DAVAO Tourism Association (Data), through the restaging of the three-day Mindanao Culinary Festival (MCF), is expected to boost the city's culinary scene, as it aims to set the bar of culinary industry to a higher standard.
"After almost four years of hiatus, MCF is back. Now it is bigger and better. The relaunch of the most prestigious culinary event in Mindanao will surely set the culinary standards on a higher level and with that tourist will keep on coming," Sally San Jose, Data president and owner of Chippens restaurant and catering services, said at the sidelines of the MCF opening ceremony at The Atrium of SM Lanang.
In its 12th year, MCF is raising the standards in the culinary competitions, as it will be patterned after the Philippine Culinary Cup, the prestigious culinary competition in the country initiated by LTB Chefs Association Philippines, the Pastry Alliance of the Philippines (Pap) and PEPGroup Inc.
Chef James Antolin, vice-president of Pap, said Davao's culinary scene is booming with the emergence of different culinary schools in the city.
"Undeniably, Davao is considered to be one of the booming city in the culinary and food industry. Its culinary scene is exploding, evidently more and more culinary schools is opening in the city like ICHEF, MOST Culinary Institute, among others," Antolin said.
He also said there are a lot of interesting Davao cuisine that the country needs to discover.
"Some of the Dabawenyo ingredients are different but interesting like in the sea foods, there so much here in Davao and in Mindanao as a whole," he added.
With a total of 172 competitors and 126 entries, MCF has remained to be the biggest culinary competition in Mindanao. (ASP)