The British ambassador practices ‘culinary diplomacy’

MANILA, Philippines - All ambassadors are well-versed in political diplomacy, but British Ambassador Asif Ahmad practices diplomacy of a different kind.

Ahmad has been cooking ever since he was a little boy. His father, who was a diplomat, as well as his grandfather, also cooked. “So for me, to see a man cook was something that was normal,” Ahmad says.

We were at the residence of the ambassador, who hosted an appliance launch by Kenwood, the award-winning British brand. Ever since the ambassador came to the Philippines, he has learned to cook Filipino dishes such as kare-kare and pinakbet, while giving them his own twist.

“I’ve always experimented with a bit of fusion,” Ahmad says. He is scheduled to host the farewell dinner for his good friend, German Ambassador Thomas Ossowski, and reveals that the menu will be a combination of both German and Filipino dishes, such as cold breast of chicken with an adobo sauce and sauerkraut garnish as a starter; a traditional German roast beef with pancit on the side; and for dessert, a combination of English, German, and Filipino favorites: ube ice cream with meringue, berries and cream. “That’s what I call culinary diplomacy,” the ambassador says with a smile.

“We have stopped using outside caterers, even for sit-down dinners,” the ambassador shares. He likes to work closely with his in-house Filipino chef Jomar, who studied in the UK, where he spent seven years working in a hotel and restaurant as a sous chef.

The ambassador also takes pride in his Kenwood Cooking Chef, a unique machine that he makes full use of in his home kitchen. “It’s the most versatile thing you can have because you can put different attachments — for blending, mixing, dough-making,” he says. “People think that making bread is tough, but we make all our breads here. I am lucky. We have fresh bread every day.”

“That’s one of the real joys of the Kenwood Cooking Chef. The versatility is not just from the machine but it’s from all the different attachments that we develop,” says Kenwood industrial design team leader Darren Mullen. “You can build the product to how you want to use the machine, how you want to cook. We are constantly developing new techniques and new technology to react to how people want to cook. The way people cook today is not the same as the way they cooked 10 years ago.”

Kenwood is a leading manufacturer of kitchen appliances, which was founded in 1947 by Kenneth Wood. “Its first product was a toaster, then a kitchen machine,” Mullen relates. “The Kenwood Cooking Chef was the first cooking kitchen machine in the market using innovative induction cooking, so you can mix and cook in the same bowl. And now, we are re-launching that product with a new interface. It will also be a connective product. It will have a link to applications such as recipes online. So, in partnership with your machine, you can create new dishes.

“As designers at Kenwood, we are very involved in the engineering process,” says Mullen, who studied industrial design at Northumbria University, the same institution where Jonathan Ive, designer of the iPhone, studied. “We work very closely with the engineers to ensure that the products work.”

Paul Accornero, Kenwood International commercial director for Asia, Pacific and America; Darren Mullen, Kenwood Industrial Design team leader; Robert Colombo, Colombo Merchant Phils. president; chef Martin Johns, Kenwood head development chef; and Beverly Campos, CMP managing partner

Mullen is optimistic about the Philippine market. “I think you are very passionate about food and your food is amazing. We’re also very passionate about food. I think it’s a very good fit with our brand. Martin Johns, our head development chef, has been here all week, soaking up the culture, understanding your recipes, so we can develop specific attachments for your market.”

Chef Johns adds, “Kenwood has been around for many years. What it has done is to constantly evolve. There’s the next generation coming out, by our team of engineers and designers in the UK. They give you a whole machine for your kitchen so you can build it to your style of cookery. There are lots of things you can do with the Kitchen Machine. I’m not saying we take over your kitchen. We just help you manage it, and these machines make cooking a heck of a lot easier.”

It’s chef Johns’ first time in the Philippines, and he came knowing hardly anything about our food except for balut and sinigang, which he tasted once at a Filipino restaurant in London. “We had sinigang in a restaurant serving it with watermelon, which I never tasted before,” he says. “It was actually great. I love it.”

He has not eaten in the hotel he is staying at except for breakfast, since he has been going to local restaurants around town. “My impression is it’s wonderful. It’s my type of food. I’m really happy with it. For me, food is about sharing, and people here have been so nice. I have loads of recipes I’m taking back to the UK. What I will do is I will look at the recipes and we will develop machines for this market.” Photos by JULIE CABATIT-ALEGRE