“Have you eaten?” Enter any Filipino home and that is how you are welcomed. Food is a valuable aspect of our lifestyle and economic struggle. It brings family, relatives and friends together. It attracts foreigners to Filipino restaurants and lately, it has encouraged people, big and small operators, to produce and profit from food production.
We were at the International Food Exhibition Philippines (IFEX) where the various flavors of the country were highlighted. Close to 400 food industry players, as well as international companies from 12 countries, exhibited gastronomic offerings – kosher, halal, regional specialties and most of all, Filipino-produced delectables like seasoned meat and seafood, coffee blends, coconut sweets and oil, and biscuits, all of which, we are proud to say, have risen a notch higher from where our industry was in the past. We noted a marked improvement in taste, packaging and innovativeness of the Filipino-made products.
Bangus has always been daing, relleno, sinigang, pesa or fried. Anjo Farms (523-5150), whose slogan is “Pangasinan’s Best,” has concocted new dishes using milk fish, packed in microwaveable trays. We tried the curry and the adobo. Both are authentically flavored, the curry truly curry and the adobo just as it should be. While this line was sold at the fair for P140/P145, expect the retail price to be a bit higher.
Boy Bawang (tel 983-9928) has gone a long way from its beginnings in 1990. It started marketing cornick in 2003, becoming an instant success. Today, they have expanded their line to include puto seko. Boy Bawang is based at 949 Llano Road, Caloocan City. Their products are available in supermarkets.
Kiddies Bakehouse (6338-412-2456) from Tagbilaran, Bohol, has garlic- flavored pretzels; barquiron, cylindrical cookies made of flour, milk, peanuts, sugar and shortening; cai-cai, whose filling is made of glucose; and rosquillos, a popular sweet cookie shaped like a ringlet, as inspired by the Spanish word, rosca.
W.L. Foods group of companies (440-6707), has quite a selection, from sashimi crackers to choco-malt drinks, guava candy, U-need rice noodles, Polo Molo’s dried mangoes, bananas and coconut products. Fisher Farms (634-676-2242), under the label Everyday Fish Deli, offers fish items rich in Omega 3 including DHA. They’ve also got luncheon meat, hotdogs, bacon, longganiza and frankfurters. Their base is in Pulilan, Bulacan.
Other companies/products at the exhibition were – Gintea or salabat, Barrio Fiesta shrimp paste, canned meats, condiments and fruit preserves, Master and Family sardines, tocinos and Sasmuan delicacies.
All these producers are gunning for the export market, thus the presence of foreign buyers and investors. That is a very good objective, but we also encourage them to make these available to local consumers who must also have the benefit of enjoying “Made in the Philippines” products. Then we can really “buy Filipino” and be proud.
It was World Hypertension Day last week and to commemorate and educate people at risk – and even those who are not – chef Rolando Laudico, who believes in lessening, if not eliminating salt from our food, was commissioned to produce some recipes which remain flavorful even without soduim. A no-salt cooking contest was also launched by the Philippine Society of Hypertension, Philippine Society of Nephrology, and Philippine Heart Association in partnership with Novartis Healthcare Philippines.
The contest ends today. It is a pity that we got the material on this rather late for our deadline. Judging will be held tomorrow, with prizes at stake. Due to lack of space we are not able to include the recipes of Chef Rolando this week. We will do this next week, hopefully with those of the winners.
Do not be indifferent to this campaign of reducing salt in our food. We have a daughter and son-in-law who, for the last two or three years, have cooked entirely without salt. Instead, they use a lot of garlic and spices like rosemary and thyme. The food that comes out of their kitchen is so delicious that the absence of salt is never noticed.
E-mail comments and questions to: lydia_d_castillo@yahoo.com