A total of ten awards were garnered by the participants, who were mostly first-timers in the competition. The students competed with other students and even professionals; hence it was an open competition.

Chef Master Silver medalist Dino Dengayan highlighted how it was a fantastic experience to compete against other students and chefs from all across Mindanao.

 “I had amazing chefs as both my competitors and judges, and I learned so much from them that it motivated me to work harder and return the next year with improved skills and output,” Dengayan said in an online interview.

The two-day competition included KUMBIRA Masters and MASTER CLASSES, where competitors competed in elimination rounds for culinary, cake, bar, and barista. In the MASTER Classes, the organizers have partnered with renowned chefs and culinary masters to lead the lectures and demonstration series on culinary arts.

Margaux Albright Baja, who won the bronze medal in the Cake Master competition, spoke candidly about her experience in an online interview. She remarked that she had picked up a lot of fresh concepts from the chefs, including brand-new recipes and ingredient combinations.

Meanwhile, Mr. Allan E. Salonga, one of the faculty coaches, asserted that this year’s competition symbolizes the hospitality and tourism sectors’ revival from the pandemic. He shared that the coaches see this event as full exposure for their students; hence organizers decided to make all of the competitions open.

“We are really proud of the BSHM students for continuing to inspire optimism and pride in our beloved CMU despite the difficulties our industry and education [are facing] in general,” he added.

Furthermore, Faculty Coach and Hospitality Management Chairperson Ms. Gista Fel B. Barong believed that the experience was highly beneficial to all of their students. She professed that this competition was an excellent way for their hospitality management students to grow and expand their talents to achieve more while learning from one another and their competitors.

This year’s KUMBIRA was dubbed “TUBONG MINDANAW,” it promoted ingredients indigenous to this part of the Philippines, as well as Mindanao’s regional cuisine and products, specifically in Regions IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, and BARMM.

Eight open categories were available for the tournament, in which 104 participants—professionals and students—participated. The following are the competition events and the list of the winners, participants, and coaches from the university. ^{_{[Iyren Dalipe-Neri]}}

KUMBIRA Cake Master – Silver & Bronze

Silver: Edzil Glyjohnprylle Discaya

Bronze: Margaux Albright P. Baja

KUMBIRA Chef Master – Silver & Bronze

Silver: Dino I. Dengayan

Bronze: Rosalino T. Rosell Jr.

KUMBIRA Brew Master – Top 4 & 5 Finalists

Top 4: Albegil P. Vinzon

Top 5: John Paul M. Estañero

KUMBIRA Bar Master – Diploma

Diploma: Ivan Kit O. Terec

Basket Floral Buffet Centerpiece – Bronze

Zaramel R. Monsanto

Ramil Y. Cabaron

Plated Dessert – Bronze

Allien Kurt G. Martinez

Sheila Mae A. Naluan

Bread Showpiece – Diploma

Jayson Aringay

Francis Allen P. Colinares

Flairtending

Yanni Van Arted G. Agawin

𝐂𝐎𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒: Ms. Gista Fel Barong, Dr. Rubie Andoy Arroyo, Mr. Lance Salonga, Ms. Eula Non, Ms. Dafnie Dal Limocon, Mr. John Cesar Antique, Ms. Audrey Vivien Rinon, Ms. Sheena Rubin, Mr. Arman Valero, and student coach, Mr. Enzo Louis Torres

_{Photos from the College of Human Ecology}

The competition highlighted Canadian cuisines and ingredients in the dinner dubbed “Flavors of Canada” to celebrate more than 50 years of Philippines-Canada diplomatic relations.

“No words can describe my gratitude [for] this wonderful experience. This was the greatest push so far in all aspects of my life. It’s my first ever culinary competition and the beginning of my culinary inspiration,” Zoe Christy S. Morales said in an online interview.

The two young chefs must prepare an appetizer, main entrée, and dessert all in two servings within 90 minutes.

“We were unexpectedly told that we were the ones who would fillet the salmon, which made me tense because it was my first time slicing a salmon. But I didn’t want to fail this competition, so I voluntarily decided to slice the salmon in my own way— and I got through it,” Allien Kurt Martinez shared in an online interview.

Despite what happened, the two were able to amaze the judges and bring home the bacon.

“As a student who dreams of becoming a chef someday, this platform introduced me to a wider frame of mind, to excel more, produce lots of output, and become more innovative,” Martinez added.

Zoe and Allein are grateful that they were able to represent CMU as pioneer students of the CHED-IKSCM Program competing under the Philippine-Canada Young Chefs Team Challenge at the Philippine Culinary Cup. 

“…training has paved the way for our students [to] dream bigger and thus became our ticket to qualify for a competition, aside from limited budget we also have limited time to practice but still we’re glad that our students are competent enough to compete for the said event,” said the culinary coaches Dr. Rubie Arroyo and Ms. Gista Fel Barong.

The coaches are grateful that Central Mindanao University was selected to compete among the greatest and top universities in the Philippines. They hope the university will continue to assist their department in this endeavor and the next competition.

Meanwhile, Sheila Mae Naluan and Dino Dengayan joined the Executive Chef Networking at the Conrad Hotel last August 3-4, 2022— as part of the PhilCan EDUCON Magic7+ Philippine Culinary Cup activities under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Indigenous Knowledge System and Cultural Management (IKSCM) Program.

The culinary competition is co-organized by the Embassy of Canada and Les Toques Blanches (LTB) Chefs Philippines at the annual Philippine Culinary Cup wherein young chefs representing their respective universities compete to create dishes inspired by Philippine indigenous cuisines from their respective provinces using Canadian ingredients. The competition was part of this year’s World Food Expo held in the same venue. _{[Iyren Dalipe Neri]}

_{Photo Credits to Embassy of Canada in the Philippines}