IT’S final.
The fourth serving of the widely anticipated gastronomy event, Madrid Fusión Manila (MFM), will not push through this year.
DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat chats with Spain’s Ambassador to the Philippines Luis Antonio Calvo, as Kathyana Yu, fiancee of Senator Koko Pimentel, looks on. (Contributed photo)Tourism Secretary Bernadette Fatima Romulo Puyat gently inserted this announcement on the sidelines of the Ninth Philippine Harvest food fair at Central Square in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, launched on June 14. “I wanted Madrid Fusión Manila [to be my first project] but we’ve run out of time. We don’t have enough time for a proper bidding, no time for proper processing, so I don’t want to force it.”
Spain’s Ambassador to the Philippines Luis Antonio Calvo confirmed this in a separate interview with this columnist.
“No, it won’t push through [this year]. Of course, we’re respecting the MOU [memorandum of understanding], which calls for five editions. We’ve just had three. One should have been organized this year but with the change in the secretary of tourism…this will be postponed to 2019.”
The MOU was signed between the Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT) and Spain’s Secretary for Trade and ICEX during former President Noynoy Aquino’s visit to Madrid in September 2014, with the very first edition held in April 2015.
It was quite a memorable experience, especially for me, meeting culinary greats like 2012’s Best Female chef Elena Arzak and pastry chef Paco Torreblanca, but also because I was able to relish dishes using indigenous farm ingredients at the regional lunches headlined by Chefs Tony Boy Escalante and JP Anglo, among others. (See “PHL Takes First Steps to Be Food Tourism Leader in Southeast Asia,” BusinessMirror, May 3, 2015.)
Calvo added, arrangements are being made between the DOT and Foro de Debate, the franchise holder of Madrid Fusión, to hold the fourth edition of MFM next year. “This year, [the DOT] didn’t have a venue, they didn’t have logistics in place…so April 2019 is the new date. Then one more to go in 2020.”
Tourism sources told us Foro de Debate was earlier not receptive to postponing the fourth edition to next year, as the Philippines had already paid the franchise fee for 2018. “There were expected deliverables on their [Foro’s] end,” they said.
Asked about this issue, Calvo, who was also present at Philippine Harvest, said, “Of course you have to respect the Philippines. It is in the hands of the Philippine administration. If they feel this is not a good time to organize it, it is not in our interest to go ahead. We would rather have an organized Madrid Fusión Manila in 2019 than a not-so-well-organized [event in] 2018.”
Romulo Puyat also informed us that she has talked with the food curators who help put together the popular regional lunches at the MFM every year. “I had to consult them; they all said it was better to do it next year,” she said. The Department of Agriculture cosponsored the said regional lunches when Romulo Puyat was its undersecretary.
“While I love Madrid Fusión Manila, it will not push through this year. The organizers agreed that the ‘fourth year’ will be next year,” she said, adding it will likely be held at the SMX Convention Center, which is a large enough venue to accommodate all the people attending the regional lunches, the international gastronomy congress, and the trade exhibit/food fair. During the three-day congress, local and foreign chefs present their philosophies and demonstrate culinary techniques, which is well-attended by chefs, professional cooks, culinary students and media.
It was at one congress I attended that I was blown away by Michelin-starred chef Yoshihiro Narisawa, who explained how his love for the environment is translated into his dishes. (See, “A Serving of Soil, Water…and the Forest,” BusinessMirror, June 9, 2016.)
So, while we will have to wait a few more months before we’re able to listen, watch and learn from the most brilliant minds in the culinary world, and feast on the delicious plates of food created by our foremost chefs, I’m pretty sure it will be worth it. That being the first MFM of the new tourism chief, I expect no less than the best.
Meanwhile, whetting our appetites for what may be in store at the next MFM was the recent Philippine Harvest food fair, where the bounty of the country’s energetic and industrious farmers were on display and sale to the public from June 14 to 17.
SSI Group Inc. President Anton Huang (aka the landlord of Central Square), was on hand for the event, appreciating the wide array of produce on hand. He told us that he looked forward to expanding the offerings at the quarterly Philippine Harvest to include tourism products.
“As a whole, we’ve always made big efforts to promote the bounty of the Philippines, so to speak, not only in terms of handicrafts, local garments and other types of products, but also from a food perspective as well, which is also a very, very important part of our culture.”
He added, “We’re on our ninth edition; it’s proven to be very, very successful. We have a strong following in Central Square for Philippine Harvest, and we’re happy now that this tieup has evolved toward the DOT. And we can now expand what we are promoting to other aspects, as well, based on the initiatives of the new secretary.”
Asked if he had any personal favorites at the spread last week, Huang said, “The piyaya here is excellent. The hamonado longganisa is incredible, as well. There are also a lot of fresh vegetables being sold. In fact, a lot of products were launched here over the different editions in the last couple of years. And some of those products have found their way to supermarkets and other retail outlets.”
My own choice picks were El Union’s cold brew coffee—although it didn’t keep me up all night as warned by coffee guru Sly Samonte, who served us (yes, finally had a brew from a hipster café); the amazing creamylicious burrata from Casa di Formaggio, which makes their cheeses in, of all places, a farm in Murcia, Bacolod; Auro Chocolates’ dark chocolate ice cream with lengua de gato cone; and the Tuguegarao stall, whose girls generously cooked up my favorite Pancit Cabagan from Isabela. Yummeeh.
Another stall sold Wrapsody, a pili-nut-filled pastry which looked like a baklava, and an old favorite from Bicol. I had featured this tasty product in this space before. (My favorite way to eat it? Warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!)
Other stalls sold curacha and alavar sauce from Zamboanga (Alavar), dried fish from Bantayan Island, sili ice cream from Bicol (1st Colonial), and sweet mangoes from Guimaras, among others. Agri-tourism farms such as Milea Bee Farms in Batangas, as well as Costales Nature Farm and Forest Wood Garden in Laguna, also participated in the fair.
Image credits: Stella F. Arnaldo