RP Heritage Festival delves into cuisine

With its aim of delving into the root of everything Filipino including cuisine, the Filipino Heritage Festival is presenting at Mandarin Oriental’s Paseo Uno Pasos del Tiempo (A Walk through Time) – a week-long event (May 26 to 31) featuring our Spanish-influenced cuisine.

The rich and extensive menu is prepared by Ed Quimson, a fourth generation Tuason who is conversant with the specialties and delicacies — the Spanish-influenced Filipino heritage dishes.

What follows is derived from material prepared by Mandarin Oriental.

Three centuries of Spanish colonial rule have left an indelible influence on our country, notably on Filipino cuisine. Family reunions, holiday festivities and special occasions are made memorable with paella, callos  and chicken galantina.  The flavors of Andalucia, Catalan and other Iberian regions have been permanently incorporated from nearly half a world away. But just how embedded are the Spanish flavors in Filipino cooking?

Felice Prudente Sta. Maria, in her internationally-awarded book “The Governor-General’s Kitchen: Philippine Culinary Vignettes and Period Recipes from 1521-1935”, writes that all aspects of Spanish culture have influenced the way Filipinos prepare and eat food. From the timing of festivals, to architecture, religion, the social castes of the time, down to the availability and importation of ingredients –—all these played a role in the evolution of the Philippine kitchen.

In 1903, there were only 15,419 Filipinos with any Occidental blood ties — about 0.2 percent of the nation. How did barely a percent of the population manage to change cooking as it did? The answer lay in the native help who were employed by many Spanish and upper-class families, Spanish ships, religious orders and army officers. When servants returned home, they showed off most likely, their culinary surprises. Those who could produce foreign fare and Hispanized native dishes were eventually adjudged good cooks.

According to Sta. Maria, cooking methods were introduced, e.g., the concept of cooked, pickled meat and the use of heavy sauces in such dishes as menudo, kaldereta  and  afritada. Spain’s national dish paella has been adapted to local taste and ingredients. Filipinized paella is often seasoned with patis.

The Spaniards also introduced New World ingredients. What could not be grown was imported – olive oil, olives, butter, Edam and Camembert cheese, grape wines, wheat flour and, for a time refined sugar. The new products were then incorporated into Filipino cuisine slowly and surely.

Gourmets will affirm how pervasively Spanish dishes have “invaded” our kitchen when they drop in at Paseo Uno this week for a taste of Chef Ed Quimson’s dishes.

Ed’s family line includes noted food connoisseurs Manilans have admired through decades. Angela Tuason set up PWU’s HE and Cooking Course program. Bubut Valdes Nieto, the family matriarch, captivated American officers with her delicious, mouth-watering chocolate cake. Rosario Legarda de Valdes, a Le Cordon Bleu-educated chef, opened the successful restaurant CHEF, then passed on her expertise to nephews and nieces. She was Palace matron in Quirino’s time.

Leo Prieto has two of the most successful franchises in local culinary history. Lori-Vi Valdes and Marian Legarda are famous for their “Kookie Monsters”. Joselito and Alda Fernandez Legarda run Alda’s Pizza Kitchen and Restaurant. Louie and Marilou Araneta Seen now manage La Tasca and San Mig Pub. Sino Araneta  Seen is chef of the Italian Pazzo. Bettina Kahn Legarda complements her catering business, Gourmet’s Palace, by setting up entire rooms or gardens. Glenda R. Barretto, who inherited her recipes from Nieves Tuason Barretto, her mother-in-law, runs Via Mare, favorite venue for lunches, meriendas, dinners.

Suzette Legarda Montinola and relatives have turned the Alejandro Legarda ancestral home into “La Cocina de Tita Moning” which serves Fil-Spanish heirloom recipes like Ed Quimson’s own.