Best in the world
Allow me to take a break from the current issues of the day to congratulate a fellow Cebuano, Myke Sarthou also known as "Chef Tatung", for winning the 22nd Gourmand World Cookbook Awards as "Best TV Chef Book Outside Europe" for his book "Philippine Cookery: From Heart to Platter".
The book was earlier named in January as 2017 National Winner of the same Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Sunday night, my Facebook page contained a post by Chef Tatung about his book winning, this time, the "Best in the World" award.
Chef Tatung Sarthou hails from Cebu although he is now based in Manila where he hosts a cooking segment in ABS-CBN's Umagang Kay Ganda.
He and I were batchmates of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines-Cebu Chapter in the late 1990s, I as editor of UP Cebu's "Tug-ani" student publication, and he as editor of the University of Cebu's "Lakandiwa" student publication. It is therefore not a surprise that Chef Tatung can write a book that is now hailed as the "Best in the World" by Gourmand International.
The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards was founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau. Every year, according to its website, the awards honor the best food and wine books, printed or digital, as well as food television. "Books from 205 countries participate in these prestigious awards, the only international competition of the sector."
Its website says: "The (awarding) ceremony is always an opportunity to meet every important person in the world of food and books: hundreds of publishers, authors, chefs and journalists take part in these events." The Gourmand Awards has been described as the "Oscars" of the food world.
I fondly remember attending overnight meetings with fellow student-activist writers in Chef Tatung's place somewhere south of Cebu City back in the late 1990s. It was a memorable time of my youth because, aside from everything else important, that was the time I learned how to cook rice.
Now a celebrity chef, the substance and depth of Chef Tatung's writings reveal his progressive background as can be gleaned from his award-winning book.
Lutongtatung.com describes "Filipino Cookery: From Heart to Platter" as a book that takes readers on a historical journey of Philippine cuisine by exploring the local development of cooking methods. "It not only aims to deepen the Filipino people's understanding of their culinary heritage but also their cultural identity."
Well done, Chef Tatung!
***
Speaking of awards, the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Philippines has opened the nomination for The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) 2017 Awards. The award aims to recognize the outstanding achievements of the Filipino youths who have benefited the community and the nation significantly.
This year's TOYM national chairman, Disston Tan, announced during a press conference last week that the nomination is done online (http://www.jci.org.ph/2017TOYMmod/site/nominate). This affords Filipinos located abroad the chance to nominate or be nominated.
The award is open to Filipino men and women between 18 and 40 years old. Deadline for nomination and submission of nominee's portfolio online is on August 30, 2017. Awarding is slated on the first week of December.
To date, only 13 percent of TOYM's 484 awardees came from the Visayas region. Thus, #BisayaNaPud is the call of May Joan Abellana, Area 4 TOYM chairwoman, as she urges fellow Cebuanos and Visayans to take the time to nominate and submit the portfolio of Visayas-based exemplary young men and women of their choice.
JCI's The Outstanding Filipino Awards, meanwhile, is open to men and women 41 years of age and over.
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