February 17, 2016
In keeping with its emerging position of being an international agritourism destination, this time Rosa Farms hosted a visit from students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Turin, Italy.
The visitors were 20-24-year-old students of gastronomic sciences from Italy. Most of them were Italian, with some members of the group also coming from Brazil, Germany and Kenya. The group’s coordinator was Raymond Macapagal from the Center for International Studies of UP Diliman, himself being an alumnus of the Italian University. Raymond was a Master in Food Culture & Communications, and a Master in World Heritage & Cultural Projects for Development.
Gastronomy being the study of food and cultural heritage, it was certainly our pleasure to introduce the students to the different food at the farm, and to tell them of its rich cultural history. The students were introduced to Rosa Cafe, the farm’s outdoor cafe serving mango-inspired culinary dishes. They were then toured around the farm, and allowed to taste produce from the various fruit trees inside the farm. The students were amazed at our cashew, the only fruit with its seed outside. They were so thrilled to get their first taste of the cashew fruit, and to learn that Zambales is known for its mango and cashew products. It was also their first time to taste the oh-so-sweet starapple, and not a few of them pocketed the seeds, with the intent of bringing these back to Italy to plant!
They had a morning snack of rice cakes and carioca, taken with tarragon herbal tea brewed from tarragon freshly picked from the farm’s edible landscaping garden. The students got really excited to see so many culinary herbs, such as oregano, sweet basil, peppermint and a lot more, and delighted in smelling and tasting them. They enjoyed eating the rice cakes and were very curious about how these were made. They also got their fill of sweet, tiny mangoes which Raymond called `supsupin.’ It was very interesting to note that such mango variety was listed among the world’s vanishing species! They also got their memorable ‘miracle fruit experience’ where calamansi and vinegar tasted so amazingly sweet after rolling the miracle berry in their mouths!
The best seller during lunch time was the vegetarian salad spread that the hosts prepared. A spread of various salad ingredients such as fern, seaweed, indigenous edible leaves, tomato/onion medley and a variety of dried fish — dilis, tinapa, daing, tuyo–and salted duck egg really excited the students. Dressing was a choice of vinegar concoction, fish bagoong and bagoong alamang. Likewise, the buffet of Filipino food– pumpkin soup, kare-kare, grilled boneless fish, seafood vegetable medley in coconut milk– made the students keep coming back to the buffet table!
Sadly, time seemed to go by so quickly, and pretty soon it was time for good-byes. Nonetheless, everyone was energized with brand new experiences, and will certainly treasure the day’s memories for a long time to come.