Madrid Fusión Manila in 2016? Its a distinct possibility
THERE IS A chance that Madrid Fusión Manila, the three day food congress which was held last weekend at the SMX in Pasay City, will be coming back. A banner seen hanging next to the escalator at the SMX a day before the event opened on April 3 confidently read, “See you at Madrid Fusión Manila 2016 on April 15-17, 2016.”
But Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr., speaking at a press conference the day before the congress opened was only willing to say it was a possibility.
“I can only vouch for the possibility of Madrid Fusión up to 2016, okay?,” he said when discussing having what might be considered the world’s most important food and gastronomy congress, Madrid Fusión, return to Manila.
Margarita Forés, one of the chefs who gave talks at the Madrid Fusión in Spain earlier this year and at the Manila edition, was firmer — she said, “It’s not just going to be a one-year thing.”
Said Mielle Esteban, Gastronomy and Special Projects Manager for Arum Estragias Internacinalizacion, S.L, one of the event’s organizers, said a day before Madrid Fusión Manila opened: “Well, I know that Madrid Fusión is already looking for chefs, and this is our first edition here, and we’re learning a lot from it also, and I think it can only be better.”
This year’s roster of chefs included Pepe Lopez, Elena Arzak, Ramon Freixa, Francis Paniego, Paco Roncero, Mario Sandoval, Paco Torreblanca, and Quique Dacosta from Spain, and from the Philippines, Juan Carlos de Terry, Margarita Forés, Jose Luis Gonzalez, Myrna Segismundo, Fernando Aracama, Claude Tayag, and J. Gamboa, and Rob Pengson, and Bruce Ricketts. Two other chefs from Asia participated: Andre Chiang and Alvin Leung.
“But the plan really is to do another edition,” said Ms. Esteban. “The idea is, we have signed a contract with Madrid Fusión... for five years, renewable. And so, it’s in the Philippines; it cannot be brought into any other Asian country for five years. If we are able to do it really well here, then it can be renewable. That’s the agreement we have now, so that’s why we’re trying so hard.”
Ms. Esteban relates Madrid Fusión’s arrival in the Philippines to the galleon trade between Spain, Mexico, and Manila. “We have to try to keep this in the Philippines... for that whole story of the galleon, and coming back, because they have done 13 in Spain, three in Mexico, and this is the first in Manila... in the day [of] the travelling ingredients, and respect for the environment, and all that, it’s coming full-circle, from what was once our point of bounding between the two countries.”
Myrna Segismundo, another chef who presented in both Madrid Fusión Manila and Madrid, said, “Everyone wants a piece of this, and we have it, so we cannot not make it happen!” —