Comments on: Augusto is My Hero…

By: joey

joey — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:11:59 +0000

Hey MM, this is a very late comment as I just read this post only now. I discovered your blog only weeks ago & I’m surprised it was you with TB & Augusto in that cebu part of NR. I’m a big fan of Tony Bourdain eversince I watched my first NR on TV. Now you earn my respect as well. I share the same feeling with you for Augusto. After all that he had done, so many pinoys or fil-ams have criticized him coz he was too honest with himself(I think Tony loved him for that!). Even the dinner with Augusto’s relatives was an issue. Most average Filipinos tend to keep to themselves when there are foreign guests due to shyness or nervousness(of speaking with them in english?). They would just stuff you with food,hehe. I pity all the commenters who are thinking that they can give TB a better show of the Phils. What’s the plot if I may ask? TB does not want to be entertained. TB doesn’t want to be treated differently or with special attention. His quest for knowledge about a certain place, people & culture(&food of course!) makes NR different from the other travel shows. I am just happy that it was your part that was shown in the climactic scene of that unforgettable episode(not some other pretentitious foodie!) featuring the “best lechon”. Btw, I miss my travels in Cebu & Ormoc where most of my breakfast consist of lechon & sawsawang suka! I truly doubt if TB would like to do another episode on the Phils. I think he will leave it at that-good memories with you & Augusto. So consider yourself a very lucky man indeed Marketman! If I have enough luck to win the lotto, my priority would be to make a way to meet TB & maybe have a meal with him. That’s if I’m going to be as lucky as you are!hehe

By: Jon Florido

Jon Florido — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:50:54 +0000

Augusto made my day. He bragged about Lechon Cebu, Tony loved it, that’s what matters. Lechon Cebu is now Number one in the World (it has actually been number one, confirmed only now.) Now that the world has heard that the best pig ever is from cebu, I challenge the best Cebu lechon makers to make our best tasting pig available to the world (or atleast here in the Bay Area so I can eat it whenever I want to hehehe.) Augusto, you’re the man.

By: filet minion

filet minion — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:14:51 +0000

sorry for this very belated reply mm. i hope you figured out by now that “kakatawan” is similar to ka-mukha. i think “ka” is an abbreviation of kasing, like kasing ganda, kasing tangkad, kasing puti etc. but we can simply add a “ka” to almost any noun or body part and it produces a comparative effect like “kakatawan= katulad or kasing tulad ng katawan” “kabuhok= magkatulad ng buhok; ka-paa= kaing laki ng paa”
but i’m no huseng batute or soc rodrigo, so i’m just guessing how the word got conjugated into that and logically meant that.

btw, i was in hysterics reading the badigard bit, while my flatmate didn’t find it too unusual since nurse daw is “nars” and school is iskul, along with paaralan and eskwelahan in filipino-english dictionaries.

By: Dre

Dre — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:01:50 +0000

Hey Mr MarketMan! Thanks for the posting and thanks for helping out in AB’s show. I just managed to watch it today, and I personally think that it was an awesome show. This is my first time posting something on your blog but I just had to say something (it might be a long one…)

I completely agree with what you said. He is indeed a hero, and should be considered as such. I also grew up overseas, having lived in India, Germany and France and I returned with my parents in 2003. They have once again moved but I elected to stay over, because, like Augusto, I wanted to discover the Philippines. I am now 21 years old, and I am currently here in Manila. I could not help but relate to him, understand how he was feeling.

I found the show to be endearing, and put us Filipinos in a good light. It showed how we can have simple yet excellent meals cooked in the “carinderias” on the sides of the streets, to fishballs, to home-cooked meals, to the “BEST PIG EVER” (and I must say, that pig was so scrumptious, my mouth was watering as I was watching the show, and I had just eaten).

It is so sad that Filipinos, Fil-Americans, Fil-foreigners, what have you, are dissing the guy. I mean, shouldn’t we, as a nation (if there can be such a thing) be proud that someone actually decided to stand up and do this? We should learn from our past, not dwell in it. So we were colonized, yeah. So we were oppressed, yeah. So we were discriminated against, yeah. But isn’t what is happening right now, all this bickering that I am reading about in your blog and the comments on AB’s webpage discrimination as well. Worse yet, this is discrimination between Filipinos!!!!!

This attempt at rediscovering our Filipino roots is not limited to a select few. I know dozens of Fil-Ams and Fil-foreigners who are doing the same, going back to the Philippines for tertiary studies, trying to discover their roots. I count myself as one of them. So he might not be “Filipino” enough for you, but he is trying his darnest to be one.

Are YOU? (this is a YOU in general to all Filipinos)

By: Mary-Ann Ortiz-Luis

Mary-Ann Ortiz-Luis — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:00:38 +0000

My husband and I found AB’s show on the internet after a friend told us of the episode airing on TV. After we viewed it, I even shared it with all my relatives, my friends, and even my staff at work. This is truly a proud moment for all Filipinos. Here is someone who has finally said what we have all been saying, “Why does Filipino cuisine not get the respect it rightfully deserves?” Is it all the naysayers, the escalating negativity of some arrogant fools? Or does the ability to adapt to a new environment, so as to embrace its nuances, far more compelling for survival of mind and body, than the desire for uniqueness and identity? Or is it so much melding of cultures over the centuries, flowing in all our veins that has made us confused about who we are and what we are? AFter all, we are a young country. Our coming into being only started after all who invaded us have finally left us. I believe we are evolving and becoming truly separate and distinct. With this will come our recognition on the world stage, if not the global cuisine stage.
As for Augusto, our hats of to him for his honesty, his courage to approach and try to convince AB and open his family’s doors in Cebu. He did a great service to the Filipino people.

By: hungryalien

hungryalien — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:43:01 +0000

simply, inggit lang sila kasi wala sila sa table nila bourdain, augusto and mm.. to try out the lechon :P

By: raissa

raissa — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:15:16 +0000

I was one of those who voted for Augusto when he submitted his video and was hoping beyond hope he would get it. I was saddened when he didnt and in some ways my hope that AB will feature Philippines got dimmer and dimmer. Oh me of little faith because it seems AB saw something in Augusto that earned him a double take and what do you know convinced him to take a trip to the Philippines. That alone, Augusto must be lauded because if not for him , I dont know if it was even possible. So my hats off to him and also to Ivan Dy, Claude Tayag and of course MM.

It has been one week since it aired and my friends and I still cannot stop talking about it. MM, because of your lechon, my friend is seriously considering if giving up meat esp pork for Lent is a good thing. =)

By: Francis Acero

Francis Acero — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:29:11 +0000

I’m just happy for Augusto and that you gave AB a good time. AB will tell everyone a place sucks if it sucks for him. Apparently, it didn’t.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:45:55 +0000

Augusto had the guts to stand up and risk ridicule to try and get Anthony Bourdain to come to the PI and sample (and savor) the cuisine. To his (apparently) “much more Filipino” detractors, where were you when Augusto was trying to get this done?

I agree with MM and a lot of the posters here: Augusto did the Philippines proud!!!

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:58:35 +0000

filet minion, glad to hear you were able to see the episode. I actually thought long and hard about coming out on film for Taste Matters, World Cafe Asia and finally No Reservations, but all promised to keep my full name out of it. Tony slipped somehow and well, now we know. But at least it was for a well-received lechon, not a badly done one. :)

Btw, my filipino is so bad and yours so pure so I don’t really understand your daniel craig paragraph…as that would be of interest to me being a bond fanatic. So what does “uy grabe, hindi na kakatawan ni marketman si daniel craig” mean? I looked up body in a dictionary, thinking katawan or kakatawan, to replicate or be like someone else’s body. Then as a side comment, noticed that the next word was “bodyguard” and do you know that the official Filipino word for bodyguard is “badigard”? The teen and I were laughing so hard I nearly forgot why I was looking in the dictionary. So if not a reference to body, as a Visayan kataw-an, means something like laughable, and perhaps you were making reference to the parody of comparing MM to DC… hahaha. So I am taking the phrase to mean “there is no chance in HELL Marketman can ever get into a shadow of the shape of Daniel Craig, unless he is offered $20 million for the movie role as “Pigman Saves The Day”… :)