THE Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) has launched a nationwide culinary project aimed at lifting the status of the perceived lowly carinderia food.
In an interview with the BusinessMirror, TPB Officer in Charge, Deputy Chief Operating Office for Marketing and Promotions Maricon B. Ebron said “Buhay Carinderia Redefined” will take place in several regions in the country, which will then culminate in Manila with a food festival and competition in December.
“We are going to the regions to teach the LGUs [local government units] how to promote their cuisines, the ingredients available in their localities, and teach them how to prepare their food cleanly,” she said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event launch on Wednesday at the Rizal Park Hotel, Manila, she added that there will be conferences to discuss food topics, feature dishes that are popular in the region and a competition of culinary students using local ingredients. “We will involve the provincial culinary schools,” she stressed.
At the culminating event in December, the winners of the regional competitions will be the brought to Manila for a national challenge. “It will be a competition between the best of the best,” Ebron explained.
Through Buhay Carinderia, she said, the government also intends to elevate the quality of the country’s street food, such that vendors “will be taught proper food handling and sanitation,” to better attract foreign tourists and locals alike to taste these.
She added that the TPB is eyeing to bring the event to “key markets” abroad to further promote Philippine cuisine. TPB, the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT), usually promotes the Philippines by participating in travel fairs and expos in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, North Asia, the Asean and Pacific region, the United States and Canada.
Buhay Carinderia Redefined, formerly Carinderia Fiesta, has been an advocacy of Erlinda Legaspi, president of Marylindbert International Inc., since 2011. “The carinderia has been around since the 1800s,” she explained during the event’s launch, “offering home-cooked food that pays homage to the family culinary tradition. These are dishes and recipes that had been handed through generations.”
Over the years, she added, the project was able to “discover culinary talents” and carinderia like Sisig Avenue, Lance and Laurenz Food Express, Bulaluhan sa Bulihan, etc.
She said the festival this year will start in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, in June: “Individuals will go around Vigan, identify the best dishes there and the best carinderia.” Fourteen other provinces that comprise the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera Administrative Regions will also be visited.
Legaspi said, “These local culinary experts will then gather at the Vigan Convention Center on June 28 and 29, where they will not only share their talent to everyone, but also interact with chosen students of the area through mentoring partnership, so they could also pass on their skills and experiences.”
She added the region’s respective best practices will be shared, as well as discussions on the availability of local ingredients. It is, likewise, an opportunity for cross-selling of produce and talents.
“During this two-day exposition to showcase all the surrounding provinces’ culinary gems, we will also be searching for young individuals who will become our Philippine Tourism Millennial Ambasadors. They should be able to enlighten everyone of their town’s or city’s deep and multicultural food history.”
The same event will be replicated in other regions, such as Central Luzon, particularly Pampanga; Bicol region; Western, Eastern and Central Visayas; and the Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao region, Socksargen and Caraga.
“The linkages between food and tourism also provide a platform for national but also regional economic development. These days, anyone could notice the focus of many tourists has changed from the class ‘must see’ physical sights, such as natural wonders or monuments toward a ‘must experience’ imperative to consume intangible expressions of culture,” Legaspi stressed.
At the launch, A-List celebrity Erwan Heusaff, who is also a blogger and self-styled chef, was introduced as content creator for Buhay Carinderia, a project that targets the general mass population. He is best remembered by avid Youtube viewers as having prepared the favorite Filipino snack food, taho (sweetened soybean curd), using the wrong ingredients and serving it with raw tapioca balls.
But Ebron explained the choice: “He’s slowly discovering the assets of the Philippines,” which includes local food ingredients, and dishes.
For his part, Heusaff said, “I may not be a Filipino food expert yet; there are so many dishes that I still need to discover. But I’m curious to keep learning, and I am a staunch advocate of our culinary culture.”
Image credits: Roy Domingo