Food Heritage of Antique Project: Advocating Use of Local Produce in F&B Industry

It was my first time to experience a five-star hotel chef cooking gourmet food using local produce right in front of me . It was like those "Wolfgang-Puck-cooking-show" on TV where a celebrity cooks for the audience.

The event dubbed as Food Heritage of Antique Project, held at the Advance Central College (ACC) Annex, was by invitation only and had this exclusive ambiance.

Mr. Rani Rodriguez, President of ACC in San Jose, Antique, organized the said event to increase knowledge of his students on various techniques of food preparation using local produce and also to promote use of local produce among local restaurateurs.

He has invited over Chef Aurora "Babes" Austria for the Project. 

According to this article,  Chef Babes is a former Malacañang Palace Executive Chef. She was  a budget and finance expert, a CPA with a degree in law, she held the post as Finance Director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development under the leadership of then Vice President Gloria Arroyo. She is also a retired executive chef of Taal Vista Hotel and is now a food consultant for the SM Hotel group.

Chef Babes emphasized that the local restaurateurs could help the local economy by buying local produce (such as the moscovado, coconut vinegar, fish and vegetable produce, tableya) for their menu.

As Chef Babes shared her techniques while cooking, she said that aside from helping the local economy it is also a social responsibility to serve healthy food to your clients by removing unwanted fats (beef fats in broth) or avoiding artificial additives in ingredients (citric acid in commercial vinegar).

After the cooking demonstrations, guests, selected students and ACC faculties sampled the Chef's masterpieces for lunch which includes: Tanguige ceviche using local coconut vinegar and malunggay flowers; Fresh shredded sayote salad with dried salted shrimp (locally known as kalkag) and passion fruit - honey vinaigrette; Antique batwan lechon; Baked chicken with alupidan (vine which serves as host of rafflessia) leaves; Ensaladang talong using local coconut vinegar; Gaway-gaway (katuray) salad; Seafood paella; Deep-fried pinindang, Gourmet KBL (kadyos, baboy, langka); Baked fish (dorado) with bell pepper and native tomatoes; Garlic bread with fried dilis with olives, katuray and native tomato; Fried dilis and ray (locally known as pagi).

Thank you Sir Rani and congratulations for the successful conduct of the Food Heritage of Antique Project with Chef Babes Austria.

It was an awesome experience!

Baked Chicken with Alupidan Leaves

Fried Dilis and Pagi garnished with native tomatoes

Garlic bread topped with anchovies (dilis), olive, slice of native tomato and gaway-gaway

Deep Fried Pinindang

Fifth from left is Chef Babes Austria.

Fish (Dorado) with native tomatoes and bell peppers

Gaway-Gaway Salad

Tanguige Civiche

Antique Batwan Lechon

Seafood Paella

Suman Using Local Tableya

Sayote Salad with Dried Fish (Kalkag)

Ensaladang Talong

*Some bits of wisdom picked up from Chef Babes (translated and/or paraphrased):

"From the soil to the plate." 

"When mixing with acid, such as vinegar, do not use metal mixing bowl. Use plastic, ceramic or glass. If you use metal, the food will taste metallic. This is a basic in culinary school. "

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