Dale Talde on Top Chef

For those of you that are following Bravo's Top Chef Season 4, there is a Filipino American contestant, Dale Talde, on the show. When I first saw him on the season premiere, I knew automatically that he was a Pinoy brethren and had high hopes for him. Unfortunately, like some of the chefs this season (and past), he seems like an arrogant douchebag, but that could be how he was edited on the show. In any case, I think a certain amount of arrogance and braggodocio comes with the territory if you are at the top of your game. Not to say that it's okay to be a douche! I don't know if Dale will win this season. Looks like the judges are salivating over Richard, the guy with the mohawk and culinary gadgets. I still hope that Dale comes out on top (or near the top) and brings more attention fo Filipino cuisine.

The other night, the contestants had to do a dessert for one of the quickfire challenges. Dale's dessert was Halo Halo, which is one of my favorite desserts as well. If you blinked, you would have missed the by-line describing its ingredients. I surfed the web and saw a blog post that had the recipe and a screen capture. See Dale Talde's version of Halo Halo here.

I almost missed seeing his dessert but my ears perked up when he said he made something from his (our) culture. The screen briefly flashed a few seconds of his dessert, then moved on to the next contestant. He didn't win but was in the top three that night. It was just a tiny glimpse of how starved I am to see Filipino food represented positively on TV. And I'm not talking about that Andrew Zimmern who ate disgusting mangrove worms and stir fried crickets on the Philippines episode of his Bizarre Foods show!!! That's not typical Filipino food!

It would be nice to see my ancestral homeland represented not by mangrove worm eating natives but by downhome folks in the provinces who make excellent food with fresh ingredients from their gardens and farms. Too bad the King aka Anthony Bourdain isn't going to the Philippines. The winner of a recent video challenge to be Bourdain's traveling buddy went to a contestant who will take the King to Saudi Arabia. In any case, see the Philippines video entry here made by a Filipino American from NY.