To further enhance the promotion of Filipino culinary tradition and the country’s unique food tourism experiences, the Department of Tourism (DOT), together with the Department of Agriculture (DA), National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and the Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement (PCHM) recently inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create a framework of cooperation and collaboration, as well as officially infuse the food tourism dimension in the celebration of the Filipino Food Month every April.
Signed between Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, Agriculture Secretary William Dar represented by Undersecretaries Evelyn Lavinia and Kristine Evangelista, NCCA Chairman Arsenio Lizaso, and PCHM President Chef Jam Melchor, the MOU endeavors to drive up appreciation, preservation, and promotion of Filipino culinary traditions to ensure transmission to future generations and to support food tourism stakeholders such as farmers and agri-communities.
“As we look forward to every annual celebration of Filipino Food Month, we would like to use this as a platform to promote travel for a taste of a place in order to get a sense of a place,” Puyat said in her opening remarks during the virtual signing ceremony.
A DA-NCCA-DOT-PCHM Technical Working Group (TWG) shall be formed and will conduct quarterly meetings to ensure the smooth implementation of the activities and responsibilities enclosed in the MOU.
