Chef Gene Gonzalez talks about figs and sprouts

If you follow Gene Gonzalez, chef and owner of San Juan City culinary institution Cafe Ysabel (which is turning 44 years in 2026) and president of the Center for Asian Culinary Studies, on one of his many social media channels, you know that aside from championing local produce and products, he also experiments in growing his own food, particularly figs, sprouts, and mushrooms.

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Like many plantitos and plantitas, Gonzalez discovered his love for gardening during the pandemic. “Growing our own food, the lockdown had a lot of things to do with it.”

One of his first forays was growing figs, a challenging plant to grow in the Philippines. “I became an avid fig grower. I think there was some mild success with that, but there were also certain lessons that I had to learn. One was you really have to find out what figs are good for your location. These are Mediterranean plants. They need rain, they like certain kinds of soil blends, so you’ll have to learn from this,” he said. “From a collection of 30+ figs, I now have four or five varieties left.”

He also experimented with sprouting, drawn not only to its culinary uses as garnish and salad greens but, as a cancer survivor, also to its nutritional properties. “Young sprouts are loaded with a lot of benefits that are very good especially for people with ailments like cancer and diabetes. I was sprouting all kinds of sprouts: edible sprouts like sunflower sprouts—uncommon ones—and eventually, I would sprout only what is not common anymore, because you can buy a lot of sprouts now.”