Manado Fiesta is a yearly event held in Manado, taking place from August 30th until September 9th this year. Different cultural festivities including music, art, fashion, religion and of course, food are celebrated all over town. The Manado Culinary Fiesta is the chance for chefs to show off their cooking skills. Our chef and resort manager Arnol managed to snag a cooking prize in Manado!
We asked him a couple of questions…
Traditional cooking
Describe your entry for the Culinary Festival…
I made a traditional Manadonese dish called Poco-Poco Fish, with tuna, cassava, banana heart and coconut milk. No reef fish of course!
What was the competition like?
Juna Rorimpandey, one of Indonesia’s Master Chefs was judging, and Henry Alexie Bloem, the President of Indonesia Chef Association. In Manado, cooking and eating is very important, so the bar was pretty high to win the prize.
Any plans for entering the competition next year?
Of course, although I have no idea what to make yet. Last year the competition was themed around what’s known as “extreme food” (snakes, lizards, bats etc), but I don’t like to cook that kind of food.
Pizza in Indonesia
How long have you been a chef?
I’m not sure I remember ha ha! Cooking is simply my hobby. I’ve been cooking professionally for about 10 years now.
How did you learn to cook?
I learned the trade at Tourism High School on the island of Sangihe as a teenager.
What’s your favorite food to cook here at Thalassa?
Pizza Margarita! Pizza is a dish with a lot of history behind it. Especially for Indonesians it’s challenging to make a good pizza due to the difference with local ingredients.
Bonus video: here’s Arnol showing you how to prepare Dabu-Dabu, the famous Manadonese “salsa”, which you can easily make yourself to spice up your food a little…
