JAM MELCHOR

Chef Jam Melchor's culinary journey was shaped early on by television icons—cooking show pioneers such as Nora Daza and her son Sandy Daza. His penchant for such shows began in his grandmother’s kitchen where, as a young boy, he would often hang around while the adults were preparing for a fiesta or hosting guests. 

“I grew up in Angeles City, and we were exposed to a lot of different events because my grandparents were active in the local scene. When you're from Pampanga, without a doubt, it's innate in you to know delicious food—how it’s made, how it should taste. I knew early on that I wanted to become a chef.”

His mother had Nora Daza’s cookbook Let’s Cook With Nora, the one with the iconic yellow and white cover, which became frayed and dog-eared over time like the overused kitchen bible that it was.  

Jam formalized his love for cooking when he got his diploma from the American Hospitality Academy, and he’s never stopped cooking since. “I just wanted to have my own restaurant and to travel the world through cooking,” he says.

In 2011, Jam opened the restaurant Villa Café, which served Kapampangan heirloom recipes. The following year, in 2012, he launched Bite Contemporary Cuisine, which became known for its organic dishes and advocacy for sustainability.

In 2013, he established Healthy Eats Manila. Back then it was a new concept that would deliver nutritious meals to people’s homes. “We had to have our own fleet of vehicles to deliver the food; there were no delivery apps. Our clients were people who wanted to lose weight or to eat healthy.”

While the two other restaurants have since closed, Healthy Eats, now known as YesPlate, continues to thrive. During the pandemic lockdowns it served people who wanted to live a healthier lifestyle—and that started with the food they were eating daily. 

LEGACY FOR THE FUTURE

There are two decisions that Jam considers his boldest yet because they changed his path in the culinary world—and in a larger context how the country safeguards our culinary heritage. “My dreams took a different route from when I was young.”

His goal was no longer to own a restaurant but to dedicate his time and career to preserving our culinary heritage starting in 2013. The first step—and it was a huge one—was to have April declared as Filipino Food Month. Jam worked on this goal from 2014 to 2018. On April 13, 2018, due to his efforts, it finally became a reality. President Rodrigo Duterte issued Presidential Proclamation 469, which declared the month of April as Buwan ng Kalutong Filipino or Filipino Food Month. 

Jam says it is “the only national celebration of Philippine culinary heritage and gastronomy that is recognized by the government.” 

Proclamation 469 declares that the Philippines’ “culinary tradition is recognized as part of our cultural heritage,” which may be used to highlight the “nation's character and foster national pride and sense of belonging. Our vast culinary tradition and treasures should be appreciated, preserved and promoted to ensure their transmission to future generations and to support the various industries, farmers and agri -communities” that benefit from it. 

Jam says, “Filipino Food Month is getting bigger every year. We could have about 100 activities across NCR, all the regions and abroad. It’s amazing that even the smallest LGUs now have their own Filipino Food Month celebrations.” With the events headed by the private sector, it ensures there’s continuity even when government leadership changes. “The aim is  for the promotion and preservation to be cohesive.”

He is happy that this one month out of the calendar year to celebrate Filipino food is his legacy to the country’s culinary heritage. “Even when I am gone, our people will celebrate April as Filipino Food Month. They'll remember that hopefully it was because of me that we have a national celebration of food.”

Jam also co-founded the Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement. It occurred to him that while the government was promoting Filipino cuisine abroad during diplomatic and tourism events, there was still a lot of questions about our culinary heritage in the country.

The realization that we needed a more comprehensive and cohesive action plan to preserve our culinary heritage happened after the Department of Agriculture commissioned him to be the Chef Ambassador of the Philippines to the ASEAN Roadshow Linamnam!: Flavours of the Philippines. At Shangri-La Hotels of each member state, Jam taught them how to establish a Filipino buffet.

He says, “I stayed in each Shangri-La for about three weeks. And I thought, why is our government promoting our food outside of the Philippines when we still have a lot of questions about our culinary heritage within the country? There was no organization that pulled all these initiatives together in the private sector. When I came back to the Philippines after the roadshow, I spoke to some friends in the industry like chefs and farmers. I said, why don't we do something together? So we started food education activities and workshops.”

That became the aim of PCHM: the preservation of classic Filipino food, heirloom recipes and regional cooking. And to support local, sustainable and traditionally prepared food with natural farm produce.

To make a lasting impact, Jam believed they should start with young Filipinos. “Our target is schools because the kids are there. We show them our heritage ingredients, teach them to use all their five senses when cooking. You know, the satisfaction of teaching the young is seeing them doing the research themselves.”

Tatler Philippines recognized Jam’s work in preserving and popularizing Filipino culinary culture and his impact on the food and beverage industry. He was named one of “50 Most Influential Youth in the Philippines” in its Gen T Awards for 2019. 

The magazine said, “Chef Jam is on a mission to take Philippine cuisine to the world. His promotion of local cuisine paved the way for the national government to declare every April as Filipino Food Month, when traditional dishes and local produce take center stage. He is also an active member of Slow Food International and was the first Filipino chef to present at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy.” 

RACING AGAINST TIME

Filipino Food Month has also brought awareness to the disappearing produce from our farmlands like heritage rice. “We have 300 plus varieties of heirloom rice in Cordillera alone. Yet the influx of imported rice is increasing. It makes me really sad to see that. We study the genomes of our heirloom rice, so why don't we do something about it?” he says.

Heirloom rice varieties are not only prized for their unique flavors, textures, and nutritional profiles but also represent a rich cultural heritage passed down through generations. Studying their genomes offers a glimpse into the genetic diversity and historical significance of these varieties.

“In Pampanga, we have this heirloom rice called duman, which we harvest only once a year. I hope duman won't be lost because it's very unique. And if it's lost, what will we do, what will we showcase? It's part of our identity as Kapampangan,” Jam says.

Duman in the 1970s and 1980s was still very common in the palengke of Pampanga and Tarlac. Kids ate the toasted green or brown rice as a snack or sometimes added evaporated milk to it. Back then a kilo was less than a hundred pesos; today, duman costs about P5,000 per kilo because not many farmers plant it anymore.

Jam explains that farmers want their farms to more, “but heritage rice is planted and harvested in small batches.”

One of the chef’s fears is that apart from heirloom rice and ingredients disappearing is the disappearance of cooking techniques as well. “Now with the globalization of everything, we want everything to be fast. We don't want to wait. In the snap of our fingers, we want our food in front of us. But if you really want food to be delicious, you have to let it stew.”

SLOW FOOD, BETTER APPRECIATION 

Jam is also a proponent of the Slow Food Movement, which started in the late 1980s in Italy as a response against fast food and the lost art of enjoying food without hurry. The main principle of the movement is that food should be grown and bought locally, as well as “prepared with care and eaten with appreciation.”

In 2017, Jam was invited to the Slow Food International Movement by Le Tavole Accademiche (Academic Tables) of the University degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche (UNISG) in Italy. In Pollenzo, he cooked Filipino dishes that introduced his fellow chefs and students from around the world to Philippine cuisine.

Pollenzo was a gamechanger for Jam. The Academic Tables, which is a “space that combines education, sustainability and local products at fair price” was leading the movement for the preparation of dishes based on the seasonality of local products. 

While there are many Filipinos living and working in Italy, Filipino food, according to the university, was a cuisine “still little known in Italy”—and they had Jam to teach them what our culinary traditions were all about. 

“My objective is to raise the profile of Filipino gastronomy outside our country, particularly among the students of the University of Gastronomic Sciences, a place where the culture of food is studied and promoted,” Jam said in an interview. “I would also like to inspire more young Filipinos to discover the past and future of their cuisine.”

Jam continues, “When foreigners taste our food they are sometimes overwhelmed by the richness. Our food is actually one of the friendliest flavors among Southeast Asian countries because the others are extremely spicy like Thailand’s. When I came back, my advocacy grew stronger. We are called an agricultural country, but we have been left behind. What we want to do is to work with young farmers who are passionate about food, with young people who want to know more about our food.”

Jam says that his dreams may have taken a detour, but he loves the path he found himself in because his advocacies are his legacies and they will live longer than him. Preserving our culinary heritage is indeed a race against time and global influences. But thanks to chefs like Jam, we have a fighting chance to succeed.

Learn more about the Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement by visiting their Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1599720970271115