The country lost a culinary legend and a true Filipina. On February 11, chef Margarita Araneta Forés passed away, her son Amado Forés shared on an Instagram post.
With a career that spans nearly four decades, Forés was an indomitable figure in the Philippine culinary industry as the founder of renowned restaurants like Cibo, Grace Park, and Lusso. She leaves behind a legacy of championing Filipino cuisine and what makes it beloved — a big heart that welcomes all to the table.
Rolling Stone Philippines’ Chief of Editorial Content Jonty Cruz interviewed Forés on the occasion of his wedding in March 2023. In this interview, she talks about her beginnings, the joy of feeding people, and what her mom taught her.
Jonty Cruz: It seems like when people think of a dining experience — for the most part, they think of a restaurant setting, and not really catering or a reception. Since you do both, I’m curious if you approach each one differently, or are there more similarities than differences?
Margarita Forés: The similarity is more from the quality of food that we create. I like putting my personal stamp on everything that I do regardless of the concept. To be honest, the catering events are where I can play around a little bit more. This is also where I started my business 36 years ago. I started cooking in people’s homes, carrying a big bag, having one assistant, and using their kitchens to prepare all the food. So, catering is really more like my playground. My comfort zone is the off-site catering. Basically put us anywhere — put us in a forest, put us on a mountain — and we can create the freshest, most creative food for you.
There’s a sense of fearlessness in your approach to catering, which is so refreshing to hear. Because sometimes, when you ask a restaurant if they cater or not, you hear them say, “Oh no, we don’t do that,” as if they want to be as far away from catering as possible. But I feel it’s the other way around for you. So many people — and not just chefs — need everything to be in place, and to limit as many variables or unknowns as possible. But for you, it seems like you welcome variables, you welcome the unknown.
I feel that I work so much better under pressure. I’m lucky, but it’s very challenging. I’ll tell you, there are many hotels that will kind of hike their price out of the market just so they don’t need to do anything outside. But for me, that’s what makes me proud of what we do: That we can do food that’s fresh and newly prepared, wherever you bring us. I think that makes a real difference, and that’s probably what sets us apart.
It’s nice to hear someone welcome pressure in this day and age, because you hear about so many out there who quit from the slightest hint of pressure. One thing I’m curious about when it comes to today’s fine dining restaurants is how so much of it is dictated by this sense of intimacy. Whether it’s from the limited space, the minimal lighting, the small portions, or being as close to the chef as possible, the premium dining experience now is not grand in the typical sense. From your perspective, is it possible to still have some of that intimacy, given the scale of a wedding reception?
Oh, definitely. I’ve done quite a bit of dinners where it’s more of like a tasting menu scenario. We can do that too. We’ve been successful at integrating the two because I feel that for every event, there’s a part where you want the formality and the intimacy — but you also want the part where there’s lechon,tacos, and food that warms you after you’ve started dancing. I love the fact that the range of what we are able to do is super wide, and that we welcome the challenge of [doing] a variety of things. That’s part of what still adds to this childlike wonder for me.
Would you say that’s the most rewarding part of the job?
Well, I think the most fulfilling part is that we’ve been able to have a super diverse and comprehensive body of work all these years. I feel that if I didn’t have my team behind me — from the younger ones and those who have worked with me for a long time — I would never be where I am today. I think that’s what I’m proudest of. Aside from that, I’m also grateful to the people who’ve kept the back of the house functioning so that I can be playful and adventurous.
Just to touch on what you just said, it’s always good to be gracious to your team when they’re doing the work, but I think it’s also a testament to your leadership — that so many have stayed, and so many young chefs want to work with you. I think that’s a sign of a good leader and a good environment. How would you describe your style of leadership?
I’m just really thankful that the sense of family that’s in our leadership style is helped by the fact that my siblings helped me run the business like a smooth ship. I’m happy that my siblings have taken the stress away from me, and they’ve left the creative process to me — which is the part that I enjoy the most. I’m always making sure that there’s a real sense of family. I feel that should be the overriding factor when it comes to the way you treat your employees, and I think that’s also what allows them to want to be with you for a long time. It also allows them to encourage the younger people to have that mindset as well. That sense of family needs to be felt — and modesty aside, we’ve communicated that feeling in most everything we do.
How do you put into action that sense of family? Is it more in leading with empathy, or is it more like going through it together?
You’re right, it’s leading with empathy. It’s prioritizing not just the role they play in the business, but also in making them better people at the same time. It’s realizing that they won’t be with you forever, so what you would like is for them to learn skills and a philosophy that will help them do things for themselves later on. I always say [that] part of the process is making them understand what it means to be profitable for themselves as well, and not just for the business. So, if they decide they want to go home and set up a store or restaurant, they can do that, and they can be proud they learned the skill from being with us. Because in the end, you have no control over how long your staff will stay with you. Their priorities change or things change, you know?
Has cooking or hosting always come natural to you?
I think it really draws from the maternal instinct of wanting to feed. Like my mother was not… she never or rarely cooked for us. She has, like, two or three recipes she would do for us in New York, and that was it. She was not the traditional mom, but the nurturing function and the maternal instinct was always there. I’m also not a traditional mother. I’m a single mother, but I’ve always had the sense of wanting to feed.
Not to sound like too much of a fan, but I’m so happy you mentioned your mom. It reminded me of her profile from Rogue magazine. When you were talking about the playful part of your work, I was thinking of your mom’s story, and how playful her life was growing up. Apart from the maternal instinct that you inherited from your mom, is that sense of playfulness something you also got from her?
Definitely. I’m so happy that you picked that up. Because like I said, my mom was never a traditional mother. She got married at 18, and had all of us very early in her life. I think that, as she was growing up and mothering us, she was also mothering herself. It was a real learning process. It’s funny. I think that’s maybe one of the most important things that I inherited from her. She was never a planner, but she’s always been the type who makes the most of what’s on her plate. Like, when she moved to New York, she made the most of her time there. I think “playfulness” is a mild word. [Laughs] It’s more of a sense of adventure that she’s always had. That’s what influenced me a lot, because I’m also the type who just makes the most of whatever I’m dealt with. That’s what I learned from my mother and I love it. I love that sense of adventure and just living life to the fullest.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly indicated that Forés’ career spans three decades. In fact, it spans nearly four decades, beginning in Italy in 1986 when, for the first time, she undertook culinary training for Italian cuisine in Florence, Rome, and Milan.
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