No Reservations in the Philippines
Now it’s official. At least in Anthony Bourdain’s book and the millions of pinoys around the world, Philippines’ lechon is the best. The master food connoisseur, writer and TV personality made the proclamation on his blog Hierarchy of Pork after his popular TV show in America No Reservations featured the Philippines.
And like most Fil-Ams, we all waited for this episode with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. It was actually the first time in months wherein everybody in my household, which is all of us three middle aged guys, were in front of the TV altogether again. It was like watching a game. But instead of the usual yes! or c’mon! you would hear gasps , aahs, saraap and nakaka-miss!!! It was mixed feelings of pride and nostalgia.
The show opened up in Manila, in the 400 year old Chinatown. The guide is Ivan - very knowledgeable and really engaging sort of like he is a regular co-host of the show as he walks Anthony thru the alleys and backways of Chinatown to experience some of the popular street foods like chicken balls , pansit and taho. And then off to dampa – a pop culture icon when you think about culinary and social sense . A lot of camera time were spent on the food and the wet market with all the sights and sounds of that glorious pinakbet and crabs with coconut sauce being cooked from a close distance.
The second segment showcased one of the country’s culinary meccas, Pampanga as represented by it’s proud native Claude Tayag. A respected chef, restaurateur and artist, Claude brought Anthony to the famous kambingan/tambayan in the region and sampled the best dishes the region offer like the bile (papaitan?), bulalo and the goat head soup. The real come to mama moment according to Anthony Bourdain is the sisig - perhaps the megastar of the pinoy dishes, the ‘divine mosaic of pig parts’, the food that sits on top of the food pyramid of all San Miguel Beer drinkers. That sisig deliciously sizzled on TV.
The final destination was Cebu where the guide(fixer) was Augusto – he was the runner-up of the first season of Travel Channel’s FAN-atic Casting Call for this popular TV show in America. It is through his eyes that Anthony hopes to see the region’s culture. The problem is, the FIl-Am New Yorker has only been once in the Philippines – in a very short one week period. It feels like the show really glossed over a little too much about Augusto’s personal travails as a Filipino American rediscovering his Filipino heritage and identity rather focusing on the foods that put Cebu in the culinary map. I admit I was one of the quick ones to criticize Augusto as a letdown in this biggest opportunity to showcase our food to the world. The saving grace in this last segment was Joe Belamira(sorry, not really sure about the exact name) who is another sophisticated and insightful blogger who walked Anthony inside the largest dried fish market in the country and have arranged for Anthony’s best ever lechon feast. That crisp sound of the crunchy balat ng lechon was deliriously mouth watering.
In fairness to Augusto, I had a change of heart when I saw his video pitch on travelchannel.com. it is impressive. My vibe tells me that Augusto is an artistic semi-techie kind of guy. He made this enthusiastic and compelling video that finally convinced Anthony Bourdain to come and visit one of the greatest food places on the planet. But when they visited Cebu, He was more like a guest than as a supposedly knowledgeable host like the way he has presented himself on his video. He was shy. He had a lot of reservations!
In general, the show is amazing. We enjoyed it. It made us proud. Augusto may not even be half the package needed for the job, but he got Anthony’s attention. And now he got everybody’s attention. His story is a reflection of all the Filipinos eternal tug-of-war for search for Filipino identity. His story is good for tv. It is the rhyme and reason why despite seeing all the signs all over the wall, Anthony still brought Augusto along with him.
To Augusto, you are cool! I hope you try to visit the Philippines more often. And please stay longer than one week. Our country is beautiful. There’s a lot more to discover, a lot more food to sample, a lot more places to see and a lot more about our culture to understand.
I believe that the selection of Augusto was primarily based on his showmanship and how he presented his spiels with animated gusto. I am just quite disappointed because he lacked depth in his materials’ content. What he presented are what you read on the internet and see in travelogues. This ’shallow-ness’ could be attributed to his ‘brief’ experience in living the Filipino way. I’m sure that there could have been a better choice who could speak profoundly of the Philippines, its culinary culture and tradition — on a ‘first-hand-based-on-experience basis’!