Discourse Issue 2018
WORD OF MOUTH
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CONT ENTS 26 EATS Chef Josh Boutwood now serves intimate dinners for 10
18 COVER STORY TV host Xandra RochaAraneta on how her love affair with food started
Cover photo by Joseph Pascual
DISCOURSE ISSUE 2018 04 FEATURE Mozambique returns to its mother tongue through education
10 FIXTURE Evaluating Baybayin as our national writing system
16 FEATURE Saving the country’s dying languages
30 RECIPE Make your own keto-friendly bread
32 THE GET A new sustainable way to wrap food
EDITOR’S NOTE Shaping reality In many cases, what’s real to someone depends on their language. The words or phrases people have at their disposal to describe the world around them also speaks volumes about the way they live and what they deem important. In this issue, we look at the many ways language continues to shape the way we live today—from the tricky discourse on truth and news to the feasibility of a 120-year-
old nation reviving an ancient writing system. Likewise, host Xandra Rocha-Araneta shares how her parents’ words, now her longtime mantra, has shaped her worldview. “Try everything once,” they said, changing the once “very shy” girl into a curious gourmand now making her way through each community one dish at a time in our new weekly webseries, Nolisoli Eats.
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Southern Living is published by Hinge Inquirer Publications. 4F Media Resource Plaza, Mola corner Pasong Tirad Streets, Barangay La Paz, Makati City. Visit www.facebook.com/ nolisoli.ph now. Follow us on Instagram at @nolisoli.ph and Twitter at @nolisoliph. We’d love to hear from you. Email us at nolisoli@hinge.ph. For advertising, email sales@hinge.ph.
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MOTHER TONGUE
In Mozambique, classes come alive in local languages TEXT EVA SOFIE FRITZBØGER/AFP PHOTOGRAPHY MAURO VOMBE/AFP
About 50 children sit on a bare classroom floor in front of their teacher in what could be any lesson in Mozambique, except that they are not learning in Portuguese, the country’s official language. The class is being taught in Changana, a local language spoken in southern Mozambique and in the capital Maputo that is closely related to Tsonga spoken across southern Africa. Wearing backpacks and surrounded by a pile of books, the children aged six and seven are gripped by the teacher’s every word—a concentration level almost impossible to achieve in Portuguese. “It is very important that the children learn in their native language because it opens up the kid to learn more,” Helena Joaquim Arguenha, their teacher at Mitilene primary school in the rural district of Manhica, about 80 km. from Maputo, told AFP.
Almost all teaching in Mozambique is in Portuguese—a legacy of the country’s colonial era before independence in 1975—but the majority of Mozambicans speak one of more than 40 local languages. The ministry of education told AFP that only 10 percent of children start school knowing Portuguese but now around 1,300 primary schools out of 13,000 offer some bilingual teaching. Shy and scared to speak In Arguenha’s class, only one child spoke Portuguese at the start of the year. But speaking in Changana, communication between teacher and pupils is fast and lively, with children throwing their hands up high to answer questions. “When it is in Portuguese they are very shy, they are scared to speak and hide themselves.”
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Mozambican pupils eat lunch at the Mitilene primary school
Mother tongue instruction The Mozambican government has acknowledged the problem and in 2017 introduced reforms aimed at having classes taught in local languages, although some parents often want their children to be taught exclusively in Portuguese. In the developing world, children are more likely to enroll and succeed in school. In particular, girls and rural children with less exposure to a dominant language stay in school longer and repeat grades less often if they learn in their native language. Specialist training needed Guibanda said training is the major problem holding local-language teaching back. Many rural schools have no trained teachers to give lessons in local languages or any translated books. Government policy is for teachers to have three years of training, but that has been cut down to one year due to budget shortages and the nationwide shortage of all teachers. “It is not enough. Teachers graduate while still having a number of problems,” said Francisca Samboca, education officer at Associacao Progresso. “In reality, in all the rural areas these schools can only be found in the district capitals.” For Arguenha, the new approach was made easier because NGO called ADPP and Food for Knowledge provided specialist training and materials in both Changana and Ronga, the other local language spoken around Maputo. ADPP and FFK now work with 101 schools in four districts in Maputo province, with more than 5,000 children taking part in the program and more than 67,000 books have been distributed. But the difficulties for teachers switching between languages cannot be estimated. “In the beginning it was a challenge,” said Arguenha. “I really needed to concentrate when using the material and I needed to use vocabulary I didn’t normally use.”—AFP
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FIGHTING THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE The online battle for the truth in the age of fake news TEXT GUILLAUME DAUDIN/AFP ILLUSTRATION DANICA CONDEZ
False information is saturating political debate worldwide and undermining an already weak level of trust in the media and institutions, spreading further than ever on powerful social networks. US President Donald Trump has popularized the term “fake news,” using it mainly as an accusation leveled at the media, and it is increasingly used by politicians from Spain to China, Myanmar or Russia. “Fake news” has been generalized to mean anything from a mistake to a parody or a deliberate misinterpretation of facts. At the same time, the proliferation of false online information is increasingly visible in attempts to manipulate elections, notoriously surrounding Trump’s 2016 victory. Misinformation had “a significant impact” on voting decisions, according to Ohio State
University researchers, who questioned voters about whether they believed certain false stories. Since the election, Trump has denounced as “fake news” any information that displeases him while his aides have offered a mixture of truth and distortions, sometimes described as “alternative facts.” This has hurt the credibility of the US news media and led some to describe the current period as a “post-truth era”—an age without a shared reality. Eroding trust In 2018, the average level of trust in the news, across 37 countries, remained relatively stable at 44 percent, according to a poll by YouGov for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. But Reuters Institute research associate
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FEAT URE Nic Newman warned in text accompanying the report: “Our data show that consumer trust in news remains worryingly low in most countries, often linked to high levels of media polarization, and the perception of undue political influence.” Trust in traditional media remains higher than for social networks, according to the YouGov poll. Only 23 percent of those polled said they trusted the news they found on social media. A study released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in March found that false news spreads more rapidly on Twitter than real news does.
2018 stepped up efforts to communicate and improve technology for tackling false information. A third-party fact-checking program, started in December 2016, now has more than 25 partners in 14 countries including Argentina, the US, the Philippines, and Indonesia. It aims to “identify potentially false stories” circulating on Facebook and send them to fact-checkers to review. If an article is rated as false, it appears lower in the platform’s News Feed and reduces “future views by over 80 percent on average.” Its search engine also promotes verifications carried out by fact-checking organizations.
Social networks in crisis Many see Facebook as being the main vehicle for spreading false information in recent years. The Cambridge Analytica public relations disaster came on top of widespread criticism of the social network’s propensity to spread and accentuate large amounts of completely false information. In the US, many Facebook accounts and private pages that were managed by the Internet Research Agency, a Russia-based “troll farm,” were targeted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s campaign links with Russia. Under growing pressure, the US giant in
Looming dangers Despite the creation of dozens of factchecking initiatives in recent years and first steps to tackle the problem from the internet giants, efforts to stem the proliferation of false information remain weak. Meanwhile techniques to create false information are growing more sophisticated with the development of deep fakes— manipulated videos that appear genuine but depict events or speech that never happened. For now, deep fakes are technically difficult to create and have not yet had a big impact, but with progress they may further blur the online line between true and false. —AFP
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ART OF LIVING Bask in the tranquility of the south at Suntrust Siena Hills TEXT GISELLE BARRIENTOS
To an outsider, the south is somewhere far away: A place distanced from the hustle and bustle of the city, somewhere to go for a momentary escape from modern life, but maybe not a place to live in for the long haul. But while the city is undeniably a magnetic center of energy and dynamism, the hidden charms of a rustic lifestyle are secrets only the southerner knows. The south, in its peace and wide open spaces, holds many adventures waiting to be
discovered. Such is the beauty of living here: You must find the hidden treasures first to realize the enchantment that suburban life holds. One such treasure is tucked away in the sprawling city of Lipa, Batangas. Located on 49 ha. of prime land in Brgy. Antipolo del Sur sits Siena Hills, a community that brings residents closer to one of the world’s capitals for arts and culture, Italy. Siena Hills adds a layer of sophistication to suburbia with artworks
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scattered around the development, the pieces reminiscent of classical Italian art and European marble sculptures. Residential homes ranging from 120176 sqm. per lot were especially made for families looking for a lifestyle that reflects a global culture with just the right touch of the city life, as adjacent to the quiet community are malls and business districts. The experience of complete serenity is rounded out by an abundance of pocket gardens and cabanas, plus a pavilion that makes Siena Hills the pinnacle of the southern lifestyle, all within reach at a price of P4 million to P7.5 million. These hidden gems in the south can reveal themselves to a city dweller who takes a chance on life outside the metro, who appreciates the peaceful beauty of suburbia and finds it enough reason to make the south their new home.
Caterina is a 176 sqm. home with 4 bedrooms fit for large families.
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WRITING A NATION The pros and cons of Baybayin as a national writing system
TEXT ZOFIYA ACOSTA ILLUSTRATION KRISTINE PAZ
Last April, the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture approved a proposal to make Baybayin the country’s national writing system. This means that, once the proposal is enacted, Baybayin translations will be required for: street signs; names of public facilities like buildings, hospitals, fire and police stations, government halls, etc.; food product labels; and print mastheads. The responses to this were mixed: Many approved, but many still remained cautious. Because of this, it’s only appropriate to take a step back and examine Baybayin. Baybayin is a script developed by the early Tagalogs. To paraphrase Ma. Victoria Gugol’s “Ortography (Evolution)” from the NCCA website, the Baybayin script is syllabic and composed of three vowels and fourteen consonants. The vowels represented are a, i (or e), and u (or o). Being syllabic, each consonant is pronounced with the vowel a, unless a sign called the kudlit is placed over it. The kudlit, which is either a cross or a dot, signifies the use of another vowel: If the sign is written over the letter, the consonant is pronounced with an e or i, and if it is under the letter, the consonant is pronounced with an o or u. Unlike other alphabets, which are named after their first three letters, Baybayin is
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named after its convention of letters falling into succession. The early Tagalogs wrote on bamboos, tree barks, and leaves—all “perishable materials, hence no extant specimens exist today,” says Rosa M. Vallejo in “Books and Bookmaking in the Philippines,” on the NCCA website. When the Spanish colonizers first came to the Philippines, there was an attempt by the friar scholars to learn the language (hence Pedro Andres de Castro’s book), but that attempt was quickly superseded by them ultimately replacing the script with their own alphabet. “It is believed that replacement of the Baybayin by the Roman alphabet must have obliterated a significant aspect of indigenous Philippine literature,” says Dr. Lilia Quindoza-Santiago of the University of the Philippines Diliman in her article “Early Philippine Literature” on the NCCA website. This brings us to look at what Baybayin can do in terms of decolonizing our language. Of course, turning Baybayin into our writing system has deep implications for the Filipino
identity. “Language is the house of being,” philosopher Martin Heidegger once said, meaning that the way we experience the world is through the language we use. Quoting Virgilio Almario: “Higit na lalaya at lulusog ang ating pananaw sa ating sarili kapag ibinukas natin ang ating sarili sa iba’t ibang perspektiba ng oryentasyong pangkultura at kapag higit nating pinagbuhusan ng tiyaga ang pagtitig sa natitira’t pira-pirasong gunita ng ating katutubo’t sinaunang sarili. Ang Baybayin ang isang dakilang halimbawa sa nakapagsasariling katangian ng wika at kulturang Filipino.” Some of the loudest critiques of the bill are that it’ll just be an aesthetic change; it should be taught in schools first before it’s used as a nationwide writing system; and what we need is to better educate children about the Filipino language more. Another is that it’s too late for us to have our own national writing system. I’ll start with the former: I think more time needs to be spent developing the writing system. I agree that Baybayin is still limited, and it should be taught in schools first. Educators
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Is it worth it to decolonize our writing system with a dominant, if still native, force?
should also have more time to learn up on it so they’ll be able to properly teach their students. However, if those changes are made, it could work well for the next generation. They’ll be learning the language alongside the script, and that’ll enrich their experience of the Filipino language. Here’s what I can offer on the latter: Even though it seems like our language and culture have moved on from Baybayin, it’s not too late to bring it back. After all,
we’re still a relatively young country. The Koreans created Hangul in 1440 after centuries of using a modified classical Chinese script. Turkey adopted a Latin-style alphabet in 1927 after a thousand years of using a Perso-Arabic script. If the colonizers were able to impress upon us a foreign writing system, we can also do the opposite. I was careful to note that Baybayin was used by the Tagalogs because, contrary to what a lot of people might have been led to believe, it is not the only writing system developed by the Filipino people. There are, in fact, 16. Kapampangans, for example, have Kulitan, the Bisayas have Badlit, and the Mangyans have Hanunó’o. You can’t make a case that these scripts are more primitive than Baybayin. Whereas Baybayin was mostly used to codify merchant transactions, the Mangyans use Hanunó’o to write poetry. This takes us back to the age-old debate about the Filipino language. As a Mindanaoan Bisaya, I’ve heard pretty much all that there has to be said about this. “Filipino is pretty much just Tagalog.” “Filipino is an example of Manila imperialism.” “Filipino doesn’t account for all the many, many languages in the Philippines.” But one of the more enduring claims I’ve heard once I moved to Metro Manila is that while Filipino is flawed and Tagalog-centric, it’s serviceable and there’s enough intersection with Tagalog and the other Filipino languages anyway that people can understand it. And sure, that’s an easy thing to say—if you’re Tagalog. However, if you’ve lived with a “regional language,” then you know that there’s still a certain sense of disconnect. Filipino is home, but not as much as “uli na ka” (“go home” in Bisaya) is. And you might have also experienced feeling like your mother tongue is informal, maybe even inferior to the actual Filipino language, and has no place in school. I’ll put it in another way: Is it worth it to decolonize our writing system with a dominant, if still native, force? Honestly? I’m not so sure.
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You can get the entire Talaudiong Beach in Puerto Princesa, Palawan
HERE’S HOW TO GET IN ON THE LOCAL LUXURY REAL ESTATE MARKET
List Sotheby’s International Realty Philippines celebrates its second year this month TEXT ZOFIYA ACOSTA
Entering the real estate market can be intimidating to anyone and more so the luxury facet of it. It’s easy to fall behind if you’re not updated. (Hot tip: it’s booming in Southeast Asia right now) One of the newer players in the market, celebrating its second year this month, is List Sotheby’s International Realty Philippines. The firm, which has both Philippine and international clients, is part of the Japanese luxury real estate firm List Sotheby’s International Realty.
Understand both the local and international market Usually, your real estate firm will have a skilled team that can use their expertise on the local market to help you navigate it as well as connect you to the international web. Even so, it’s smart to do your research. When you think of luxury real estate here, you might think only of lofts in BGC and Makati. What might skip past you is that beaches in Palawan are also worth investing in since the island is an emerging tourism powerhouse. In the end, the best tip is to always be smart Here are two practices to consider if you want when investing and entering a new market. to enter the market: Use a little bit of common sense and know-how. Find a reliable real estate firm Your real estate firm will be the one to take A sprawling residence charge of looking for good potential buyers, or, in Portofino, Alabang is from the other end, property listings that best also up for grabs suit you. It’s an important task, so always check if your firm can be trusted. If you can’t find any information about the company at all, stay away. It also helps to see if they’re connected to other reputable brands. For more information, visit List Sotheby’s International Realty.
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SAVING DYING LANGUAGES Komisyon ng Wika is saving the country’s dying languages, one monument at a time TEXT CHRISTIAN SAN JOSE ILLUSTRATION KRISTINE PAZ
The celebration of Buwan ng Wika has since been marred by the politics of what is to be considered language or dialect among the many existing tongues in the Philippines. Since the official designation of Filipino as the national language, other native languages seem to have taken a backseat. A study by the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF)—a governing body assigned by Congress through the constitution to “the development, propagation, and preservation of Filipino and other languages”—found that there are at least 131 native languages, with 32 of these considered endangered languages as of 2015. KWF chairman Virgilio Almario says that the preservation of these dying languages is a top priority. “Ang ating mga kapatid na may-ari ng mga katutubong wika na malapit nang mamatay ay nawawalan din ng simpatiya sa kanilang sariling wika,” Almario said in an interview with a local publication. He says this is primarily because they think
if they set aside their own native tongue and speak other major languages like Ilocano, Bisaya, or Tagalog, they are more likely to fit in the society. This is why the KWF has undertaken a project called “Bantayog-Wika.” We spoke to its project coordinator Roy Cagalingan about these 10-foot tall monuments and what they mean for the future of indigenous languages. ***Southern Living originally sent questions in English, but when Cagalingan responded in Filipino, we felt it was only right to follow suit.
Ano ang kwento sa likod ng mga bantayog? Nagsimula ang Bantayog-Wika bílang mungkahi ng isa sa aming mga komisyoner na magkaroon ng mohon o marker ang mga katutubong wika sa Filipinas sa pakikipagugnay sa tanggapan ni Sen. Loren B. Legarda. Nang lumaon, pinalawig pa ito upang maging isang monumental na pagpaparangal sa ating mga katutubong wika.
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Ilan na ang mga bantayog at saan matatagpuan ang mga ito? May walong Bantayog-Wika sa kasalukuyan sa buong Filipinas na matatagpuan sa Antique (wikang Kinaray-a); Lamut, Ifugaw (wikang Tuwali); Lungsod Mati, Davao Oriental (wikang Mandaya); Lungsod Tabuk, Kalinga (wikang Kalinga); Occidental Mindoro (wikang Mangyan); Lungsod Malaybalay (wikang Bukidnon); Lungsod Balanga, Bataan (wikang Ayta Magbukon); at Lungsod Batangas, Batangas (wikang Tagalog). Saan pa ang mga minamatang lokasyon na pagtatayuan ng bantayog? Inaasahan pa namin na itatayo ito sa iba’t ibang lugar sa Filipinas. Nasa aming plano na ang pagtatayo nito sa Bulakan, Surigao, Sorsogon, Pangasinan, Aurora, Tawi-Tawi, Dapitan, Lungsod Zamboanga, Baguio, Pampanga, General Santos, at South Cotabato. Paano nakatutulong ang proyektong ito sa pagsusulong ng mga katutubong wika?
Pagdidiin ang proyektong Bantayog-Wika sa kabuluhan bílang pamanang pangkultura ng ating mga katutubong wika. Ani Tagapangulo Almario na ang wika ang “kabuoang ulat ng di-nakasulat na kasaysayan, tagumpay at kabiguan, kaisipan at pananalig, pangitain at pangarap, atbapang himaymay ng karanasan ng bawat pangkat ng tao.” Nais naming idambana ang ating mga katutubong wika sa ating mga kababayang gumagamit nito upang ipagmalaki nila at pangalagaan ang mga ito. Ano pang mga programa ang nakahanay kaugnay ng layunin ng Komisyon na mapanatili ang mga katutubong wika? Ilan sa mga programa namin tungo sa pananaliksik at pangangalaga sa mga katutubong wika ay ang Lingguwistikong Etnograpiya, isang malakihang pananaliksik hinggil sa mga wika at pangkating katutubo ng ating bansa. Mayroon kaming Bahay-Wika para sa mga katutubong wika na nanganganib nang maglaho. Sinimulan na ito ngayong taon para sa wikang Ayta Magbukon sa Abucay, Bataan.
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The 10-foot stainless cylindrical monument designed by installation artist Junyee depicts a bamboo shoot and is etched with lines from Andres Bonifacio’s poem, “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Bayan” in Baybayin.
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COV ER STORY
TAKE A BITE
Hat and top, Toqa Studio, Toqa.tv
Xandra Rocha-Araneta is always out to try new things TEXT AUDREY CARPIO PHOTOGRAPHY JOSEPH PASCUAL
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qa.tv
“Try everything once,” Xandra RochaAraneta’s parents used to tell her. While a lot of children are extremely picky with food and hesitant to try new things, Rocha-Araneta, in pre-school, would go around sampling food from her classmates’ lunchboxes and offering them a bite from her own. At home, she hung around the kitchen a lot, and the cook would give her little chores to do like pluck malunggay leaves off the stems. When cooking shows started airing on cable TV, she would jot down the recipes and her dad would take her to the grocery to buy the ingredients for her to replicate in her own way. “There’s always been encouragement when it came to food,” she says. “It made me curious to try new things, whatever culture it may be from or whatever it looks like.” This mentality has come in very handy in her life as she began to explore different corners of the food industry. Rocha-Araneta realized she didn’t want to be a chef, however, after taking up culinary arts at Enderun. “It wasn’t for me. I have super high respect for chefs—it’s a tough job—but I enjoy eating more.” The social aspect of food was what she was really passionate about, but before she even landed her ideal job of hosting a food and travel show, she ran a successful artisan ice cream business. “Pinkerton came about by accident,” Rocha-Araneta recalls. “I came up with my own ice cream flavors based on trial and error, and I would bring them over to dinner at friends’ houses as my contribution.” Then people started placing orders. A friend asked her to supply ice cream for her new restaurant, and this was followed by more restaurants. Soon she was stocking at Rustan’s, even reaching stores in Cebu and Bacolod. “It just happened so fast and I just dove into it. I didn’t have a proper business plan, I was just rolling along.” Due to the ice cream’s handcrafted nature, the limited stocks were always selling out. Banana Nutella, Red Velvet, Candied Maple Bacon, and Dulce de Leche Sea Salt were some of her unique and popular flavors—none of which are available
“[Culinary arts] wasn’t for me. I have super high respect for chefs—it’s a tough job—but I enjoy eating more.”
now, as Pinkerton went on an indefinite break sometime in 2015. The year prior to that was a turning point in Rocha-Araneta’s career and life. Publicity around Pinkerton had led to a food column in Malaya Business Insight, and she was becoming well known in the scene as a foodie/gourmand. She was invited to audition for a new TV show, which she nailed with an impromptu skit involving an imagined provincial delicacy. Despite having no previous experience, RochaAraneta got the job as the host of Something to Chew On, which premiered in 2014 on the former Solar News Channel, around the same time she married her long-time boyfriend. Something To Chew On brought RochaAraneta to places around the Philippines she had never been to, and made her do things she’s never done before. “For the second episode, we went to Masbate. The producer and director were really nervous for me because there were no real hotels, no proper toilets. I had to bring out the cowgirl side of me, literally.” Don’t let her prim and proper appearance fool you,
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however. Rocha-Araneta knows how to get down with the best of them. She recounts the different dishes she had to try. In Palawan, the tamilok or woodworm is a popular appetizer found inside rotting mangroves. “It’s long, white, and snotty looking, and you eat it raw dipped in vinegar. I was telling the director, ‘I can’t, I can’t eat that.’ But I couldn’t be rude. Most of our apprehensions are just mental—I tried it, and I surprisingly liked it. It was kind of like an oyster. It had a soft, oceany flavor, but sweet.” The woodworm is, actually, a type of mollusk. Rocha-Araneta also had to try uok, or coconut worms, which are harvested from dead coconut logs, a specialty in Antipolo. “The worms were fat and juicy and cooked
adobo style. The owner of the restaurant told me I had to suck the insides out.” She still cringes at the memory. But there was no way around it, and with “try everything once” echoing in the back of her mind, RochaAraneta did as she was instructed. “I didn’t enjoy it at all. It tasted medicinal and bitter, and the skin was really chewy.” She brought back one live worm in a jar to make her friend experience what she did, but by the time she got around to it, she noticed the worm was wrapped in a cocoon. The uok, it turned out, was the larva of a rhinoceros beetle. The show, which carried over to CNN Philippines, ended after five seasons for reasons Rocha-Araneta is not quite sure of. It worked out, though, because a month
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SHOT ON LOCATION NEW PO HENG LUMPIA HOUSE HAIR AND MAKEUP PAM ROBES ASSISTED BY RAFFY SO STYLING QUAYN PEDROSO
Top, Louis Claparols, Instagram.com/themuseprojectph
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“There’s always been encouragement when it came to food. It made me curious to try new things, whatever culture it may be from or whatever it looks like.”
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Top, Gabbie Sarenas, Instagram.com/gabbiesarenasph Pants, Toqa Studio 21
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later she found out she was pregnant with her second child. In her current webseries for this magazine, she explores the food culture of nearby environs, like La Paz and Poblacion in Makati. The episodes highlight a variety of restaurants and food stores specializing in different local and international cuisines: Ilocos-inspired bagnet, Bacolod-style inasal, and unusual snacks from mainland China, among others. Rocha-Araneta also recreates some of the dishes she’s tried in the show, using healthier ingredients or easier techniques. The five-minute videos are like quick appetizers, and the easy filming schedule works for her while her kids are still very young. Not that she’s closing herself to other opportunities down the road—the wide world still beckons and Rocha-Araneta just loves trying things that push her out of her comfort zone. “I used to be introverted and very shy,” she says. “But now I get excited at the thought of meeting new people.”
Rocha-Araneta on the set for the Nolisoli Eats webseries. Here, she tries Makati eatery Pat Pat’s Kansi.
Catch Xandra Rocha-Araneta on Nolisoli Eats on Youtube.com/Nolisoliph
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XA N D RA’ S M E N U The food host shares the drinks and dishes she’d love to have and would love to forget
DRINKS
THE H AT E L I S T
“A good glass of red wine or Hendrix gin and tonic (with pink peppercorn, rosemary, or cucumber).”
APPETIZER “My all time favorite is foie gras terrine or pan-seared foie gras with berry coulis! And you can’t go wrong with a good assorment of cheeses and cold cuts.”
“A shot given to me by my friend Katrina Padilla during a wedding. It was brown and black and tasted like gasoline, cat piss, and formaldehyde.”
V E G E TA B L E “I pretty much like all vegetables... but I love ampalaya... and grilled zucchini.”
M E AT
“Soggy mini sandwiches or stale canapés.”
“Rib eye steak medium rare, and lamb!”
CARBS “I love all carbs in every form! Carbs make me very happy.”
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“Crocodile or snake meat.”
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NOW COOKING FOR 10
Helm, with its seasonal menu, is the new space for Boutwood’s and his team’s culinary experiments.
Chef Josh Boutwood takes the helm of his newest restaurant, an intimate 10-seater spot TEXT JESSICA ALBERTO PHOTOGRAPHY DRE FERRER
It hasn’t been long since Josh Boutwood introduced the concept of “pre-industrial dining” at his restaurant Savage, but already, the chef is opening the kitchen doors to his next culinary endeavor—and it’s not far from the open fire grills. Just a few steps away, you might spot the glint of a steel stove cookery embraced by a long strip of marble-laden tabletop; this intimate 10-seater space might more closely resemble the kitchen of an extroverted home cook throwing house parties—and to an extent, it is. Helm is Boutwood’s venture into his (and his team’s) culinary experiments. What separates this from the equally cozy Test Kitchen, though, is that the roster of dishes that comprises a multi-course meal no longer varies from day to day—the ephemeral menu has established some sort of permanence,
only shifting with the season, i.e. every four months or so. Playing on his fascination with triangles, the chef puts together plates using the concept of threes, whether it be through the ingredients, flavors, or textures. The food unmistakably draws from an amalgam of international influences and cuisines but melds into succinct dishes that strike a balance in taste just as much as they are striking to the eye. Boutwood’s quick move into a new restaurant wasn’t driven by greed, but rather by gluttony.
Helm. The Plaza, Arya Residences, McKinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City. 0906-2341900. Instagram.com/helmmnl
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EATS Clockwise from below: Miso toffee meringue, pili nut truffle, yema; 72% dark chocolate, durian, milk; roots, dried fish, scallop.
The food draws from an amalgam of international influences but melds into succinct dishes that strike a balance.
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RECIPE
FLOUR POWER
A low-carb bread that rises to the occasion
COCONUT FLOUR BREAD INGREDIENTS 1 cup coconut flour 1/2 tsp. fine iodized salt 1/2 tsp. baking soda 12 eggs 1/2 cup coconut oil 1/2 cup olive oil 1 whole head of garlic, peeled and minced 1/8 cup fennel flowers 1/8 cup dried cranberries, optional 1/2 tbsp. butter for greasing the bread pan
PREPARATION 1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. 2. Sift together coconut flour, fine iodized salt, and baking soda in a bowl. 3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, coconut oil, and olive oil. Slowly add the mixture to the sifted dry ingredients. Use a spatula to mix until smooth. 4. Fold in garlic and cranberries. 5. Prepare and grease the bread pan, then add the batter. Garnish with fennel flowers before popping in the oven. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes.
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T HE GET
THE GREEN BUZZ
A sustainable food wrapper to replace plastic and cling film TEXT YAZHMIN MALAJITO PHOTOGRAPHY JP TALAPIAN
Together with the rise of people’s awareness about sustainability is the surge of shops and sellers making eco-friendly alternatives accessible. One of these retailers is Daniela Calumba. Aside from being a jewelry designer, she’s known for her vegan bodycare products like charcoalinfused bamboo toothbrushes, deodorant creams, and healing balms, as well as beeswax wraps. Made from 100 percent local cotton and pure beeswax, these reusable wraps are the sustainable substitutes to single-use plastics, like cling wrap, aluminum foil, and other items used for packing and storing food. The wax-coated cloth can be used multiple times up to a year—just wash with soap and water. It is also biodegradable. Simply use your hands’ warmth to mold the beeswax wraps around bowls and jars of food or snacks. The cloth comes in different screenprinted designs featuring marine life like whale sharks, eagle rays, turtles, and humpback whales. Daniela Calumba. 0916-2373030. Instagram.com/danielacalumba
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