A group of Filipino chefs launched a two-day food festival featuring their native cuisine that drew not only Filipinos but many foreigners as well to savor the food at the Trident Hotel Sunday night. “I like Filipino food,” said Mohamed Ali Taleb, head of imports at Al-Hussaini & Al-Yahya Investment Group, as he shook hands with a Filipino friend. He could not name the Filipino food he liked best but he had appetizers of soup and salad on his table. The food festival was organized by Trident with the help of Mohamed Bayumi, a recipient of Philippine presidential Banaag Award and a well-known figure in the Filipino community. The Banaag Award is bestowed on foreigners who have extended valuable assistance to the Filipino Diaspora. Philippine Consul General Ezzedin Tago cut the ceremonial ribbon to open the festival. There were no speeches. It was just like any ordinary dinner time but with more guests. The food festivity is an annual project of the Association of World-Class Filipino Chefs. The chefs come from different hotels and restaurants in Jeddah. The leaders of the group, Roger Cabacang and Manny Zafra, said the project was started last year primarily to serve as a vehicle for bonding the Filipino chefs in Jeddah and to introduce Filipino cuisines to other nationals. The food consisted of appetizers including sliced unripe mango which the Filipinos usually dip in salted fish sauce called bagoong, steamed eggplant called ensaladang talong, mixed vegetable salad and salted egg topped with sliced tomato, among others. The main courses included grilled sea foods (fish and seashells), fried shrimp known among the Filipinos as camaron rebosado, adobong manok or chicken cooked in vinegar, oil and coconut milk and even the exotic devil fish cooked in coconut milk. Aside from Tago and Bayumi, the other guests on the opening night were Ahmed Idrissi, country manager of Qatar Airways, the main sponsor of the event, and the Chinese ambassador to Saudi Arabia who apologized because he could not give his name in English. __
