Margarita Fores champions Pinoy culture, food on ‘Harvest’ TV show
When it comes to popularity, Chinese and Japanese food lord it over other Asian culinary creations including Filipino. One theory goes that this is so because Filipino food, despite being delicious, needs improvement when it comes to presentation.
Margarita Forés, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards’ Best Female Chef for 2016, does not subscribe to the notion.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the look or the presentation,” she said in an interview. “I think it’s unpopular because not many know about it. And all because most Pinoys are reluctant to share our own dishes. We aren’t proud of them.”
The chef pointed out that many Filipinos usually serve Spanish dishes when we entertain visitors from abroad.
“Out comes the paella, the lechon, but never the sinigang or the kinilaw... so I really do think the unpopularity of Filipino food is really about us having national identity issues. It goes back to us having that colonial mentality where everything western is better,” she said.
Thankfully, this is changing. According to Margarita, Filipino food is fast catching up with its contemporaries of late as more and more chefs introduce wholly traditional Filipino dishes to the international market.
“There’s a change in mindset,” she said. “Some of us have rediscovered our own identity, finding inspiration in our own backyard.”
It helped that recent events both good and bad seemed to have sparked interest in anything and everything Pinoy.
“Like with Manny Pacquiao winning various titles in boxing, or the Yolanda tragedy, these things helped in putting the spotlight on the Philippines somehow, with the international community now noticing the beauty of our culture.”
Margarita admitted there’s “certain temptation” in fusing Filipino dishes with something familiar when introducing it to foreigners but she avoids doing it.
“I know why other chefs are tempted to compromise, like how they would change the look of the dish, or temper its flavor, making it more western in ideal. This is because it makes it easy for them to introduce the dish to foreign palates. But what they don’t realize is that doing so ultimately reduces the dish into something altogether different.” So how would she do it? “I think the better way is to do it slowly but surely,” she answered. “We should introduce Filipino food (to the international market) step by step. Me, I would pick the less obtrusive ones first like the adobo before going on to the more complicated ones. Let us not shock them with the bagoong and the balut on first instance. Sure it’s going to be long and slow but I’m positive that with this approach, Filipino food will soon find a niche internationally.”
Margarita has a culinary show on CNN Philippines dubbed “Harvest With Margarita Forés.”
The 30-minute program sees her visiting key destinations across the archipelago to uncover the history of some popular Filipino dishes and the unique ingredients they are known for. She will then try and recreate these dishes her own way.
“I love the whole concept of the show,” said Margarita. “It allows me to tour the Philippines and discover many more dishes, ingredients and concepts that will enrich my work. I think this is a priceless opportunity for me in that it will help me create new, wonderful dishes.”
Looking at the food prepared on some cooking shows, one is easily tempted to think these are the most delicious things ever. Well, they could be, actually, but not all the time though.
Margarita explained, “Most real, honest-to-goodness dishes wouldn’t look so good on TV that’s why some productions are often tempted to use unnatural ingredients to add to it like say, lacquer just to make the dish look more juicy.”
Ah, but not all cooking shows are alike.
Margarita maintained her own show, “will be genuine all the way.”
“Therein lies the challenge,” she said. “To make these dishes look interesting and delicious minus embellishments.”
“So here we will actually use traditional means of cooking. Like we will use open grills, firewood... it’s actually really exciting for me.”
Asked how she felt about getting the title best female chef instead of plain best chef, she said, “The industry has always been male driven so to be given the chance to be recognized as best female chef is an honor for me. It’s like the industry’s way of acknowledging how most of them were actually inspired by their mom or their lola so it’s like giving back the credit to women. Besides, I do think there’s nothing like a woman working in the kitchen. It’s part of our maternal instinct to feed and nurture.”
“Harvest With Margarita Forés” premieres Feb 18, 7 p.m. on CNN Philippines. (With report from Jojo P. Panaligan)