Chefs and women farmers whip up Good Food Lunch

At its recently launched Grow campaign, Oxfam paid tribute to women farmers and fisherfolk with an all-organic gourmet spread called The Good Food Lunch. The campaign is for "the billions of us who eat food and over a billion of men and women who grow it, to share solutions for a more hopeful future in which everyone always has enough to eat." "We believe one of the keys to feeding everyone and averting the global food crisis is to empower smallholder producers," said Oxfam Hong Kong Director General John Sayer. Small farmers shared the spotlight at the event with some of Manila's best-known chefs in creating food that is good in more ways than one. "Good food is a good metaphor, it is a good basis for us to look into the issue of food security, welfare of the farmers, the issue of economics that are involved in food," said Chef Tatung Sarthou, who made slow-roasted pork with string beans and squash. "The consciousness is not only eating to become full, but also eating in the way that we nourish not only our bodies but our spirit as well," he added.

To create his dish, he used organic pork and other ingredients locally sourced from farmer Nita Oigoan in Rizal. He called his meal "rustic," or something that housewives can easily do at home. "It takes time, but it's very simple to do. The slow roasted pork is cured in a mixture of salt and sugar overnight. After, I wash the curing mixture, roast it in a brick oven for 8 hours and glaze it in honey and balsamic mixture," he says. The adobo-ish flavor of the dish is meant to appeal to Filipinos, he adds. The pork is served with squash puree sprinkled with some cinnamon and all spice over a basket of long beans. "The longbeans and squash came from our farm in Rodriguez, Rizal. We grow lots and lots of vegetables though we don't have the marketing arm of the Department of Agriculture and the help of the Department of Agrarian Reform," says farmer Oigoan. She adds that they are more fortunate than the rural women farmers of Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan, since their farms are nearer to Metro Manila. "What the men plant, the women sell to the market. We don’t have middlemen. We bring our own produce to the market, so we get more income," she said. Collaboration with chefs Chef Sarthou is part of the organic advocacy group Organic Producers Trade Association, which promotes a tie-up between local chefs and farmers with small land holdings. "Sometimes we see a great disconnect between the food source, how the food is grown and how it is produced and what we eat on our tables. Sometimes it doesn't make sense," he says. The celebrity chef noted that many products and ingredients used by local cooks for specialty dishes are often imported from other countries. "What we're trying to do now is create gourmet dishes, good quality dishes, that will appeal to both Filipinos and the international market, that make sense not only to the palate but also in terms of sustainability," he said. Chef Steph Zubiri chose to make a Filipino version of the French classic, onion soup. "We use onions in everything, sometimes just as an afterthought, or as condiments. But onion soup has a really interesting story, she said. "In the 1800s, at four in the morning all the farmers coming in from outside Paris would go to the big market and this is the cheapest thing they could eat. They would have onion soup," she began. "It's interesting because at the same time, the wealthy people coming home from their parties in their long gowns would go there to have onion soup," she adds. "It's cross-class, cross-culture, that can be shared by everyone. There's a message of solidarity, highlighting this wonderful produce. Everything in that soup is locally grown and found, down to the kaffir lime, a little bit of ginger, lemongrass. Traditionally it's a baguette with gruyere but we're using whole wheat pan de sal baked this morning and kesong puti. The only thing imported is the pink peppercorn I smuggled in myself, in my pocket," she says, adding that her dish is a tribute to Ka Laling. Ligaya "Laling" Oria provided Chef Zubiri with 15 pounds of onions, which was grown on her 2.3-hectare farm in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija. "Lahat po ng uri ng sibuyas ay nasubukan kong itanim. Diyan po nagmula ang pagpapaaral ko sa anim kong anak. Mula nung ako'y nabiyuda ako directly ang nagcu-cultivate manually. Ang kalabaw ko po ay dalawa," says Ka Laling. Only two of her children were able to complete their studies due to hardship, she says. Le Bistro Vert's Chef Sau Del Rosario served spicy alumahan maki with srirachi, apple and walnut salad on roasted sesame dressing. "I was so challenged. They gave me alumahan. It's a fantastic fish from the mackerel family. It's not salmon or dory, but we have plenty of this in our backyard," says Chef Del Rosario. He recalls how his mother would serve alumahan fried and dipped in vinegar, or cooked sarsiado with egg and tomatoes. "It's a versatile, underrated fish. People think it's cheap and not good. But cheap can be good as long as you cook it properly," he said, quoting the Michelin-starred French chef Alain Ducasse. "Good food is 60 percent ingredients and 40 percent skill. When you have good fish like alumahan, and freshly brought, you already have 60 percent and you can't go wrong with that," he says. "We should take care of her," he said, gesturing to Rosario Mendoza, another artisanal food producer who provided the fish. "If not for her we wouldn't be eating alumahan now," he said. Chef Del Rosario has been advocating the organic lifestyle since his father was diagnosed with cancer 15 years ago. "As a chef I thought I would do something about it. And the best I could do for my dad was to feed him right, and so we started growing and eating organic produce," said the chef. Women fishers and farmers "Natutuwa po ako ngayong aming mga produktong hinuhuli ay gagawin ngayon at ipatitikim sa inyo na hindi ko po rin nakikita kung anong klaseng luto. Pero maganda po pakinggan! Alumahan maki na... ewan ko po!" laughed Mendoza, before turning serious. Apart from having to compete with commercial and illegal fishing, Mendoza said they do not receive and subsidies from the government. Still, women fishers contribute much to the industry. "Kami pong mangingisda, kapag hindi gumalaw yung kababaihan, na hindi humanda't humanap ng panggastos ng mga lalaot na mangingisda nila, nakakaawa lahat ng pamilya namin, kasi kami po yung maghahanda ng gagamitin nila, hahanap ng panggastos, sa gasolina. Kung may subsidy at support na sinasabi nila, mabubuhay kami," she said. On the other hand, Ka Elvie Baladad said she was disappointed that other people think farming is not good business. "Actually farming is the means we send our children to school, without government support. We have lived in dignity and have not received any support from the government agencies," she said. "That is what is very important. Tulong-tulong. Kung sino ang meron ay magbibigay at tutulong sa kapwa. If this kind of cooperation will be done in all farming communities I do not see any reason why poverty should be prevalent. If everyone is willing to work and till the land, anything can grow," she said. Actress and Oxfam advocate Cherry Pie Picache joined the celebrity chefs with her munggo vegetable soup, made with produce from Ka Elvie. "What I do is I always put alugbati and my malunggay leaves which I grow from my backyard. The challenge is I usually cook for about thirty people. So I was thinking of combining it with the produce, which is munggo basically," she said. Although she lives in an urban area, Picache maintains a garden where she plants malunggay, tomatoes, kangkong, alugbati, and dahon ng kamote. "I encourage my household to do the same. Whatever I can do in my own small way, I help," she said. The stories of Ka Laling, Ka Elvie, Ka Rosario and Trinidad are told in an exhibit of portraits by award-winning photojournalist Veejay Villafranca titled “Saganang Amin" which will be traveling all over the country. - YA, GMA News