Towns battle for cooking glory

Cebu towns vying for cooking glory will clash on November 16 to 19 at the Cebu Provincial Capitol for the 2017 “Eats Meets West”, an annual cooking event organized by the Provincial Tourism Office.

The grand opening will take place on November 16 in Tuburan town, which will showcase its homegrown coffee. Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III and Vice Governor Agnes Magpale are expected to attend.

On November 17, a whole-day “Food Forum” will be held at the Capitol Social Hall, with seven experts taking on topics like the ancient diets of Cebuanos, what Cebuano cooking really is, healing with food, organic farming, and design for food. The speakers are Dr.Ame Garong of the National Museum, Mike “Chef Tatung” Sarthou, Teresa Ruelas, Eleonor Rivera, Vince Cinches, Cristino Villamor, and Manila’s Ige Ramos.The forum is open to the public.

The “Food Festival” will also start on the same day, November 17, with the public being urged to buy from the different stalls located at the back of the main Capitol building different foods from several Cebu towns. The 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. food festival lasts up to November 19.

The culinary competition will take place in the next two days, or on November 18-19, with the towns competing for the honor to be adjudged as having the best appetizer, welcome drink, dessert, main course, welcome lei, table set-up, and packaging.

The towns will also compete to come up with the “best interpretation” of a Cebuano recipe from a 1923 cookbook of Maria “Señora Inday” Fadullon Rallos.

Eats Meets West is a Cebu community-based ecotourism project of the Provincial Government started in 2015. It was intended to help develop local farming and highlight the value of authenticity and pride of place.