COTABATO CITY (July 31) – Celebrity guests of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) were amazed with the traditional Moro cuisines during a recent food festival here.
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 vowed to promote ARMM. They acted as judges of the food festival at the ARMM compound here Friday night.
The ARMM food fest which will run until December has put the spotlight on culinary delights of the region’s five provinces as part of the region’s 29th founding anniversary celebration. Chieftains and representatives of each village wore their traditional attire during the event. The Muslim delicacies remain to be strongly ancestral utilizing a good deal of deal of coconut milk and rich in ground spices. Common ingredients in Muslim cuisines are chili, turmeric, coriander, lemon grass and peanut butter. “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,” the Facebook sensation 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 told other guests milling around the food display.
Blogger Heuseff said he will promoting the culinary delights in the ARMM through his blog. “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,” Heuseff said.
The food festival is one of the highlights of the region’s foundation anniversary showing how unique and mouthwatering Muslim foods are. Actor Ocampo stressed that his joining the food festival was an unforgettable opportunity for him and others who are not familiar with the Moro food. “It’s about time to recognize (our own) – the culinary expertise in our country, something I’ve always been looking forward to,” Ocampo said. “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 added. “It was a great surprise for me,” he said of the experience in the ARMM where he only heard of wars and conflicts before, but not the food. He also suggested that each village should share their recipes so they can share these delights in other parts of the country.
ARMM officials said part of the proceeds from the food festival will be used to provide relief assistance to families affected by Tuesday’s fire in Jolo, Sulu. (Edwin Fernandez/ NewsLine)
