When we turn 100 this is exactly how we’d like to party: Roast chicken with karimbuaya! Pancit Pusit! Grilled fish with burnt coconut cream sauce! Cochinillo! Slow-cooked ginataang hipon! Davao chocolate ice cream! Calamansi vodka!
At Helena Zoila Benitez’s birthday party today, the menu is called “A Culinary Tribute to Tita Helen.”
Born in Manila on June 27, 1914, the daughter of Philippine Women’s University’s founders, and herself the founder of the Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company, is known in her circle as a foodie and proponent of local ingredients.
“Mrs. Benitez (fondly called Mama B) used to invite us to Mira Nila (the ancestral Benitez home in Quezon City) for parties with VIPs. We used to giggle at how frugal the Benitezes were for serving us boiled peanuts, dilis and burong mangga (preserved mango). It was only when I grew up that I realized they were really elevating native delicacies and were so ahead of their time,” recalls Vinya Alcantara in a story by Lyca Benitez Brown in The Philippine Star.
In charge of the food is food historian and restaurateur Amy Besa and husband-chef Romy Dorotan, who are opening a Malate branch of their Purple Yam Filipino restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, on July 4.
The past few months have seen Besa traveling around the country visiting farms and discovering indigenous ingredients that she plans to use at her own restaurant. Mrs Benitez’s 100th birthday party will be an exciting showcase of Besa’s finds and an approximation of farm-to-table philosophy, with farmers directly supplying ingredients without a middleman.
“We are showcasing the food of Laguna and Cavite where the Benitezes and Tironas are from. And then some as we will have Vigan empanada made on the spot. Specialties are kesong puti and menudo in pandesal, Jacobinas, pancit pusit, turron with sampaloc haleya from Asiong’s of Cavite City.
“And from Laguna, we have guinataang hipon from MonDay Chefs, sawsawan and sinukmani with kilawen from Casa San pablo, eggplant kulawo with burnt coconut cream on crackers by Staple and Perk, From Abra, we have Pamora Farm roast chickens stuffed with karimbuaya, Purple Yam Malate will grill tanigue from Zamboanga served with native green salad with citrus dressing and our intermezzo will be buko milk pops from Sebastian’s ice cream by Ian Carandang.
“Spectacular birthday cake of many flavors from Ginny Roces-de Guzman of Gustare. We thank Olive Limpe-aw for the kalamansi, mango & coffee liqueurs. We will be making mojitos with her rum, Manille and home brewed ginger ale & muddled mint,” writes Besa on her Facebook page.
