort from within the country to seriously promote the cuisine.

“The reason why our cuisine has taken a while to gain global appreciation is that it’s only recently that chefs and restaurateurs seriously focused on doing Filipino food here and abroad seriously.

“Before, our top chefs would choose to work on other cuisines than promote our own... and it took people like Bourdain and other celebrity chefs a while to actually come here and experience our food themselves, but they fell in love with it immediately.

“If we were just honestly serious in promoting our food since the beginning of time, then our food wouldn’t just be the next big thing; it would already be the big thing,” Laudico said.

“It starts from us, not from foreign celebrity chefs. Ngayon langtayo nagigingproudsa pa gk a inn at in kasinauusona. Did he jumpstart our cuisine globally? In a way yes, but it really starts and ends with us. Like any other cuisine, we just have to showcase its true flavors and be proud of it.

“Bourdain was proud the first time he tasted our food. I can’t say the same with our fellowmen. Even our culinary schools here don’t teach Filipino cuisine. Masalampang culinary graduate to cook Italian or Chinese than Filipino. There’s your answer. At the end of the day, it’s really our responsibility to promote our food and do the best we can. We should put ourselves on the map,” he declared.

Sarthou, on the other hand, said, “It will take a bit more time for Filipino food to take the global center stage because we don’t have the logistics and economy to make it happen--the squabbles in our home front plus the inability of more and more Filipinos to put a decent meal on the table cause more setbacks. But surely we can keep hyping it to our ego’s delight. It takes a nation to make it happen, not just celebrity chefs. Unless of course you consider adobo made with Kikoman and apple cider vinegar as Filipino.”