Celebrity guests laud traditional cuisines during ARMM’s food fest

COTABATO CITY: As the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) showcased its traditional Moro cuisines during a food festival held here, celebrity guests lauded the region’s unique food and delicacies noting they would promote ARMM in many ways they can. The ARMM food fest puts the spotlight on culinary delights of the region’s five provinces as part of the 29th founding anniversary celebration.

Certified foodie and blogger Erwan Heusaff, celebrity chef Boy Logro, actor-restaurateur Diether Ocampo, BecomingFilipino blogger Kyle ‘Kulas’ Jennermann, and Anak Mindanao Executive Director Djalia Turabin Hataman were among the event’s judges. Chieftains and representatives of each village wore their traditional attire during the event.

Compared with the cuisines of other regions, which tend to be sweetened, the Moros’ cooking remains strongly ancestral utilizing a good deal of coconut milk and rich in ground spices. Typical ingredients include chili, turmeric, sambal, coriander, lemon grass and peanut butter. Because of Islamic laws, pork and alcohol are absent in the native cuisine of the Moros.

“It’s amazing, the culture and beauty that is here in the region, from the people to the colors to the music to the dance to the food; these are incredible,” Canadian blogger Jennermann said. “It is so much hard to promote the food here because you don’t even know how to describe how amazing it is, so everybody in the Philippines should see this and understand this,” he added.

Promoting the culinary delights in the ARMM through his blog, Heusaff said: “I do videos and I think I just want to focus on the food and culture here in ARMM and I will put it into video and hopefully people will get curious and actually realize that they can travel here and experience it for themselves.”

“Food here in ARMM is really good, everything was really surprising, actually most of the dishes I’ve tasted I wasn't familiar (but those were) really tasty and delicious and I’m glad I was able to taste the food here and looking forward to joining more (events),” he added.

The food festival marks the celebration of the region’s diverse flavors reflecting its culture and a celebration of cuisine and culinary talents of the Moro people.Popular actor Ocampo noted that joining the food festival is a great opportunity to share the good news not only to Filipinos but also to the world.

“It’s about time to recognize (our own) – the culinary expertise in our country, something I’ve always been looking forward to. Now that I have the chance to have a great experience with them, I think we should definitely continue doing this in the next couple of years,” Ocampo said adding that experiencing the food in the region is a great surprise for him.

He also suggested that each village should share their recipes so they can share these delights in other parts of the country. Part of the proceeds from the activity will be used to provide relief assistance to families affected by Tuesday’s fire in Jolo, Sulu. (Bureau of Public Information)