By Jodi Bustos
Eagle News Service
QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News)— With a huge amount of hard work and love mixed with creativity and passion, select culinary students showcased their distinct skills in cooking and preparing three dishes featuring high-quality U.S. ingredients: beef, turkey, potatoes, cheese, raisins, and nuts.
Dubbed as “The Great American Taste Culinary Competition”, this event is the first-ever cooking contest hosted by the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and organized by Synergy Asia Marketing Services Inc.
Competing teams were chosen among the top culinary schools in the Philippines: De La Salle (DLSU)- College of St. Benilde, Enderun Colleges, and Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU).
U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim recognized the participating students as “tomorrow’s top chefs” and praised culinary competition “as an example of the strong cultural collaboration between our two countries and our shared passion for food.”
Kim also compared the relationship between the United States and the Philippines to a delicious cake.
“This competition reminds me that our relationship has many layers, much like a delicious New York cheesecake,” he said.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) promotes U.S. food and beverage products in the Philippines to showcase the availability, quality, variety, and application of these foods to Filipino dishes.
According to USDA Agricultural Counselor Ralph Bean, the students who aspire to be professional chefs in the future are “the perfect people to work on the select U.S. ingredients because they are imaginative and risk-takers and they will come up with something really interesting.”
“You have to understand the taste profile in order to really make it work because of cultural differences,” Bean said.
He even joked about a possible fusion of an American ingredient and a famous Filipino dish.
“Who knows we may come up with cranberry sinigang?”
“I like to see local culture adapt our products to their style but I am also very open to fusion,” he added.
‘The Great American Taste’
Using the said U.S. grown ingredients, Enderun Colleges won the competition, beating DLSU and LPU.
Enderun Colleges won ‘Best in Appetizer’ for their ‘Evolution of Pho’ using U.S. beef carpaccio and dumpling, and ‘Best in Main Course’ for their ‘Turkey Jambonette & Terrine’ using potato puree, cranberry turkey jus, and vegetables.
DLSU- St. Benilde got the ‘Best in Dessert’ prize for their ‘Banana Mouse on U.S. Almond Jaconde with Pecan Brittle.’
Judges were impressed with the taste, preparation, and presentation of the dishes.
“The essence of this competition is to prepare all of you to become a chef and to bring out the best in you,” said Chef Sau del Rosario, a celebrity chef and one of the judges.
Another judge Richard Liu said the competition is just “the beginning, the first day of their lives as chef and cooking professionals.”
(Photos courtesy of Cez Rodil, EBC Correspondent)