Chance Encounters

*Originally published in GMANews Online

As superb as foie gras may be, it doesn’t fill me up quite like my Lola Illang’s estofado and Mama Ning’s dulce de leche. It doesn’t even come close to a hearty bowl of tomato basil soup. Some foods are only for flirting, while others, you just know, are for keeps.

Childhood favorites, for sure, occupy a revered place in the food altar, laced as they are with rich memories of Sunday lunches and family get-togethers. But there’s also a kind of romance in the ones that come to our lives belatedly, often by chance, and never leave.