For many Filipinos from the 70’s to the 90’s, manzanitas and kamias evoke powerful memories of a rustic and simple childhood. These backyard fruits symbolize a time of playing outdoors and appreciating the unadulterated flavors of nature.
During my childhood days, I enjoyed them straight from the tree.
Manzanitas, and kamias, including camansi (breadnut) and “karlang” (taro), are considered “underutilized” ingredients due to limited market demand, taste profiles, and low commercial viability.
These four ingredients are part of traditional Filipino cuisine and childhood; however, they have been overshadowed by more popular, commercially available fruits and vegetables nowadays.
That is why I love how the MICE Organizers’ students under the BSICM 3A of the Institute of International Culinary and Hospitality Entrepreneurship, IChef, recreated these underutilized ingredients into innovative and classy dishes during the fundraising dinner dubbed DAKTÁN: Feast with Purpose at the IMS building on Friday.
It was more than a simple dinner-for-a-cause as it was a gathering imbued with a modern Filipino Fiesta feel, which elevated the culinary traditions of Mindanao by transforming underutilized ingredients into treasures that embody artistry, culture, and sustainability.
The students served meticulously plated courses infused with the said underutilized ingredients: soup – “Kinarlang” (roasted garlic karlang soup with mushroom and sundried tomato oil); appetizer – pako and pomelo salad with camansi, kamias, and manzanitas (fern and pomelo with camansi, kamias, and manzanitas in balsamic vinaigrette); main course – duck en malunggay crepe with kaldereta sauce (duck with chicken mousse in a malunggay crepe, finished with kaldereta sauce).
Very nostalgic.
We capped the courses with a masterfully made dessert, a deconstructed puto bumbong ice cream (creamy puto bumbong-inspired ice cream with coconut, muscovado, and cheese), and drinks of mango agua fresca (fresh mango puree, mint infusion, and calamansi).
The experience was more than a sumptuous dinner, Daktán: Feast with Purpose was an advocacy on a plate. For every dish shared, guests were able to extend support to the Sorrelle Missionarie Dell’ Dell’Amore Di Christo (SMAC) Institution, a home dedicated to caring for abandoned, neglected, and orphaned children.
Sister Luzviminda Pepito of SMAC shared that currently, there are 14 boys and 14 girls under their care, wherein five are attending college, one kinder, and all the rest are in high school and senior high.
“We called our home where your heart is. It’s really our pleasure to be with you here, and thank you for your help, love, and affection for these children. We are living in God’s providence because we have no source of income, only outcome, but because God is good through generous people, and your generosity will surely go directly to our children,” she said in her message.
Indeed, it was a celebration of community and a showcase of the beautiful lives impacting the children being housed at SMAC.
After the dinner, we left not just with full tummies, but definitely with cheerful hearts.
