Why does Amy Besa go to great lengths to find a vanishing fruit, turn it into jam, then serve it to diners who come to her restaurant in search of a truly Filipino meal? That answer is in Amy and Chef Romy Dorotan’s philosophy to cooking at Purple Yam - the restaurants they own in Malate, Manila and Brooklyn, New York City. What prompted this episode? Filipino chefs are drawn to Amy’s quest for sourcing the best Philippine ingredients available like bees are drawn to nectar for making honey - they know it takes work to get the good stuff. Her stories are perfect for scrapbooking; they’re snapshots of rural life in the Philippines, where indigenous varieties of fruit and vegetables grow, of how those ingredients become our personal travel guides to tasting food from different regions and micro-climates on a plate. I wanted to know where those beautiful ingredients that Amy posts on her Instagram feed come from. What do they taste like and what did it take to get them to the restaurant? How can we use food to better understand Filipinos in general? One thing I’ve learned from Amy is that “discovery” is a lifelong process. The idea of exploring relatively undocumented Philippine ingredients across professional and home kitchens is incredibly exciting. Show notes 04:35 "It's so easy to win Filipinos over" 06:20 Sineguelas fruit at Madrid Fusion Manila 07:20 Doing what it takes to get the best ingredients into the restaurant 09:15 Sourcing from small farms 09:45 Benguet cherries 10:50 Their philosophy at Purple Yam 11:35 "Nature is not a factory!" 12:15 Purple Yam's kitchen mindset 13:35 On flavours embedded in our DNA 14:25 A profound concept 16:00 Community supported agriculture (CSAs) in the Philippines 17:30 Working with Philippine ingredients 18:40 New techniques 20:20 The importance of storytelling 21:50 "Back of house" stories 22:20 Kitchen is like a lab 23:00 Developing a relationship with ingredients 23:20 Training at Purple Yam 23:55 On sawsawan (dipping sauces) FIND THE FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE. Subscribe to Exploring Filipino Kitchens on iTunes and share your comments below!