Ten finalists selected in East Meets West culinary competition

THE East Meets West culinary competition run by the Irish Government Food Board (Bord Bia) attracted a large entry of over 100 participants, with innovative Filipino recipes submitted from a diverse range of chefs, culinary students, food influencers, and home cooks. Marion Rogan, EU Pork & Beef programme manager said, “We were thrilled with the level of entries and the quality of the recipes submitted to the competition as this is our first culinary competition in the Philippines. Our aim is to raise awareness of the high quality and unique taste of Irish beef and pork from Europe.”

Our world-renowned chef judging panel comprised of Chef Billy King of Le Chef Restaurant at The Manor Hotel Baguio, Chef Mark Hagan of Grand Hyatt Manila — Bonifacio Global City, and Chef Philip John Golding of Disciples de Escoffier International Asia — Philippines, and we also included Bord Bia representatives.

The top ten finalists were carefully selected and announced on September 7 and include:

Filipino chefs: Jeffrey Ayento, recipe consultant from Cagayan de Oro; Nathaniel Deocaris, chef from Cainta, Rizal; and Francis Dave Lacson

Selorio, executive chef at Crypto Café & Restaurant from Iloilo City.

Food influencers: Nathaniel Uy @thehungrychef, a cook by profession; Alexis Manuel Deocaris @ ForkSpoonManila, an established food blogger; andKarla Ramos @ karlaroundtheworld, a cooking aficionado.

Filipino culinary students: Marichu Jung from Apicius Culinary Arts — Parañaque; Kenneth Villanueva from University of Batangas; and Donie Bigcas of Center for Culinary Arts — Manila.

Home cook: Karl Kenneth Watson who is a financial advisor from

Caloocan City.

The final selection of the five winners and their winning recipes will be announced in October. The winners will win an exciting culinary tour to Ireland, planned for 2021. This trip will give the winners a oncein-a-lifetime chance to visit Irish food producers and top restaurants in Ireland to get a first-hand feel for the excellent quality of the Irish produce. They will also get the opportunity to attend a cooking class with the legendary Irish Chef Billy King plus other prizes.

For more information, visit https://europeanporkbeef.com/ph.