The organizers (led by the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines–HRAP) deserve to be credited for the longest-running culinary art show and competition in the ASEAN region. Nationally, it has gained prominence as it has produced some of the most talented and creative chefs in the country. But, is national prominence enough to rest their laurels on? Hong Kong has promoted their Asia Food Expo 2002 as a tourist attraction to the rest of the world. There are various food shows in many parts of the globe promoted outside of their respective countries. Our query now is–how involved is the Department of Tourism in COP? Have our tourism officials thought of promoting COP as a " Culinary Art and Dining Experience" on an international (or simply regional) level, at least a year in advance, so tourists who are foodies can come over? After all, September 2001 to September 2002 was declared Philippine Golden Hospitality Year. Why not focus on the many fiestas and festivals in the country to encourage more visitor arrivals?
A much welcome part of COP is the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Award for Food Writing, a most appropriate tribute to the late grand lady who elevated culinary reportage to an art. She has left a void and certainly we need to develop young men and women who will follow the trail she has blazed.
Another Asia Food Festival took place at the World Trade Center and like always there was slight confusion after the usual opening ceremonies. During the first half hour, no staff were at the six registration counters and visitors went in without visitor passes. Most participating companies, like A Taste of Italy, supplier of kitchen, bar and fine dining equipment, cater to industrial buyers, but should consumers be interested, they can get the goods from the big chains/stores or representative sales offices.
A friend pulled us to where Dutch onions were on exhibit. Would you believe that The Netherlands is the biggest exporter of onions? They produce from 600,000 to 700,000 tons of the essential bulbs. The lady could not say how much of that comes to Manila, but judging from the supply in local markets, we guess a lot. The range of onions includes the golden (the ones we call puti) used for sautéing; the red which has a sharp flavor and is good for decorating salads; shallots which emit a lovely aroma; spring onions (miniature leeks) which enhance practically every dish and chives, rather expensive but an excellent herb. Wonder how our local growers are facing up to this.
Some housewives now find the so-called gourmet (cauliflower, broccoli, courgettes, etc.) vegetables nearly impossible to buy because of the consistently rising cost. It is therefore not a bad idea to resort to imported frozen packs, like the line sold by Oerlemans. Recently we got Flav-R- Pac from Price Smart at slightly over P400 for a 4.125 lb. pack of tasty vegetables for stir frying, with accompanying sesame and ginger sauce. For a small family, this can be portioned into four and thus the price paid becomes value for money.
Incidentally, the latest offering in restaurants is flavored water and Smart Panciteria in Libis offers Nature’s Spring flavored water (apple, lemon or strawberry); very refreshing. Note that this Smart is managed by the grandchildren of the original owners, whose first restaurant in T. Pinpin, opened many years ago, attracted lots of Chinese food devotees.