With a steady blend of heat, flavors, and love, Filipino cuisine has caught the eyes and taste buds of American food enthusiasts and experts, who see a dish as simple as adobo as the next gourmet dish.
At last month’s Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, California, news site New America Media reported: “Adobo is considered a signature dish in Filipino cooking, which, judging from the buzz at [the event], could be poised to ride the next gourmet food wave.”,
However, the craze goes beyond Adobo, the news site said, adding that veteran food writer Nancy Freeman “has been a long-time fan” of the Filipino cuisine.
“I think there are so many hot Filipino restaurants now, and they have really helped get this food bubbling to the surface of the marketplace,” said Freeman, who is also the president of the Asian Culinary Forum.
In the hit US reality TV show “Top Chef,” for example, Filipino American contestant Paul Qui whipped up a contemporary version of the staple dish, using quail and ginger rice. The dish sent him off to the next round and earned him admiration of kababayans who tune in to the show.
Gourmet Pinoy food
Freeman told New America Media that putting Filipino food forward to high-end dining lies in its presentation. For her part, she has been pairing Filipino dishes with wine—quite fitting, she said, because our cooking is influenced by Spaniards and they “drink wine all the time.”
The freelance food writer-editor has paired Adobo with white wine and got favorable results.
“Who would have thought that would be fantastic? It worked very well, none of us expected it!” she said.
She also said that chefs should “consider veering away from ‘lutong bahay’ or home-style cooking.”
“It can’t just be as my mom or grandma makes it. It can be however you want to make it, it can be a modern take, it can be fusion, it can be whatever tastes good, as long as it reflects its roots,” Freeman told the New America Media.
Pinoy food transformation
Several Filipino American chefs took to this train of thought as they competed last month in the second “Kulinarya: A Filipino Culinary Showdown,” a cook-off hosted by the Philippine Consulate General together with several agencies including the Philippine Departments of Tourism and Trade and Industry.
Arlene Nuñez, for example, bagged the prize in the Amateur division for her menu that included Adobo Banh Mi—merging the staple dish with a classic Vietnamese sandwich.
Chef Albert Rivera reigned in the professional division “with a sampling that included shrimp and vegetable fritters with a ‘Calamansi’ Ponzu Sauce” and the classic Filipino summer refreshment halo-halo, “a dessert of shaved ice, evaporated milk, and a mixture of various fruits and beans.”
For her part, Gloria Ramos, who competed in the Amateur division, made a “veganized” Afritada, replacing chicken or port with tofu.
“My daughter turned vegan and I had to create different things for her,” she said.
Covering the Kulinarya event was newspaper editor Nicholas von Wettberg, who said, that Filipino cuisine could “break through the mainstream food scene by making it as healthy as possible, especially by cutting down on grease and sodium.”
He said the Filipino dishes he saw reflected the creativity of chefs of Filipino descent, especially with desserts.
“The way the chefs presented their dessert courses was very colorful and vibrant. It’s satisfying to know that there are young Filipino chefs out there who are thinking outside the box, there was definitely love and care for detail with these dessert dishes,” he said. - VVP, GMA News
source:gmanetwork.com
