Filipina Chefs in France promote Filipino cuisine at Food Festival in Paris

Filipina cook/caterer Jen Sunga leads the cooking demonstration of the traditional Filipino dish Beef Tapa and Fried Rice at the exhibition stand of the Village International de la Gastronomie at the Rungis au Grand Palais. (Paris PE photo)

Paris — Philippine cuisine took the spotlight for a couple of hours at the first edition of Rungis au Grand Palais: Le Festival du Bien-Manger (Rungis at the Grand Palace: The Festival of Eating Well), when France-based Filipina cooks Jen Sunga and Elda Rocero did a cooking demonstration of Filipino dishes at the prestigious arts and events venue of the Grand Palais in Paris on 17 November 2019.

To drum up support for the annual international Paris foodie event called Le Village International de la Gastronomie (International Gastronomic Village), Agora Expo, the event organizer, decided to exhibit at the Rungis Festival and featured a Philippine cooking demonstration as one of its highlight activities.

From right to left: Philippine Embassy in Paris representative Consul Christina Rola McKernan, Filipina cooks Ms. Jen Sunga and Ms. Elda Rocero, and organizer of PH participation in Rungis Festival, Ms. Rosemarie Chazelas (Paris PE photo)

The Philippine Embassy in Paris lent its support to the festival which was kicked-off with a cultural performance of Igorot France Association, a Filipino community organization.

Filipina cook and caterer Ms. Jen Sunga, with the assistance of a French interpreter, shared her own recipe of beef tapa with fried rice, while Filipina cook Ms. Elda Rocero did a baking demonstration of taro puto (taro steamed rice cakes). The audience was delighted to sample the tasty dishes prepared by the two ladies. Also distributed were samples of the Filipino chocolate brand Tabléa which had recently been exhibited in Paris’ Salon du Chocolat.

Igorot France Association performed traditional Igorot dances before the cooking demo. (Paris PE photo)

A total of 25,000 visitors were anticipated to participate in this event that featured over a hundred prominent French chefs and exhibitors, as well as discovery workshops, demonstrations and master classes, and a selection of over 300 fresh products coming straight from the Rungis market that were available for sale. The festival aims at “celebrating the French culinary know how and art de vivre.”

Ms. Sunga expressed her pleasure of having been given another good opportunity to introduce Filipino flavors to France. She also said that she has been inspired to continue promoting Philippine cuisine for all Filipinos out there.

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For more information, visit https://www.parispe.dfa.gov.ph,
http://www.facebook.com/PHinFrance or https://twitter.com/PHinFrance.