Augusto Elefanio No Reservations
Augusto Elefanio from Long Island NY is the runner-up in the Anthony Bourdain No Reservations Fan-atic Special Casting Call for this popular TV show in America. He and his family in Long Island NY were flown back to Cebu to serve as Anthony’s guide (fixer) in discovering the region’s culture and culinary delights.
This video of Augusto is an absolute winner!
Watch the video of Anthony Bourdain No Reservations Philippines episode.
Read our take on No Reservations in the Philippines.
Augusto Elefanio is the WORST representation of a “filipino” and the WORST guide for my beloved country. Here is why:
- he was born in New York not the Philippines, which means he is an American FIRST and “Filipino” SECOND. To people like him, “being Filipino” means you wear beads and shells, eat adobo and get alibata tattoos. This is NOT what it means to be Filipino; to truly BE Filipino, you must be BORN and RAISED there.
- he had NO CLUE of anything going on in the Philippines; no festivals, no knowledge of the history. It was basically Tony TEACHING an alleged “Filipino” on being Filipino.
- his wife is not a Filipina, she is Chinese. How can he say he is a Filipino when he does not even take a beautiful Filipina bride?
Augusto, throw away all your Filipino merchandise, you are not worthy of it. You are a serious disgrace to a proud people and have insulted us by your weak respresentation of us. Stop claiming you are a Filipino because we do not want you.
No one will disagree that Augusto is not the best person that Anthony needs to represent our country. Although he was born in the US, he was still raised by his Filipino parents. He may have some serious identity crisis, but I don’t think he meant disgrace to the Filipino people. I feel that at least we owe him that Anthony Bourdain finally paid a visit to the Philippines.
I’m dissapointed with the episode as well. But I think the program pursued the trip because they believe that Augusto will be a good subject - a person searching his heritage and Bourdain leading him to find it. I think the best guide would be Susan Calo-Medina who is well-versed in Philippine cuisine and culture having traveled practically to the remotest places in the Philippines.
poor augusto elefanio. he is obviously proud of his filipino lineage or he wouldn’t have bothered making the video and submitting it. there aren’t a lot of american-born filipinos here in america who are proud to say that they are of filipino descent, and here is augusto, telling the national television audience (or perhaps the whole world, if this show is global!) that he is filipino, that he grew up eating filipino food, and that he was raised by his parents/family/filipino community in filipino culture. surely, because he was american-born and raised, he has a limited knowledge, exposure, and experience in everything “philippines” and or “filipino” compared to someone who was philippine-born and raised. because of this, “no reservations” should have picked someone who was philippine-born and raised as such person could have given a better representation of the country, the people, and everything filipino. why didn’t the judges of the “no reservations” fan-atic special casting call choose a philippine-born and raised filipino? could it be that they didn’t receive a video entry from any philippine-born and raised filipino? or perhaps they did, but they were so blown away by augusto’s video presentation, impressed by his english language skills, and were probably moved by his pride and passion for his heritage that they forgot about other qualifications that he should meet? is it possible that because “no reservations” is a show that features global cuisine, that augusto qualified to represent philippines because the judges based it on the fact that augusto grew up eating filipino food as well as seeing how it was prepared? could it be that they must have thought that augusto won’t be lacking in knowledge about it because his parents/family/community are there to inform him, guide him, etc. when it comes time to be anthony bourdain’s guide in the philippines? well, apparently, the only people who know why augusto was chosen are the judges of the video casting call. in my opinion, augusto didn’t mean disgrace to us filipinos. he was actually expressing love and great pride of his heritage…wasn’t it evident in the way he did the video? i think that he did his best. perhaps he was just overwhelmed by the experience. one thing for sure is that his parents did something right by instilling in him an awareness of his filipino identity and culture. anyway, thanks, augusto elefanio, for getting the show’s crews’ attention and for having them feature the philippines and the cuisine!
oh, by the way, i was born and raised in the philippines, but have been a resident of the u.s. for 21 years, married to a middle-eastern, and i love love love, italian, american, and mexican food of all foods! i believe that by crisostomo’s standards, i am not a filipino! ;D
” I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend your right to say it.” - Evelyn Beatrice Hall (S.G. Tallentyre)
We’ll, what can I say? just watching the video Augusto did, I can say that he really captivated the judges and Anthony’s stomach!haha Anyways, Augusto (so nationalistic name, hehe), i dont care if you were born and raised in US or on any part of the world but you made me proud by being a Filipino. I can say that you did not forget your roots compare to other people that were born and raised here in the Philippines but migrated sometime in there life in US. They’re even ashamed to be distinguished as “Filipinos”. Shame on them! Nakatapak lang sa ibang bansa at nakatikim ng pera! Well, im not generalizing.. But the thing is you showed to the whole world how great is your love to your motherland! Sorry Crisostomo, but even you’re a member of the Ibarra clan, I would have to disagree with you! oh! by the way jasmine, you might want to try the foods that were in the video of Augusto, the food of all foods! just my 2 piso..
“- he was born in New York not the Philippines, which means he is an American FIRST and “Filipino” SECOND. To people like him, “being Filipino” means you wear beads and shells, eat adobo and get alibata tattoos. This is NOT what it means to be Filipino; to truly BE Filipino, you must be BORN and RAISED there.
- he had NO CLUE of anything going on in the Philippines; no festivals, no knowledge of the history. It was basically Tony TEACHING an alleged “Filipino” on being Filipino.
- his wife is not a Filipina, she is Chinese. How can he say he is a Filipino when he does not even take a beautiful Filipina bride?
Augusto, throw away all your Filipino merchandise, you are not worthy of it. You are a serious disgrace to a proud people and have insulted us by your weak respresentation of us. Stop claiming you are a Filipino because we do not want you.”
You are a stupid clown.