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Asia’s Best Female Chef of 2016 shares why it’s important to preserve each ingredient’s freshness and just how to do it
Chef Margarita Forés' knowledge of food flavour and quality came from a four-month long immersion she had in Italy years back. It was there where she learned various food preparation techniques and developed an understanding for Italian ingredients through shopping in local markets. Upon returning to the Philippines, she realised that there were nuances in each ingredient despite them being supposedly the same. Tomatoes, for one, are much more red here in the Philippines compared to the pink hues of Italy’s. This is because here, tomatoes are often used to inject a sour taste in the food it is used in.
This proved to Forés that location is an important aspect of food quality—where and how one sources their ingredients contributes to the overall outcome of a dish. To reconcile what’s on hand with her culinary vision, Forés became even more creative and resourceful in her craft and gave Italian flavours a Filipino twist. “My philosophy has always been to highlight the best of the Philippines with the best of the world,” she shares.
