About CHOP

The Culinary Historians of the Philippines (CHOP) is a non-profit sister organization of the Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. (CHoWDC). We are not historians in the academic or scholarly sense; we are students of culinary history who want to give back to society through culinary-based programs. Our mission: To study, promote, and help preserve the history and heritage of Philippine cuisine and culinary customs/traditions; to implement advocacy programs; and to study the cuisines of other countries. [Your comments on our posts are most welcome.]

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

QUIAPO - SPECIAL CULTURAL & FOOD TOUR, May 5, 2018



QUIAPO FOOD TOUR, May 5, 2018
(Project Manager for the Tour - Inez Silva-Reyes, Board Member)

Email sent by Inez to all current members on April 24, 2018

Hi, everyone!

CHOP is pleased to announce that we will be having a Special Cultural and Food Tour
of Quiapoon Saturday, May 5, 2018, led by Mr. Martin Lopez of Far Eastern University!

The tour can accommodate only up to a maximum of 20 persons so we are offering it 
first to you.

Here is the itinerary:
9:45 am           Meet in FEU Campus                   

10:00am—      Tour of the UNESCO-awarded art deco campus of FEUled by Martin Lopez
11:00am          [Nicanor Reyes Sr. St., Sampaloc, Manila] 
                                     
11:30am—      Bahay Nakpil-Bautista, the more than 100-year old home of Ariston Bautista,
2:00 pm           his wife Gregoria "Oryang" de Jesus and the Nakpil clan. Now a heritage 
                        museum. Guide is Nakpil descendant and heritage advocate Maria “Bobbi”     
                        Santos-Viola.
                        Lunch will be served:  Excelente Ham, Cabeza de Jabali (Nakpil holiday recipe),
                        Halal food - Chicken Rice Pater, Turmeric Fish, Globe Lumpia.
                        Excellente ham can also be purchased here. Historic videos can be viewed.
                        [432 A. Bautista, Quiapo, Manila]

2:30pm—        San Sebastian Basilica, the more than 100-year old all-steel Gothic church 
4:30pm            which contains the 400-year old image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel 
                        (Restoration Talk & Tour)
                                              
4:45pm—        Casa Consulado, the former Consulate of Monaco in the Philippines.
5:15pm            Guide is Paul Iturralde, the son of the 1st Consul General of Monaco in the 
                        Philippines. 
                        Halu-Halo Snack
                        [730 San Sebastian St., Quiapo, Manila]

Tour cost for CHOP members is P1,700. This is NOT inclusive of transportation. Please deposit to BDO Account No. 535 800 8146 - Association of Culinary Historians of the Phil. Please text or email Pia Castillo Lim at 0917-833-1009 or nutsaboutfood@gmail.comto confirm your deposit. First come, first served, please!

For those who want to take a van or bus together to Quiapo, please email Vicky Yu at vyuph@yahoo.comfor costs and to coordinate arrangements.

Please see the attached flyer for more excitement! 
See you all in Quiapo on May 5! 
Thank you!
CHOP Board

CHOP’s QUIAPO  FOOD TOUR, May 3, 2018
LIFE and CULTURE between TWO CHURCHES
By Elizabeth V. Reyes
(May 17, 2018)


Last May 3rdmorning, 21 CHOP members rallied in the Art Deco entrance hall of FEU, Far Eastern University, in downtown Quiapo; at the start of an enlightening cultural walking tour of the highlights of the crowded and historic district. The compact area between old Manila’s two great churches—Quiapo Church and San Sebastian—was once the most elegant area outside the walls of Intramuros. It included the grand mansions of Manila’s rich merchants and tradesmen; making Quiapo a special place where history crossed paths with the faith. 

The district of the “Quiapense” community was once the elite “Forbes Park” of old Manila, complete with their own Sanctuario de San Sebastian, equivalent to today’s Sanctuario San Antonio. It was apt to start off a Quiapo Tour in the cleanly refurbished FEU campus. The University is devoted --in the words of FEU’s founder Nicanor Reyes—to developing Filipino youth in academics, athletics and the arts. Our modern tour guide, Martin Lopez, a true-blue champion of FEU, waved the green and gold emblem for this university born in 1928. Proudly this Quiapense led us through the campus-- replete with outstanding Filipino art and architecture, and recipient of a Unesco Award for its blend of Art Deco designed buildings.

Our tour was a walk through a living art-gallery on the campus; starting from National Architect Pablo Antonio’s buildings design, featuring Art-Deco style’s rounded “shapes, symmetry and subtlety”. We’re shown the neo-classical bas-reliefs by Italian artist Monti; the symbolic seals designed by artist Galo Ocampo; and a colored glass triptych by Antonio Dumlao (made from chipped San Miguel bottles!) 

As we tour, we learn that FEU was Manila’s first cultural center after WWII, as it harbored the first theater stage used for ballets and orchestra concerts. We noted the four groups of metal figures in the FEU quad, representing the arts and sciences students, were early sculptures by National Artist Vicente Manansala!   And in the campus chapel, we marveled at the wrap-around murals painted by national muralist Botong Francisco; and a giant sculpture by Manansala as well. 

We left FEU along narrow sidewalks full of vendors, walking 15 minutes to access a side street off Quiapo Church, where stands the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista, historical home of Gregoria del Pilar.  The heroic wife and widow of Katipunero Andres Bonifacio later married Julio Nakpil, composer of the National Anthem, and lived years in the entresueloof the house.  Our heritage house guide was vibrant forebear Bobbi Santos-Viola. She welcomed us with cool, lavender-scented “Good Morning” towels; and described the 1925 heirloom house, from the piedra china stones in the zaguanto the graphic forms of the quiapoplant built into the large caladopanels between rooms! We crossed the machuca-tiled welcome mat and ascended into the Secession-style clan house which now acts as a cultural workshop for visiting students. 

Our Saturday CHOP luncheon comprised an array of traditional “Quiapo family dishes”; and a short food-message from fellow heritage-heir, Dr Butch Zialcita. The banquet included dishes of stewed crab roe (a Nakpil tradition), fish kinilaw, and mixed Chinese noodles; tasting portions of Quiapo’s delicious 
Excelente Ham; and Globe Eatery’s famous lumpia.  Zialcita explained that Quiapo heritage food was a “conjunction of home-cooked recipes and restaurant dishes”…that halo-halooriginated in Quinta Market—as an adaptation of a Japanese dessert, born when Americans built the first ice plant near Quiapo! 

It was a 15-minute walk along R Hidalgo Street –among the elite mansions of the Paternos, Legardas, Aranetas, Tuasons and Zamoras, etc –to access the all-steel gothic church of San Sebastian. There a lively guide named XXX  directed our unusual urban adventure tour in the Sanctuario of San Sebastian.  She gave us animated accounts of the 1891 rebuilding of the church (its 1,500 tons of all-steel parts were prefabricated in Belgium over three years and imported to Manila in nine ships); and described today’s ongoing restoration project, begun in 2012: a long “scientific” battle against the extreme corrosion growing inside 132 steel columns. After the talk, we engaged directly with the soaring all-steel church --by scaling its metal innards.  

With some trepidation, we ascended from the choir mezzanine, climbed three narrow spiral staircases – tiptoeing gingerly, one at a time—to access the bell tower of the six-story steel church. Up there nearer to heaven, we posed among the ancient bells; looked down on the once-elegant borough of old Quiapo; and appreciated the marriage of science and faith in gothic San Sebastian Church. 

What a beautiful cultural walking tour of Quiapo—with thanks to the inspired organization of CHOP officer, Inez Reyes.  


PHOTOS FROM THE TOUR











 

 




 

 








 

  





  

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 


 

 



 


 

 

 

 


 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 


 


 





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