MANILA, Philippines - Chiquito counted the seconds until the noon bell that signaled lunch break would ring. Five, four, three, two, ringgg!! Chiquito would dash out of the halls of the Ateneo Grade School, climb the wall of the school grounds and jump into the street where his driver was waiting to take him to his Lola Consuelo. Lunch at her home in the village we now call La Vista included lengua, galantina, kare-kare ... none of those sandwiches or other packed goodies his classmates had to bear while imprisoned in the school cafeteria.

He did not know it yet but these would be among his most treasured moments growing up?memories that he would later share with the world, along with memories of Saturday afternoon family gatherings and growing up in the kitchen with Aling Deling, Lola Consuelo?s sous chef. He belongs to the Tuason family and Lola Consuelo made sure that they grew up not only well-bred but especially well-fed.

Theirs was a family that added love of food to love of God, family and country. Proof of this was in the nicknames given to the children: Lola Consuelo herself had the nickname Tutong because as a child she loved burnt rice and a Tita Beatrice was nicknamed Buttones because she once swallowed a button. But the best evidence is testimonial: A now 40-something Chiquito recalls, ?Whoever was the first one home would be stuck with Lola in the kitchen and help her cook... When I got too talkative while mixing (the pastillas) and stopped stirring, Lola would swat me on the head. We always had at least six dishes during meals, nothing less. We would eat lunch then play mahjong and anticipate the merienda that would be served while we played... I started cooking when I was 8 ...?

That eight-year old would grow up to become the renowned chef Ed Quimson, famous for his Spanish-Filipino recipes and loved for his devotion to slow food. He attributes his commitment to slow food to his lola, Doña Consuelo, who taught him, by training and example, the secrets of the Tuason kitchen.

I was fortunate enough to have been invited to try Chef Ed?s recreations of his lola?s dishes last week upon the invitation of the Mandarin. I usually shy away from these events but I could not bring myself to pass up on the opportunity to experience Chef Ed?s cooking because he has been exclusively cooking for Katrina Ponce Enrile lately. I?m just happy I didn?t miss the opportunity to have real slow food, Tuason-style.

Slow food, according to Felice Sta. Maria, is ?food prepared from scratch with no shortcuts, using only the finest ingredients acquired at the peak of their season.? The late food critic Doreen Fernandez, armed only with her impeccable taste and taste buds and her passion to preserve Filipino culture, declared that she was ?ready to campaign door-to-door to make sure that food like this is not endangered, is not erased from collective memory, is preserved for Filipinos of the future, along with other dishes like it.? (?Slow Food, Philippine Culinary Traditions,? 2005). Chef Ed is now continuing this campaign, generously sharing his grandmother?s recipes with food lovers* and even preparing it strictly as she would have?the slow way. ?That soup has been simmering since 2 p.m.,? he says of the galantina soup that began our dinner. The preparation for the tomato sauce, too, that gave the lengua we had for the main course its distinction, was begun over a week prior to the dinner.

Indeed, slow food cannot be overvalued. It?s the long wait, the patient stirring, the nurturing of the ingredients from raw to ready that spells the difference between dish and delish. It?s the meticulous selection of ingredients and fine matching of flavors?sweet, sour, spicy, salty?that make a meal jump from filling to fascinating. This is the art that Ed Quimson has mastered, his execution of seemingly simple meals that would make his Lola Consuelo proud.

The Pesa de Galantina (galantina soup) was a brilliant use of stuffed chicken. Apparently this is an old school practice, a clever way of extending the life of this favorite fiesta dish. ?Otherwise we would roast the galantina or fry it,? Chef Ed said of other ways his Lola would cook leftover galantina. Another clever leftover creation is the Salsa Diablo, which made use of turkey. Here he drowned the leftover turkey in an amazing tomato sauce (the one he labored over for two weeks) that was mixed with loads of ginger, providing a bold, sweet yet hot essence. Two secrets to this family recipe: the stuffing, which has everything in the deli in it (ground beef, ground pork, bologna, spiced ham, ham, liverwurst, raisins, mushrooms, capers, olives, and onions), and the sauce, which took a week to create. ?I don?t know how many Harry Potter books I finished just waiting,? Chef Ed recalls. Later, Chef Ed also instructed us to enjoy the turkey with some cranberry sauce for a different dimension to the already creative dish. ?This reminds me of Christmas,? exclaims Nana Ozaeta, editor in chief of F&B World, who also joined the dinner.

The champion among the courses, though, was the lengua. Lengua is a given at most fiestas and we have each had our share of a taste of it, but Chef Ed?s lengua is in a class of its own. It sits in that week-old tomato sauce, which provides that sweet yet sharp flavor. But for me, what made it amazing was the texture. The tongue is long but not sliced too thick so it is melt-in-your-mouth soft. It calls on you to savor every bite. I was the last one on the table to let my plate go.

The dessert menu would not be outdone either. Moving away from the usual chocolate or mango desserts, Chef Ed created a Dulce de Santol. I had never even tried santol as a dessert before, except on its own. Here, the chef drowned the santol in sugar, let it sit a couple of days, and ?voila!?a caramelized santol dish. The result was brilliant: the sourness was muted yet present, the texture had the cottony softness of the seed and the coarseness of the skin. Some of us had it with vanilla ice cream. A truly unique experience.

Chef Ed will prepare some of these well-loved Tuason recipes at the Mandarin Oriental from May 26-31 for an event called Pasos del Tiempo (A Walk Through Time). It?s an effort to preserve our culture by re-living the taste of yesteryears. I will definitely be there to re-live the dinner I just had, and also to remember my lolas and those who taught us not only to eat but to eat well!

Pasos del Tiempo will be at Paseo Uno at the Mandarin Oriental, Makati. Tel. 750-8888.