Negros Food: Beyond Borders

 

Negros Occidental has always been a cradle of delectable food. Rich in history, Negrense cuisine is a result of endless tweaking and testing, of constructing and deconstructing, all for that elusive adaptation that a household could call its own – “a family recipe”. And always, the process was swayed by Spanish, Chinese, and Malay cookery. But times have changed, and so have the influences. Filipino taste has learned to welcome Thai, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean flavors. So we asked three young Negrense chefs, what’s the fate of Negrense cuisine? To what ends will they take Negrense cuisine? What borders are they willing to breach? 

Chef Don Colmenares

In three separate editions in August and September, Negros Season of Culture will feature Chef BJ Uy of East Bite Asian Kitchen, Chef Don Colmenares of Berbeza Bistro, and Chef Nico De Asis of Portiko Café and Lounge. Their cooking styles and techniques are unique to themselves, but their Negrense hearts are threaded through with the same reverence for Negrense heritage food. 

Chef BJ Uy

Their entries into the culinary arts were egged on differently, but eventually, they all found their way to our tables. Schooled in Business, Chef BJ was supposed to help run his family’s hotels, but off-hours found him with the kitchen staff. Chef Don watched cooking shows on television while other kids his age were stuck on anime as if becoming a chef was written in his heart all along. Chef Nico’s journey begins and ends with his passion for food: “…what I want to eat influences what I think people want to eat. I believe I serve the type of food that I want to eat myself and I enjoy it very much.” So there.

Chef Nico De Asis

It is heartwarming to see how proud these young chefs are of home, despite their exposure to foreign cuisine, how they relish their shared identity by birth and breeding, despite the onslaught of foreign food kiosks on every street corner. With responsible innovation, Negrense cuisine is in good hands for the next half-century, at least. Into that future, these chefs assure us, we will continue to take pride in the classic Linutik, Pancit Molo, and Chicken Binakol, all rich in history but always made for the times.   

For these stories and more on Negrense heritage, visit  www.negrosseasonofculture.com or like us on FB and IG @NegrosSeasonofCulture.

Negrense Season of Culture boasts Negros Food

Tambo

Being an advocate of Negrense heritage, the Negros Season of Culture will shift the editorial spotlight to food in July and August this year. The cooler climate of these rainy months provides a cozy backdrop to take on favorite soup dishes. Warmth in a Bowl started as a social experiment after a backyard survey revealed that 80% of Negrense's favorite food selections are soup dishes.

Warmth in a Bowl

Kansi

The series features 10 dishes, from refreshing consommés to hearty chowders, and versions thereof, as happens between families, between kitchens. Many are swayed by ingredients that abound locally. Others are dictated by prized family recipes executed by well-trained “kusineras”. And so, travelers from across the country find their bearings through blogs that point them to the best Kansi house, or that of the hearty one-pot KBL (acronym for kadyos, baboy, langka). There are amazingly creative menus written out of humble farms, featuring the veggies of Laswa, the banana of Inubaran, the bamboo of Tambo, and the coconut of Chicken Binakol. Still, others are rooted to peculiar traditions, like the Fish Tinola and Bas-oy that are part of Negrense breakfast fare, and the Pancit Molo that reigns supreme in the Negrense mahjong fare. The list is capped by the warmth and nostalgia of Linutikan, a bowl that predates the popular squash soup of today.

Laswa

Heritage, however, is not carved in stone. It is a developing human saga. What we know as culinary heritage today was formed through the years. It absorbed influences foreign to it, from the Malays, Chinese, Spanish, and Americans. We can probably expect that decades from now our food heritage will be more complex, but hopefully without losing its trademark identities.  

That hope rests on our young and maverick chefs. Our second food project, Beyond Borders, features three who have quickly established names for themselves at home, running their popular restaurants. We follow the journeys of BJ Uy of East Bite Asian Kitchen, Don Colmenares of Berbeza Bistro, and Nico Millanes of Portiko Café and Lounge as they pursue the Negrense’s love for culinary adventure beyond traditional borders. They are modern-day food whisperers, purveyors of fusion cuisine made possible by a world where boundaries have been blurred by technology and geopolitics, where differences of nationalities have yielded to similarities of age segment. To them, we ask, quo vadis Negrense cuisine?

Negrense Season of Culture is proud to present these Negros Food stories with the standing endorsement of the Department of Tourism, Region VI, and alliance and support from Union Bank GlobalLinker.