Celebrate Filipino Food Products At The 9th Philippine Harvest Fair

For its 9th edition, Philippine Harvest at the Central Square BGC welcomed new Secretary of Tourism Berna Romulo-Puyat to a food product fair she actually initiated when she was still an Undersecretary at the Department of Agriculture. A joint project of SSI, Central Square and the Department of Agriculture, and held every quarter, Philippine Harvest aims to highlight over three days the best farm produce, agricultural and artisanal products that the country has to offer. It’s a veritable eye-opener of how far Philippine food products, packaging and marketing has come as it tries to compete on a global scale, and form part of our exports business.

Tourism Sec. Berna Romulo-Puyat at Philippine Harvest

Anton Huang and Singapore Ambassador to the Philippines Kok Li Peng

As Sec. Berna joked, when she began discussing the Philippine Harvest concept with SSI CEO Anton Huang, it was good to know that Anton’s wife, Nina, was one of her very best friends (since she was 13 years of age), and that if all else failed to convince Anton, she could fall back on his not being able to say no to his wife. As it happened, Anton was more than enthusiastic to turn Central Square into a showcase of the very best of Philippine food products. 

A Toast to the 9th edition of Philippine Harvest at Central Square BGC

A healthy representation from the diplomatic community were present to show their support, and now that she’s with the Tourism Department, Sec. Berna was queried on why she was at Central Square for an event that seemed more aligned with Agriculture. But as she shared, food is one of the best ways to encourage Tourism, as it helps create an identity, to ‘brand’ the country. And she’s right—culinary tourism has been a boon for Japan and Korea, and now, Thailand and Singapore. As for branding, just think back to when Godiva Chocolates were the rage and helped establish an identity for Belgium as a Chocolate-producing country, when it had been previously dominated by Switzerland. 

Mangoes from Guimaras, specially bottled Pastillas de Ube jam, locally made health drinks and beverages, wild locally-inspired ice cream flavours, chili-ed peanuts and snacks, sumans with a twist, single source chocolates—these are just some of the things we'll find at Philippine Harvest. And it’s on until Sunday, June 17th, spread across two floors of Central Square. See you there!

Photos by Philip Cu-Unjieng