WHEN one thinks of American cooking, the images of stars, stripes and apple pie readily come to mind. 

In reality, there’s more to it than that, as demonstrated during the Great American Food Festival, entitled “America, the bountiful,” recently held at the Glorietta Mall Activity Center in Makati.

The food extravaganza hosted by Nancy Reyes Lumen, editor in chief of Cook Magazine published by Philippine Graphic Publications, Inc. (PGPI).—official media partner of the event along with sister media entities Graphic, BusinessMirror and Home Radio 97.9FM—was a celebration of great ole American culinary concoctions highlighted by friendly competition in such categories as  Best US Apple Pie On-the-Spot Bakeoff, Best Dressed US Cheesecake, and a Search for the Home Cook using Spam and US Cornish Hen.

US Ambassador Kristie  Kenney, as guest of honor, led the slicing of the US flag-inspired ceremonial cake. She was assisted by US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Counselor David Wolf; Rowena Tomeldan of Ayala Malls; PGPI chairman T. Anthony Cabangon Chua, president Benjamin Ramos, VP-general manager Ricky Alegre of PGPI; and COOK’s editor Lumen.

The two-day event also showcased US agricultural products and a bazaar with selling and sampling activities participated in by Culinary Best Source Inc., Fly Ace Corp., Charmy Food Corp., Synergy Asia Marketing Services, Megadeli Marketing Inc., My Own Meat Shop, Dane Int’l Commodities, American Hospitality Academy, PTC Commercial Corp. and Link Import Export Corp.

On the first night, outstanding bartenders from all nine TGI Friday’s branches in the Philippines, headed by this year’s champion Ram Ong, showed off their personality and showmanship, not to mention their knowledge in mixing drinks and free-pouring in the “Flair-tending” Competition.        

A cooking demo of roast turkey by Chef Jason Stacy of AHA started the second day of the festival, followed by a healthy soybeans recipe by Charmy and two American traditional recipes by McCormick. Then, the competitions began—Best US Fried Chicken, Best California Raisins Granola and the much-awaited Search for the Cook Idol, with the lone winner given a ticket to Honolulu, courtesy of Hawaiian Airlines.

But perhaps one of the biggest crowd-drawers late on Friday was the parade of Elvis Presley impersonators presented by TGI Friday’s.

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Great ole cooking from the US of A

WHEN one thinks of American cooking, the images of stars, stripes and apple pie readily come to mind. 

In reality, there’s more to it than that, as demonstrated during the Great American Food Festival, entitled “America, the bountiful,” recently held at the Glorietta Mall Activity Center in Makati.