Pride And Glory

Filipino immigrant and home cook extraordinaire Leo Fernandez talks to us about his time on MasterChef New Zealand and waving the flag of Filipino cuisine.

- Chino L. Cruz

Given the speed of MasterChef New Zealand finalist and first runner-up Leo Fernandez’s trajectory in New Zealand’s dining scene, you’d be just as surprised as we were to find out he’d only started cooking back in 2008, when he first moved away from home.

Leo’s food journey, it seems, started more as a matter of necessity than anything else. “Hindi pa ’ko nagluluto noon eh. In my family, it’s always been my mother. Once I migrated, though, one of the things that lessened my homesickness was food,” says Leo. “Para sa akin, food is comforting. When you’re away from home, that’s when you really realize how important food is.”

Though Leo only officially started cooking after arriving in New Zealand, he admits that his grandmother had a bigger role in teaching him how to cook than he had originally thought.

“My lola