Sabores De España 7th edition

CEBU, Philippines - Every year, a Spanish Food festival called the Sabores de España is one of the most anticipated chapters in the series of Culinary Journeys held at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu (phone 253-111, www.marcopolo plaza.com). The reason is very simple, the food is really good, if not great, and Cebuanos in general are really not that adventurous about food.

We prefer cuisine from countries in which the Philippines had direct contact whether as visitors or as colonizers, like China (Chinese traders were in Cebu when Magellan came!), Spain (Spanish colony for 330 years, 1565-1898) and America (American Protectorate, 1898-1946).  To check whether my beloved readers are really daring about food, when was the last time you ate South African, Brazilian or even Russian food?

You may ask me, how about pizza which is definitely Italian in origin. True but it had spread in the USA and had “undergone significant modifications like the New York-style pizza is massive with thin crusts, and limited sauce and cheese”. It is the same route for all foods that has undergone indigenization. Recipes are not copied faithfully but modified to assimilate local ingredients and attuned to appeal to the local preference in matters of eye appeal, texture and taste.

And this has always been my problem as a food columnist; I cannot differentiate between what has been integrated as Filipino food to the original Spanish recipes for the simple reason that I have not visited Spain. I want to taste many of these dishes in its original form! A visit to the Jamonissimo, a ham shop in Barcelona would allow me to differentiate the nuances of Jamón  Ibérico  de  Bellota  that comes from Salamanca, Andalusia or Extremadura.

Back to the Spanish Food Festival at the Marco Polo Plaza, it has been the tradition to cut the cake... I mean to slice that wonderful Spanish ham and this solemn duty was given to Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines Jorge Domecq, assisted by Honorary Consul of Spain Anton Perdices, Marco Polo Cebu Resident Manager Julie Najar and Chef Gema Pido.

We had appetizers like the Buñuelos de Chorizos Asturianos, Croquetas de Pollo y Jamon and my favourite, the Salad Melon & Chorizo Skewers. Refreshing sweet taste of the melons soften the impact of the rich taste of the chorizos, a perfect match. Soup was the Sopa Cachorreña or the Seville Orange Soup, very refreshing and very tasty, definitely something new to my palate and my memory cells were quick to encode it.

Moving to the main course, I sampled each of the following: Lengua Estofado con Setas, Pollo Chilindron, Pescado en Salsa Verde, Fabadas, Mechado Del Campo and the ubiquitous Paella Valenciana in every Sabores de España. Then I joined immediate past Spanish  Honorary Consul  Jaime  Picornell at the line leading to that wonderful Spanish ham because my journey into Spanish cuisine would certainly be incomplete without it.

Then the discussions began on which dishes was the best that night and many guests pointed to the Fabadas while my personal preference was the Mechado Del Campo. [email protected]