Andrew Zimmern predicted in 2012 that Filipino food was going to be the next big thing, and Vogue’s Claudia McNeilly echoed his sentiments five years later. We’re not going to pick apart the politics of non-Filipinos calling our cuisine a trend for now (rest assured, we’re thinking about it), but we are going to note that if there was ever a time for a Filipino food boom, it’d be now. For starters, Filipino restaurant Toyo Eatery was on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant list, and “I Am A Filipino” cookbook was shortlisted for a prestigious writing award. Notice: Neither one of these are Western-centric endeavors that happened to have a Filipino at the helm. These are Filipino creations made by Filipinos.
Chef Miko Aspiras is the latest to receive international accolade. The pastry chef is featured on the latest issue of So Good (stylized as so good..), a trend-setting Spanish patisserie magazine (it bills itself as “the magazine for haute patisserie”) that only spotlights the best in the pastry world. “This is Vogue for pastry chefs,” Aspiras said about the magazine. Aspiras isn’t just the only Filipino to ever be featured on the magazine; he’s also the first Southeast Asian.
It’s pretty well-deserved. ICYDK, Aspiras is the person behind many of the Tasteless Group’s dessert ventures, such as Scout’s Honor, Le Petit Souffle, and Poison. He also recently released a cookbook with fellow chef Aileen Anastacio entitled “A Piece of Cake.” And he’s done all this without ever working abroad, which many view to be a stepping stone to getting international recognition. The magazine itself points it out: “The first thing that is amazing about someone with the ambition and the ability to display a varied range of avant-garde pastry is that his training has been done mainly without leaving his home country, the Philippines.”
And like the other aforementioned Filipino endeavors gaining international acclaim, Aspiras bears his roots on his sleeve. The most recent example is Poison’s champorado and tuyo donuts—something very ingeniously Filipino. (Read: ICYMI: Poison has champorado and tuyo donuts) His eight-paged spread on So Good is similarly Filipino: for instance, one of the pages show his polvoron laid out on plates shaped like the Philippine archipelago. “The culinary vision on the one hand and vindication of native ingredients on the other are two of his main concerns at present,” the spread says.
Featured photo courtesy of Inquirer.net
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