MMSU student chefs reimagine local ingredients in innovative dishes
By Jeremy Pascual
Showcasing their culinary creativity, Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) student chefs transformed traditional Ilokano ingredients into modern masterpieces during a university-wide cooking competition on April 22.
Anchored on the theme, “Intensifying Cultural Heritage Through Innovative Ilokano Cuisine,” the event showcased the culinary skills of the participants by adding their own creative touch to traditional Ilokano ingredients. The participants applied modern techniques to reinvent the local ingredients.
Hospitality management students Victor Allen Tagatac and April Sahara Fernandez, of the MMSU College of Business, Economics and Accountancy (CBEA), prepared the winning three-course meal, with their innovative take on Ilocos Sur Okoy, carabeef, and gamet.
Their appetizer “Alon,” a deconstructed Ilocos Sur Okoy, featured the Ilocos Vinegar Caviar as its signature element. Their main course was “Araro,” a gamet-crusted carabeef dish with native squash, sweet potato, and mornay sauce made from carabao’s milk. Completing their three-course meal was the dessert named “Aningaas,” made from glutinous flour blended with gamet (seaweed) and sugar, inspired by the white sands of Pagudpud.
Tagatac and Fernandez emerged as the champions in the cooking competition. Meanwhile, participants from the College of Industrial Technology, College of Agriculture, Food, and Sustainable Development, College of Aquatic Sciences and Applied Technology, and Laboratory High School Laoag secured the succeeding places, respectively.
MMSU held the Ilokano Food Innovation Cookfest Competition pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 469, s. 2018, which declared the month of April as the Filipino Food Month. The law has for its purpose the appreciation, preservation, and promotion of the nation’s vast culinary traditions and to ensure their transmission to future generations.
May, 02, 2026 01:04:am
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