'My City, My sm, My Cuisine' Season 2

MANILA, Philippines - After foodie stops in 13 cities, hundreds of cook fest entries, and countless priceless heirloom recipes and wonderful memories, SM and The Philippine STAR will give its readers a second serving of “My City, My SM, My Cuisine.”

“My City, My SM, My Cuisine” Season 2 makes a stop in 10 cities around the Philippines, as far north as Baguio and as far south as General Santos. Each stop in the culinary roadshow will be timed to coincide with major festivals in the city. “My City, My SM, My Cuisine” culinary adviser Corazon S. Alvina helped in selecting signature food from the different cities where SM has malls for this foodie event.

“People with a proud sense of regional identity have brought forth Philippine regional cuisine,” says Alvina, director of the board of trustees, Metropolitan Museum of Manila. With her extensive culinary research as production manager of GCF Books, which published the Culinary Culture of the Philippines, as well as her participation in books like Food of the Philippines by Periplus Editions and Slow Food published by Anvil and the International Food and Wine Society, Alvina is an authority on our country’s regional cuisine.

“Culinary styles evolved from the major regions of the archipelago,” Alvina adds. “The variations are traceable to our rich natural and to the gustatory tendencies and communal practices of families and communities. Contact with foreigners also flavored native cooking practices.”

Beginning this April, SM shoppers and Philippine STAR readers can join by submitting recipes of some of their hometown’s favorite foods and get a chance to win P5,000 SM gift certificates.

Alvina also helped in selecting entrees and desserts from each city that will be part of the “My City, My SM, My Cuisine” contest. SM shoppers and Philippine STAR readers can submit the recipe of their city’s selected entrée or dessert along with their name, address, and occupation to sm_starculinary@yahoo.com. They can also mail these to the Publicity Department, Building C, SM Corporate Office, J.W. Diokno Boulevard, Pasay City, or the Lifestyle Section of Philippine STAR at R. Oca, Jr and Railroad Sts., Port Area, Manila.

Ten finalists will be selected from the recipes submitted, five for entrees and five for dessert. Two winners — one for the entrée and one for dessert — will be selected from each city during the culinary contest that will be held in time for the city’s festival. The two winners will each receive P5,000 in SM gift certificates, while finalists will receive gift packs from SM Homeworld.

In its second season, “My City, My SM, My Cuisine”’s first stop will be in Rosales, Pangasinan, where food enthusiasts can submit their recipes for bangus entrées and tupig desserts this April. “Pangasinan has the best bangus in the Philippines,” Alvina says, “and it will be the main ingredient for our entree. Tupig, on the other hand, is the ubiquitous sweet food item accessible at all times in Pangasinan.”

It will then proceed to Rizal province in May, where the cookfest will combine the flavors of Antipolo, Taytay, and Marikina for the best binayabasan hipon at alimango and suman na ibos with sidings of either casuy or matamis na bao. “Although all three sites are considered highlands, they also derive their food from rivers and Laguna de Bae,” observes Alvina. “The areas also used to be rich sources for guava, tomato and watermelon, which were all used in cooking. Antipolo, on the other hand, is well known for suman sa ibos, with either casuy or matamis na bao sidings.”

“My City, My SM, My Cuisine” will visit Calamba, Laguna, the hometown of our National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal, in June where food enthusiasts can compete for the best ukoy with alamang or Jose Rizal’s favorite chicken soup with chestnuts for the entree; and buko pie for dessert.

The culinary roadshow will then proceed to Lipa in July; Baliwag, Baguio, and General Santos in September; and Olongapo and Tarlac in December before making a final stop in San Pablo, Laguna in January 2013.

“My City, My SM, My Cuisine is SM’s contribution to ensure the survival of Philippine food stories,” says Alvina, who was both pleased and surprised at the overwhelming response the project has elicited. “By identifying, collecting, retrieving, preserving and promoting traditional recipes and culinary techniques, this is food conservation at its best.”