THINK—or read—“Doreen Gamboa Fernandez,” and although she was also a teacher, Filipino academic, chronicler of culture, and writer, Filipinos will eternally associate her with food writing. That is, food writing at its finest, because it was honest, unpretentious, never entitled, always informative and uplifting. Fernandez’s writing has remained the unsullied gold standard of credible food writing, over two decades after she passed on.
Before she died in 2002, together with friends and colleagues in the food arena, Fernandez had been planning a food essay writing competition. Her friends still pushed through with what would become the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez (DGF) Food Writing Awards, which marked its 21st edition this year, 2024. Generations of food writers—journalists, essayists, foodies who like to pick up the pen, and writers who like to eat—found recognition through the contest. This year also, one of the original DGF stalwarts, veteran chef, and mentor Myrna Segismundo, has taken over the reins of the contest from fellow OG organizer and food writer Mickey Fenix.
“I invited her to sample some dishes from my restructured Pinoy cooking,” Segismundo recalls how she met Fernandez. “She was such a unique food writer because her words flowed gently, and her written pieces were stimulating. As a chef, I gravitate towards simple, no-frills writing that I can learn from or validate; I like food novels that are entertaining, for example, with a dash of humor.”
Segismundo is determined to see the awards through into the future, she says, “so we can have more Doreens! We’ve gone from a handful submissions to as many as 55 entries this year, the biggest number so far, with essays coming from all over the Philippines and now, even overseas!”
In fact, in keeping with these social media-driven times, Segismundo had planned to organize the DGF Short Food Video Awards 2024. “It still needs fine tuning, though, so we postponed it to next year. If DGF were around, am sure she’d be right in there, too! I feel the need to take part in this new genre, as it’s another avenue for learning and information—and to have DGF wave her magic wand over it might do wonders. Print media is facing challenges, so I’d like to think we can also do some good here.”
An Mercado Alcantara: ‘My biggest inspiration is the writings of Doreen’
This year’s winners certainly did a lot of good, proving how thoroughly delicious good food writing can be. First place winner An Mercado Alcantara is a writer, editor, innkeeper at the rustic Casa San Pablo in Laguna, and a culinary history student for her adopted hometown of San Pablo City, where husband Boots is from. “It tasted like liquid inihaw na baboy—without the meat,” she wrote in her savory prose in “Liquid ‘inihaw,'” about an equally mouth-watering dish made of minced banana blossoms or, in San Pablo, grilled eggplant. “Thus, a cooking method was invented. Kulawo, it will eventually be called.”
“I’ve been waiting for the chance to write about kulawo for years!” Alcantara exclaims. “So when the DGF awards announced that the category was about inihaw, I jumped at the chance. I am very proud of this native cooking method from our hometown and, in my small ways, have been doing what I can to keep it alive.” Traditional kusineras from San Pablo’s lakeshore communities have helped hold kulawo cooking demos at the inn. “We offer many ways for people to try kulawo—as ulam, as appetizer, as dip, and even as pizza topping. Because it’s not easy to prepare, we have to keep talking about it and making it relevant. The kulawo really tells the story of our town’s heritage—the legacy of coconut plantations.”
‘The “kulawo” really tells the story of our town’s heritage—the legacy of coconut plantations’
Having graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1986, when Fernandez was still teaching, Alcantara had the privilege of meeting her. “Doreen is the reason why I took Interdisciplinary Studies at the Ateneo. It was a new course then, and she was one of the pioneer teachers. She and my dad (the late advertising maverick Tony Mercado) were good friends.” Though she never had a class with Fernandez, Alcantara had many conversations with her about her parents.
Alcantara’s roles as writer, innkeeper, and foodie somehow blend seamlessly. “I remember when we first opened our B&B, my mother-in-law was horrified that I intended to serve kulawo, pinaputok na tilapia, pinaete (fresh water shrimp paste cooked in sweet-spicy gata) slathered on pandesal, and ube halaya. These were food of ordinary folk, but I could see in these dishes the connection to our land and our hometown’s identity. And masarap talaga! My biggest inspiration is the writings of Doreen, always anchored on the relationship of food to the area it comes from and the people who prepare them.”
Chef Francis Lacson: ‘Being a chef is like a superpower in food writing’
Second place winner Francis Lacson wrote about “Linagpang: A grilled soup.”
Lacson is a sous chef at Francesco’s and Café Mabini in San Juan, Metro Manila, but is also owner of Crypto Café, which has outlets in Roxas City and Iloilo, as well as head chef in research and development for the commissary of Ace Prime Holdings in Iloilo. He already won an honorable mention at the DGF Awards in 2021. “Though ‘lagpang’ refers to our local way of marinating meat or fish, its meaning evolved into a more elaborate grilling of fish or chicken, as primarily used proteins, shredding them, and turning them into soup,” he recounted in his essay.
Lacson was inspired by childhood memories in Mambusao, Capiz, and his maternal grandfather, who caught freshwater fish on his way home from the rice fields and quickly prepared it in a smoky soup, known as linagpang. “When DGF announced its Filipino grilled food theme, I was immediately reminded of these cherished memories.”
Lacson was only six years old when DGF passed away, so, he says, “I only know DGF through her books and food essays. When I started cooking, I used to scour the web for her essays. It was always a treat reading them. My first DGF book was Kinilaw: A Philippine Cuisine of Freshness. Up to this day, I still prepare my kinilaw the way this book taught me. When writing, I always bear in mind what she wrote in one of her essays: If one can savor the word, then one can swallow the world.”
Lacson happily exploits his advantages as a chef and a writer, as he puts it quite nicely: “Being a chef is like a superpower in food writing. It helps me to write better. In a restaurant setting, cooking requires a lot of physical and mental stamina. I have to make sure that all orders are met in a timely manner as expected by the guests, plus the inherent pressure.” Having the time to think creatively is near impossible, he notes, but he manages to find time “to appreciate the gradient of a sauce and cream while stirring; to be delighted at how varied the spectrum of salt can be; to be intentional, whether to use lemon or vinegar in a dressing; or to be in awe of how the oil drippings of the fish over coals can do wonders to the flavor of the fish itself.
“Just put it this way: When I’m in the kitchen, I let my thoughts simmer until I have the luxury of time to pour them into words.”
‘When I’m in the kitchen, I let my thoughts simmer until I have the luxury of time to pour them into words’
Resty S. Odon: ‘To be associated with Doreen’s name and body of work is really an honor for me’
Third prize winner Resty S. Odon is a public information officer of the Local Government Unit of Bayambang, Pangasinan. He has edited and written for various newspapers and magazines, authored books, and been recognized for his work in the tourism arena.
“We Bayambangueños particularly love grilled fish, especially Bonuan bangus, tilapia, and pantat (hito or catfish), that our public market has an area devoted to a row of inkalot sellers, something you don’t get to see regularly in other towns,” Odon wrote in his essay “In inkalot country.”
In fact, his inspiration was none other than “my hometown, Bayambang, and its people, the Bayambangueños, because at first glance, outsiders will find the local culinary practices seemingly very basic and down-to-earth and all, but they shouldn’t be so rash in judgment. Bayambangueños, or Pangasinenses in general, are the most discriminating people I’ve met when it comes to food.”
‘Pangasinenses…are the most discriminating people I’ve met when it comes to food’
Odon never met the woman whose legacy he is now a part of, as a DGF winner, “but I know her writings well,” he says. “I grew up reading her articles. I am glad I am able to still read her works on the internet. You’re talking to an avid fan. She was not the only one writing about food during her time, for sure, so it must have been the outstanding way she was writing it, together with the chosen scope and perspective, that attracted this reader. To be associated with her name and her body of work is, wow—it’s really an honor for me.”
Odon has many more interests beyond tourism and food, but the two fields do connect quite nicely, he admits: “They do not just complement each other, but also overlap a great deal that you don’t know where one starts and ends!” Still, when you have been writing about food from the perspective of travel and tourism for so long, “you realize that food is not just about sustenance,” Odon says. “You find yourself at the intersection of so many things that you never expect to converge in your mind.”
Food encompasses many things, Odon says—nutrition, sustenance, chemistry, biogeography, economics, history, even anthropology. “And because many food items are unique to a given place, food also easily becomes a source of ethnic pride and cultural identity. As they say, ‘You are what you eat,’ not just in terms of health but also in terms of your own sense of identity…So for me, food is life.”
The 2023 DGF Food Writing Contest winners will be awarded on Saturday, Sept. 28, 3 pm at Palm Grove, Amorsolo Square, Rockwell, Makati. Then merienda cena will also feature the launch of Sangkap 2, a compilation of past winning essays. The event is presented by the Food Writers Association of the Philipppines (FWAP) and Rockwell Club. Contact tel. no. (0917) 827-1480 for details and tickets.
