A tribute to 80 years of cooking

We have all heard the myth about the chef who guards his cooking secrets with rabid intensity. In a competitive world where there is a constant struggle to stay on top of the heap, the individual who guards his trade secrets cannot be blamed. The cook who shares his secret recipes and formulas with only a chosen few cannot be faulted. After all, when something tastes the same everywhere, it becomes too ordinary and one tends to lose one’s craving for it. When replicated many times over, success becomes less spectacular. Thus, to share prized recipes willingly with anybody who wants to learn is an act of generosity. For one to share family recipes and cooking techniques accumulated in a span of 80 years is an outstanding gesture of munificence.

Africa V. Reynoso, matriarch of the famed Reynoso cooking clan, will have it no other way.

"I am nationalistic," she says. " Recipes are not only a way of preserving a family’s traditions, but of preserving our country’s heritage as well."

However, The Reynoso Flair, 80 Years of Lola Afric’s Cooking, is more than just a compilation of excellent family recipes. It is the life story of Africa Valdes Reynoso, who, as the youngest child of the wealthy Valdes family from Angeles, Pampanga, started her cooking career by making mazapan de pili when she was barely 10 years old. Today, she is the matriarch of one of the biggest cooking clans in the Philippines.

The book is also testament to the various interests and talents of Lola Afric. Her son J. Emilio Reynoso writes: " I recall coming from first grade with a family questionnaire that asked for ‘mother’s occupation,’ and I questioned her long and hard in detail for the true definition of ‘housewife.’ It made no sense in my mind that she would claim "housewife’ as her occupation… To a child unaware of nuances, her answer seemed blatantly inaccurate. The answer to ‘occupation’ for my father was straightforward: Architect and builder of national note with 2,000 construction workers; so that, to me mother’s occupation: mother, mentor, tutor, inventor, investor, photographer, writer, voracious reader, planner, competitor, dreamer, pursuer of lofty goals. But housewife? Nonsense."

Lola Afric continues to lead an active life. She goes to Mass every day, reads newspapers, and clips or writes down recipes. Aside from using her exercise bike regularly, she walks every other day in the malls with Juliet, a member of her devoted household staff. She claims to cook mostly by "remote control" by merely supervising the cooking. However, on a recent visit to her Forbes Park home, I saw that Lola Afric had been busy at work, with the ingredients of her famous siomai recipe laid out on a table in her bedroom.

Africa V. Reynoso is the much-loved mother and grandmother of cooking teachers and food entrepreneurs who have significantly influenced the Philippine food scene. This is proof, perhaps, that she is absolutely correct when she says: "When you spoil your children, you lose them. I didn’t spoil my children. I taught all of them to make a living."

Africa V. Reynoso’s cookbook will be launched tonight at the Manila Polo Club’s Turf Room. The book costs P350. To celebrate Lola Afric’s generous nature, proceeds from the sale will be given to charity.