AT the height of the frenzy that surrounded former Les Halles chef, best-selling author and TV personality Anthony Bourdain?s visit to the Philippines in October, the local foodie blogosphere was fraught with discussion about whether his Manila guide would include balut on the tasting menu.

?As much as I like this delicacy, I think it has been negatively overused to represent Filipino food,? says Ivan Man Dy, principal tour guide of the Old Manila Walks cultural tour outfit, and Bourdain?s official Manila guide, in an interview in the Our Awesome Planet blog.

For the record, he steered clear of the popular street delicacy, which has achieved the equivalent of Imeldific notoriety in recent years, no thanks to ?Fear Factor.?

What?s worse, he adds, the balut that has been getting most airtime on Western television is the kind that many Pinoys don?t even eat: the mature embryo with feathers, beak and half-fertilized membranes. ?Besides, Tony himself admitted that doing balut again was so last week,? he says.

My brother is neither a well-known foodie like Claude Tayag, Bourdain?s Pampanga guide; nor a celebrity food-blogger like Marketman (of Marketmanila blog fame), Bourdain?s Cebu guide. The closest thing he is to being a foodie is being known as the man behind Binondo Food Wok, an insider?s culinary tour of Chinatown.

Despite lofty expectations from an intensely gourmand crowd, Ivan has elected to approach this tour assignment like he does his other gigs: an opportunity?albeit a fantastic one?to engage yet another unfamiliar tourist to an authentic culinary experience of Manila?s rich cultural heritage.

As a fan of Bourdain?s book ?Kitchen Confidential,? I think I was more starstruck than he was when I initially found out he has been tasked by Tayag to take Bourdain on a Manila food tour.

Indeed, while taking Bourdain (and in the same week, World Café Asia host Bobby Chinn) on a food tour ranks up there as one of the highlights of his three-year-old business, for Ivan, it?s really all in a day?s walk. He continues to pound Manila?s gritty pavements with the same fervor that inspired him to turn a hobby into the specialty tour outfit it is known today.

Pampanga culture tour

In fact, this Christmas, Ivan takes purposeful steps beyond his favorite hotspots and teams up with like-minded travel enthusiasts and fellow bloggers Anton Diaz (Our Awesome Planet blog); Ivan Henares (Ivan about Town blog); and Spanky Enriquez (Manila Boy blog) to launch the 2008 Ultimate Kapampangan Show-off, a culture, culinary and Christmas day tour of all things Kapampangan on Dec. 20.

The Ultimate Tours (UT), which had its soft launch last year, promises to be the ?best Pampanga tour ever by people who love Pampanga.? This year?s highlights includes feasting on a lechon done five ways; an exclusive Kapampangan noche buena at Tayag?s Bale Dutung residence; and tickets to the Giant Parul Festival show in San Fernando.

Himself Kapampangan on his maternal side (it is still a family tradition to celebrate Christmas in our grandparents? home in San Rafael, Tarlac), Ivan says UT?s mandate is showcasing the best aspects of the country?s culture through fun but informative specialty cultural tours.

?UT is actually an extension of my passion to promote things Pinoy through cultural tours but on a bigger scale,? he says.

Inspired by top-end European travel outfits that focus on providing a more intense and local experience for the savvy traveler, UT is the result of individual advocacies and a collective passion by like-minded citizens to lift the veil on the Philippines and showcase the country?s rich heritage amid its grinding poverty and pollution.

?Through UT, we want to establish a hassle-free travel experience for Pinoys, especially balikbayans, and non-Pinoys alike,? says Diaz. ?We want to focus on the food, the heritage, and its best-kept secrets.?

Last year, Ivan walked his talk as he guided several tourists, many of whom were foodies and seasoned travelers, through the culinary maze of Pampanga and more. As recently as October, the UT unlocked some of the secrets Pampanga and Tagaytay have to offer.

?Through Old Manila Walks and now the Ultimate Philippine Tours, I hope to have this infectious passion for my city rub off on other people,? says Ivan. ?This is more than just a tour; it?s a mission to educate people on unique aspects of Manila and Filipino culture.?

For inquiries on Ultimate Pampanga Christmas tour, e-mail fun@oldmanilawalks.com or anton@diaz.ph.