The Margarita Forés Effect

As one of Asia’s top chefs, her infectious charm and intense passion for Filipino cuisine make people sit, listen and well, eat

- Angelo Comsti

It would be easy to assume that foreigners would be repulsed when presented with balut. It would not be the first time for people to be disgusted with incubated duck egg anyway, as it had been the downfall of many Fear Factor players.

In September 2017 though, instead of losing curiosity, the legion of Harvard University students took interest and even gamely indulged on the balut dish served on that special night class. That’s the Margarita Forés effect in play. Whenever the celebrated female chef talks about an unfamiliar local ingredient with such a degree of sincerity and fascination, one just can’t help but listen.

This she has proven time and again: when she took the stage to present kinilaw during the 2015 Madrid Fusion in Spain; when she introduced taba ng talangka to acclaimed Japanese chef Hi-royasu Kawate of Florilege in Japan; and when she cooked sinanglay to a packed Fireside restaurant in Sydney, Australia during her collaboration with Lennox Hastie just before the pandemic hit. In all occasions, they took notice of what she had to say and cook because her joyful enthusiasm when it comes to sharing her own Filipino discoveries is just too hard to ignore.

“Always having childlike wonder, excitement, hunger and curiosity while travelling and eating around our more than 7,000 Islands has always helped me continue to discover new flavours, and produce all over our country,” she says.