Prelude To Christmas Celebrations, A Harvest Moon

Europeans that settled in pre-colonial United States have learned that the Native Americans kept track of the seasons by giving names to each recurring full moon. Thus, the full moon in January was called Full Wolf Moon; February, Full Snow Moon; and so on. In October, it was called Full Harvest Moon. During this month, farmers continued their harvest even late at night with the light provided by the moon.

This was the theme of a celebration of an international gourmet society, La Chaine des Rotisseurs, which was held last October 29 at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu. Instead of mere corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice, which were the staple of the Indians, the banquet highlighted the menu of the French countryside, more fitting to the origins of this organization.

The grand ballroom was ingeniously transformed into a “French marketplace where freshly-cut harvest of fruits, vegetables and flowers adorn round tables and corners, while a living huge pumpkin sashayed about the dining hall.” Even live ducks proudly paraded the ballroom to complete the scenery. Plans were made to include sheep and horses but the cost of cleaning chemicals for the carpet was a bit too expensive! 

Six major food outlets were installed around the dining area; Appetizer & Salads, Seafood, Pasta, Meats, Burgers and Desserts & Cheese stations. As usual, your favorite food columnist, pretending to be an amateur photographer, got to view the food displays ahead of everyone and immediately commited to memory a road map to the more delicious, if not exciting, dishes. 

As the Marco Polo GM Hans Hauri declared, “It is not buffet but cooking before your eyes.” I love this business of “live cooking” for two reasons: first, I feel that I have a personal chef and I can instruct him to follow the exact specifications of the dish that I would like to eat. Second is that I actually have very little work to do because taste preferences are highly personal and I have no business interfering in another person’s interest. However, if a dish is presented in its original form to the celebrants, that, excuse me, falls in the realm of my duties as food columnist.

Armed with a Los Carlos Chardonnay, I began to discuss with my table companions, Leslie and Martin Tappenden, Tony Caruzca, Rex Villahermosa, Al Evangelio and my better half, Joji the presumably better dishes in each station. My priorities would be those food items that I never tasted before. The food was predominantly French; however, since the gourmet club is international in character, there were dishes from other nations like Japanese (sushi) and Italian (pasta and gelato). Because of the sheer number of food served, even a small piece of each item would simply overwhelm the digestive system of any celebrant.

There were 14 wines to choose from that night and half a glass of each wine to taste would mean 7 glasses (one bottle of wine can service 5-6 glasses). And that means I drank over a bottle of wine! Well, duties have to be performed and precarious gyud the work of your favorite food columnist.

Much later, Casino Español GM Ed Tongco pointed out that there was a very delicious item in the Appetizer Station that tasted like foie gras and the Roast Black Angus beef was as succulent as Wagyu beef. Unfortunately, I missed both!

And though I wish I could invite all my beloved readers to this feast, there are definitely budgetary constraints and such wish remains a dream. A loyalist pointed out that “I love reading your food column; unfortunately I cannot afford it.” Well, the truth is, duha na ta!