MANILA?S top chefs and food writers braved the recent People Power anniversary traffic to be at Enderun College?s sunny atrium. The reason? A forum on ?Before Cuisine, there was Nature.?

Four of the food industry?s top players gave short talks before guest celebrity French chef Alain Ducasse took the floor.

The topic of Bel Castro, a Cordon Bleu graduate and a food and beverage lecturer at the school, was the sinigang.

After presenting different types of sinigang, which had evolved from the traditional meat sinigang to variants that use salmon head, corned beef and even lechon, she pointed out that much of the sinigang cooked today used as souring agent instant packets rather than fresh tamarind, kamias or guava.

Her presentation of ?authentic? sinigang recipes culled from Google, which she described as the biggest resource on the planet for Philippine recipes, had the audience in stitches, as each and every one listed instant seasoning mix.

Sinigang SOS

?Who (will save) the sinigang?? she asked the crowd.

A Filipino-American, for instance, who presumably had no access to authentic Philippine ingredients, used unripe peaches, duck and Swiss chard. Castro asked, ?Is it sinigang??

?It?s fusinigang,? replied Enderun?s Dr. Lance Masters, combining fusion and sinigang to form the word.

Reto Klauser, general manager of Shangri-La Hotel Makati and country manager of Shangri-La hotels in the Philippines, barely mentioned food in his talk. He spoke more from a managerial point of view as he discussed change.

Klauser said change came from having a vision, an ability to see the future.

He mentioned four ingredients for making change: (1) there must be attractiveness in the vision for the future; (2) there must be a level of discomfort with the way things were at the moment; (3) there must be proof of previous success with such change; and (4) there was support from the peer group.

Professionalize

Chef and restaurateur J Gamboa of Cirkulo fame, spoke of the need to improve Filipino food and professionalize the cooking.

Gamboa said, in the past, being a cook was not considered a particularly lofty or noble profession. Today, many chefs had become superstars.

Gamboa pointed out that today?s chefs were educated and literate, taking up the profession by choice. But he noted that chefs were more accustomed to Western food because of their training.

Gamboa offered suggestions on how culinary schools could improve and professionalize the preparation of Filipino food.

Culinary schools in the Philippines should teach regional Filipino cuisine. To counter the perception that Filipino food is ?brown, stringy and oily,? chefs should be taught proper cooking techniques.

Schools must develop and train Filipino chef instructors.

Regional and national competitions in Filipino cuisine should be encouraged.

Hotels and restaurants must be encouraged to employ Filipino executive chefs in the same way that big hotels in other parts of Asia often had Western and Chinese executive chefs.

There should be continuing education for culinary institutions.

Those in the food industry should get involved and create a win-win situation for themselves.

Amy Besa who, together with husband Romy, put up the trend-setting Cendrillon in New York, recounted that when she talked on Filipino food in the United States, her Fil-Am audience would be so moved, some even cried.

Besa, who also put up Purple Yam in Brooklyn and wrote ?Memories of Philippine Kitchens? (Stewart, Tabori and Chang), asked, ?What do you value? What is important about our food??

She answered her own questions saying Filipino food was delicious because it was cooked with love, and served with hospitality. She cited the Filipino meal prepared by Enderun chefs for Ducasse that featured upland rice and vegetables from Ilocos.

She explained why Filipinos had a poor view of their own cuisine. The Philippines being an archipelago, the basic diet consisted of fish and rice. During American colonial rule, the US denigrated the Filipino diet, saying it was deficient. The Americans taught Filipinos how to make cakes, cookies, doughnuts, etc.

Besa said a child would actually be better off with fish and rice rather than all the sugar-loaded foods.

She presented early 20th century advertising that misrepresented the nutritional benefits of certain products. The malt candy Horlicks, for example, was supposed to promote good health.

Besa talked about the Filipino sensibility in eating.

?Food served in courses does not work for us,? she said. The Filipino, she said, ate visually and that was why food was all laid out, sometimes including the dessert. (?So they know how much space to leave in their stomachs for dessert.?)

As typical Asians, Filipinos shared their food, sometimes even from the same plate. Besa said this was the social aspect of eating that bound people together.

Teaching is priority

Ducasse, the main speaker, said his greatest priority was the transfer of knowledge which happened in his kitchens every day, apart from the schools.

He said he taught others to ?work harder, work faster,? and that the product was 60-70 percent due to the ingredients.

?The best chefs cannot make something good without the best ingredients,? Ducasse said.

He taught students that to work together ?we need respect, the ability to listen and to be open to the world.? But Ducasse said learning was not one way as he also learned from the youth, especially their ?impatience and energy.?

Focusing on the theme, Ducasse said his fascination for nature came from a childhood spent in a farm. He remembered mornings when his grandmother sent him to pick vegetables.

?What we cook comes from nature,? said Ducasse. ?Before being put into a salad bowl the lettuce was alive and when we cut it, it ?bleeds? white.?

Respecting nature

Ducasse said he looked at what nature had to offer and cooked with respect, teaching the client how to feed himself better. Students were taken to the market so they would recognize quality products.

The celebrated chef is also conscious of his responsibility toward the planet. Sustainability is important to him. He said he no longer used red tuna, an endangered species in the Mediterranean.

?How can we inspire ourselves with what is available locally?? he asked.

Ducasse summed up his philosophy: ?The cook is but the interpreter of the generosity of nature.?