Indigenous cuisines and local specialities take centre stage at the Hotel and Restaurant Tourism Weekend in Baguio City in the northern Philippines from today, 24th October, to Saturday, 26th October.

The event features competitions for cooking the best version of native dishes like pinkpikan (Cordillera chicken soup), pinakbet (Ilocano stewed vegetables), as well as pork and chicken adobo among others. 

Around 400 hospitality and culinary students, professional cooks, and chefs from different parts of the Philippines will be participating in these competitions.

According to Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) executive director Mary Lou Galiste, winners of the HRT weekend competitions will be fielded in national food showdowns. 

Galiste said: “That is the reason we have added in the competition areas for traditional and modern cooking and food preparation, traditional cuisines, desserts, and drinks.”

A taste of comfort

HRAB president and general manager of the Baguio Country Club Anthony De Leon remarked that more people now opt for comfort food over fine dining.

De Leon said: “We are in an era where people are more into comfort food and casual dining. Nobody does fine dining anymore, it is all about casual dining and casual food. And, in our case as Filipinos, our comfort food is our local cuisine.”

De Leon said the hotel and restaurant industry want to emphasise that Filipino comfort food can be in the international cuisine setting and can be competitive. Indeed, Filipino cuisine is gradually being recognized by the global food  community.