Margarita Forés was a good mom, too
Chef Margarita Forés had a plan to launch a pepper mill this year. It’s such a random thing to remember about her, but she was so passionate and excited about having her own Margarita pepper mill.
She was in her office when we did the Zoom interview late last year, for the Inquirer’s anniversary issue. Her voice was hoarse because she was nursing a sore throat, but she still managed to squeeze us in. Behind her desk and office chair was a table holding her pepper mill collection of different sizes, heights, and colors.
Forés was very proud of the fact that the retail side of her food empire was the brainchild of her son, Amado.
“He was very instrumental in making sure that I did my signature Margarita brand,” she said.
She took pride in everything her son did. Forés had a positive and nurturing attitude toward food, especially in relation to her son.
He was a picky eater as a child, she said. His go-to meal was the McDonald’s combo number 5, which had fried chicken. But she found a way to train his palate. She encouraged him to keep trying new things, one spoonful at a time. Forés would make him taste everything, and if he didn’t like it, she was okay with it.
She wasn’t above pulling tricks on him either, like all well-meaning moms, during feeding time.
“There was an Italian restaurant in Edsa Shang. Paparazzi ba? I took him, and we ordered food. And I had to lie to him because I ordered snails. And he ate the snails,” she said. “It was only after he ate it that I told him what it was. He got so mad at me, but he actually ate it and enjoyed it. It made me realize that if their minds are not conditioned into things to make them freak out, they’re okay with it as long as they try it.”
Forés’ attitude toward children’s dining felt very reassuring. Here was a mom, a chef at that, who sent a message to other moms that it was okay if your child only liked chicken nuggets for now. Amado grew up to be an award-winning restaurateur who took his mother overseas to dine in hard-to-reserve restaurants. His mom was very proud and happy about it.
Amado’s wedding menu
Forés was already planning the menu for her son’s wedding in May. One dish that she wanted to include was nduja spaghetti.
“I would make a spaghettata, just one big pasta, for his friends. I made pasta with nduja for all his friends. And up to today, he still remembers that. So I think that when he gets married in May, we need to put that on the menu for the wedding. Also, because his fiancée, Carmela (Fortuna), loves it,” she said.
Such was the presence of Forés that even in her absence, like at the Terra Madre Visayas in Bacolod last year, her name popped up several times. She was unable to join the festivities, but she promised Ramon “Chin Chin” Uy Jr., co-founder of Slow Food Negros, that she would be attending the upcoming events this 2025.
“After all, we were really the ones who worked hard to get that up and running. Until actually (then Tourism) Secretary Berna Puyat and then also Sen. Loren Legarda, who gave money for the Philippines to have a proper booth (in Italy),” Forés had said. “And since then, the Philippines is always siga because there’s music. The food is good. Then everybody there is very happy.”
A proud Ilonggo, Forés made her mark in Bacolod’s food scene, so much so that even octogenarian fresh lumpia maker Sinda Belleza remembers her as the chef who kept pestering her about her recipe. Forés told the press during the four-hands dinner with Vicky Cheng last August that she was scouring the country for heirloom recipes so the tradition wouldn’t die with their makers.
Forés died Feb. 11 in Hong Kong. She was 65.
