By ISABELLA OLIVARES
Chef Margarita Forés is set to move from the stove to the screen this month with Harvest with Margarita Forés, a four-part series on CNN Philippines where Asia’s Best Female Chef of 2016 will travel to different parts of the country to train the spotlight on delectable Filipino dishes and the unique ingredients used to make them. Discover what the internationally celebrated chef had to say about her new show, the burgeoning popularity of Filipino cuisine on the international stage and women in the culinary world when she sat down with PeopleAsia and other friends in media.
(Chef Margarita Forés)
They’ve always said that the reason the Philippines hasn’t made it that big [in the global culinary scene] yet like Chinese food or Thai food because it’s not as photogenic. What do you think?
I feel strongly that it’s not about the presentation. I think that when we started our own food, all of a sudden the world loves our food as well. It really has to do with our national identity issues. The colonial mentality didn’t make us so proud of our food. If you think back, when you entertain foreigners, where do you take them? You take them to have paella and lechón – you don’t take them to your house where you cook the best Pinoy food. You’re celebrating food with something that is more Spanish than it is Filipino. I think that nowadays, we are so proud of our sinigang, of our kinilaw and it took falling in love with our own cuisine and our own produce all over again. That’s why the world loves us too as far as our food is concerned.
How do you properly introduce people from other cultures to Filipino food especially with the tendency to create “fusion” cuisine?
There’s always a temptation to compromise a little bit and temper the flavors. But I think what is important is to know which dishes to present to people who are trying it for the first time. I think that adobo works because it’s easy to do. Maybe sinigang isn’t as easy because of the sourness. But once you get them with the adobo, it’s easy to present everything else. I don’t think there’s a need so much to compromise, but maybe you won’t give them balut or bagoong on the onset. They’ll appreciate maybe lumpia or adobo first, and once you get their interest, then you can introduce the stuff that’s a little more exotic.
(Warm Soft-Boiled Organic Egg Salad with Field Greens, Prosciutto Di Parma Crisp, Parmigiano Frico and Pommery Mustard Glaze)
Do you take on a TV persona as you host the show?
I think I still need to practice a little more so that I’m not so stiff but I think it’ll come naturally eventually. We’ve only done a few episodes so far, so I’m looking forward to being more at home with the camera following me around as I go along. I noticed that on Culinary Journeys [another televised collaboration between CNN Philippines and Chef Margarita] I said, “sort of,” 14 times! I have to be a little more precise when I speak. But I think what you see on the screen is pretty much who I am – I’m a very spontaneous person. A lot of the off-script comments were real. What’s nice about this show is that the dishes are not pre-planned. Whatever I cook onsite is thought of once I get to the market and see the ingredients and what I learn from the resource person of the episode. It’s really on the fly; I’m forced to push my creative juices to do something unique for the first time. I’m so inspired just by being there.
A number of food critics have been questioning the necessity of a best female chef award. They would rather that there only be one award in which both male and female chefs compete in. As the winner of last year’s Best Female Chef in Asia Award, what’s your response to that?
I think that in the end, the industry has always been male-driven; a lot of the people who own restaurants are male. But for them to decide to give the female chefs some recognition is a move towards equalizing everything. And I really think that when you ask chefs, they will always tell you that it was their mom’s or their lola’s cooking that inspired them. It’s where they get their inspiration and their creativity from, those childhood memories. In the end, it’s still the women. And I always say that the maternal instinct to feed and nurture is something that only women will understand. I think that is what gives me the fulfillment with the work that I do.
(Risotto Con Crema Di Scampi with Bulacan River Prawn)
Harvest with Margarita Forés will begin airing on February 18 at 7 p.m. on CNN Philippines Free TV Channel 9 or via live streaming on cnnphilippines.com/video
