‘Nose-to-tail’ cooking in PHL urged

Nose-to-tail cooking which refers to using an entire animal to avoid food wastage, is an emerging food trend worldwide but has been done in the Philippines and other countries for the longest time. (PNA photo)

MANILA—Nose-to-tail cooking which refers to using an entire animal to avoid food wastage, is an emerging food trend worldwide but has been done in the Philippines and other countries for the longest time.

During the second day of culinary event Madrid Fusion Manila (MFM), several chefs demonstrated cooking several nose-to-tail dishes and urged visiting guests to try to do the same.

Some of the featured dishes were street-side skewers of chicken intestines (isaw), congealed pork blood (betamax), pig’s head skewer, and the blood pudding stew (dinuguan).

The meals were prepared by eight renowned chefs namely Niño Laus, JP Anglo, Jay Angeles, Patrick Go, Francis Lim, Sunshine Puey, Mizel Zagairre, and Kalel Chan.

This cooking trend comes in line with the theme for this year’s Madrid Fusion Manila which is “Towards a Sustainable Gastronomic Planet”.

After trying nose-to-tail dishes, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Wanda Teo, emphasized the importance of preventing food wastage especially at a time where there is a growing economic constraint.

“It is economically and ecologically sustainable and it also highlights the creativity and skills of our local chefs,” Teo said.

Aside from being sustainable, Teo stressed that the cooking method also reflected Filipino culture noting that cooking and eating offal (organs) should be revisited.

“We see no reason not to promote ‘nose-to-tail’ eating to Filipinos considering the current economic crisis worldwide. It is time that we educate Filipinos on responsible food consumption,” she added.

A recent report of UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed that around one-third of the food produced worldwide are wasted. This became a catalyst for several chefs to apply in their cooking.

MFM is the only Asian edition of Madrid Fusion, and is touted as the single most important international gastronomy congress in the 21st century.

It is a joint partnership between the DOT, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) PHL, and Madrid Fusion Organizers Foro de Debate and Arum.