Creating a Legacy

We spoke to the grand dame of Philippine cuisine, Glenda Barretto, about how her 50-year-old brand, Via Mare, has created enduring flavours that are etched in everyone's hearts and souls—and palates, of course

- By Chit L Lijauco. Photography by Wesley Villarica. Additional images from Via Mare Archives

At the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, visitors, particularly the Japanese, would queue at the Philippine pavilion to sample a taste of Via Mare's bagnet Bisaya with humba sauce. Golden and crispy pork belly slices are served with a side of humba sauce, similar to adobo but sweeter and richer, additionally flavoured with braised peanuts and fermented black beans.

Another hit is the lumpiang Binondo, crisp Filipino-style spring rolls generously filled with savoury pork, shrimp and water chestnuts. First introduced by Via Mare at the 2005 World Exposition in Nagoya, Japan, the dish scores another hit at the Osaka Food Expo 2025.

This is vintage Barretto. Be it bagnet Bisaya or lumpiang Binondo or adobo flakes [“My father, who liked anything crispy, inspired me to invent this dish”], she has created them all, staples on the Via Mare menu that have hypnotised palates, elevating themselves into comfort foods or food cravings.

More than a chef, she is a food creator blessed with a refined palate, educated at home by the cooking of her mother whose fame for her craft went beyond the family kitchen.

"For all the important occasions in our town then, my mother was always being asked to take care of the food. Cardinals and bishops called on her, including Msgr Rosales [the late Cebu Archbishop Julio Rosales], who was our relative. She was always in charge of the menu. I was only good for the eating," Barretto, who hails from Calbayog, Samar, remembers.