BANQUET IN BEIJING Ambassador Jaime FlorCruz delivers his opening remarks launching the Filipino food festival at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where some of the featured “highlights” were “kare-kare” (bottom, left) and “lapu-lapu” fillets. —Photos courtesy of Philippine Embassy in China

BEIJING, China — The Philippine Embassy in China on Friday launched a three-week Filipino food festival at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing, so visitors could “experience what we call our noche buena (Christmas Eve feast),” said Ambassador Jaime FlorCruz.

“That’s our theme,” said the diplomat. “This evening is about introducing Philippine food and culture to all of you, our partners,” FlorCruz told his distinguished guests, many of them leading figures in Chinese politics, business and social media, among other sectors.

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“This is also about expressing our gratitude for your never-ending support. Please consider tonight’s gastronomic fiesta as a gesture of our heartfelt thanks and an invitation for each of you to visit the Philippines and get to know our country even more,” said FlorCruz, a former journalist who had covered China since the 1970s.

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Among the highlights of this occasion were lechon, menudo, kare-kare, inasal, morcon, ginataang alimango, lumpiang sariwa, paella, pansit palabok, as well as puto bumbong and bibingka, among others, for dessert.

The guests also joined a contest which offered a roundtrip ticket to the Philippines (courtesy of Cebu Pacific) among the prizes.

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“By introducing you to the flavors of the Philippines, we hope that you will find another reason to visit our beautiful, bountiful country,” said FlorCruz, whom the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned last month over the Philippines’ enactment of new maritime laws which angered Beijing.

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“If Filipino food is a beautiful blending of different flavors—then our event tonight is similarly an intermingling of friendship, history, and cultures,” he added.

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The embassy said it aims to strengthen the country’s cultural ties with Beijing, while the Department of Foreign Affairs and its Chinese counterpart have both noted that relations between their countries do not end in the South China Sea but extend further to cultural, people-to-people and economic ties as well.

The food festival is until Dec. 21.

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