YEAR 2008 was a trailblazer in the local culinary scene—from a world-class Filipino cookbook launched to standardize food preparation and presentation, to an amazing artwork by Filipino cake artists that replicated Beijing’s Bird Nest Stadium, the watchwords were big, ambitious, fresh.

A guide to Pinoy gastronomy. The launch of “Kulinarya: A Guide to Philippine Cuisine” made every Filipino proud of Philippine cooking. It took nearly three years to complete the book, after numerous kitchen testings and tastings. The book has quickly become a bestseller, judging from the new batch of reprints within two months from the book’s launch.

A brainchild of Asia Society chair Doris Magsaysay Ho, the book was conceived with six of the country’s most prominent chefs—Glenda Barretto, Claude Tayag, Margarita Fores, Conrad Calalang, Jessie Sincioco and Myrna Segismundo—embracing the challenge of identifying best practices in the preparation and presentation of traditional recipes.

The book was edited by Inquirer columnist Micky Fenix, photographed by Neal Oshima, graphic-designed by Ige Ramos and food-styled also by Tayag.

“Kulinarya” definitely sets a benchmark in the preparation and presentation of Filipino food to the world—covering at least 60 dishes including adobo, pochero, bulalo and kare-kare.

Anthony Bourdain didn’t eat balut in Manila. Manila was graced by the “Kitchen Confidential,” “The Nasty Bits” and “A Cook’s Tour” author Anthony Bourdain who sampled the flavors and ambience of Farmer’s Market in Cubao, QC, and explored the goodies of Bacolod, Pampanga, and Cebu.

He was in town to film the first Philippine episode of “No Reservations,” his tongue-in-cheek travelogue on Discovery Travel & Living. But he skipped eating balut, since he had already tried it in Vietnam and in Queens, New York, several times.

Among his local guides were Ivan Man Dy of the Binondo Food Wok, chef/artist Tayag of Bale Dutung and food blogger Marketman of MarketManila.com.

He toured mostly little joints, enjoying our very own pork sisig, of which he reportedly said: “Now that is just delicious. Sisig is everything I love about food. Sizzling pork with all that good rubbery, fatty, crispy textures. It’s just wonderful! And it goes well with beer.”

Bourdain was also served adobo shrimp, crab cooked with coconut milk and chili peppers, and fried and fresh lumpia. No wonder he observed the Philippines is a very foodie culture, though he saw a need to push Philippine cuisine if the country wanted to become the next food destination after Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

“You push the food. You make it the focus of promotional tourism. Singapore was late to catch on to that. They were surprised people were flying all the way there to eat! You have to find a way to capture in a few images and dishes what is the heart and soul of Filipino cuisine. Then work to promote that. It’s really just a matter of filling in the blanks,” he said.

Battle of the experts. The country’s best and brightest culinary talents convened at the first-ever “Food Showdown 2008,” the only national culinary competition, at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Both professionals and students competed in cooking, cake decorating, table setting, bartending, creative pralines and pastries.

Now an annual event, the Food Showdown is more than just a series of culinary competitions. It is also a venue to showcase and promote culinary professionalism and excellence outside the schools and workplace, and highlight other aspects of gastronomy aside from cooking.

Twenty-six schools and 16 hotels and restaurants from all over the country took part in the festivities. Big winners this year included Lolo Dad’s Café (Golden Plate Trophy Overall Winner Professional Category); Makati Shangri-La Hotel (gold, Philippine Gourmet Cold Buffet Challenge); Manila Pavilion (gold, Philippine Creative Cake Decoration); Magsaysay Institute of Hospitality and Culinary Arts (Golden Plate Trophy Overall Winner Compleat Chef student category); and Center for Culinary Arts (gold, Philippine Creative Cake Decoration).

Sorely missed icons—Mila Enriquez and Larry Cruz. They passed away this year, but not before bequeathing their own distinct legacies to Philippine cuisine.

Milagros Santiago-Enriquez was an indefatigable promoter of Bulacan cuisine. The country’s foremost food historian and co-author of the book “Bulakeña,” Enriquez, a war veteran, chronicled the recipes cooked during various periods of Philippine history, particularly the Ilustrado banquets that were held in bahay-na-bato residences in the 18th century.

Enriquez’s “Kasaysayan ng Kaluto ng Bayan” won the National Book Award. In its pages she also documented the favorite foods of heroes, such as Jose Rizal’s guisadong munggo and Gregorio de Jesus’ adobong igat.

Larry J. Cruz will always be remembered for his slew of restaurants, as well as many other ventures that showed off his ability to create great concepts, from magazines to books and a spa.

His legacy lives on in his unbeatable trend-setting restaurants— Café Adriatico, Larry’s Bar, Café Havana, Bistro Remedios, Bollywood, Abé and Fely J’s , to name a few.

He didn’t only revolutionize local fine dining, he also started the casual “café lifestyle” that nearly every restaurateur has copied through the years.

The LJC Group has 14 restaurants, cafés and bars in Manila, Makati, Alabang, Quezon City and Cebu City. Among the famous restaurants are Anghang, Fely, Abe Bistro Remedios and Bistro Burgos. Café Havana was established six years ago in Malate and four years later at Ayala Greenbelt in Makati.

On top of being a successful restaurateur, Cruz was also a journalist, publisher and antique collector.

Penk Ching’s Olympic dream. Count on Penk Ching and Shen Chen to craft the most fascinating cake ideas—one of them the awesome Bird’s Nest Cake in gum paste and fruitcake, which made its global debut during the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

The show-stopping single-layered cake was the centerpiece at an exclusive event organized by Coca-Cola.

Penk’s dream to create a cake to commemorate the Olympics began two years ago, but it was only last year that the ball started rolling. She made an ocular visit to the Olympic Bird’s Nest stadium in May, and the fruit cake was baked in June, shaped into the stadium’s design, then was covered with marzipan. The raves she got for the dazzling cake made all her hard work worth it.