Robinsons Supermarket has been enjoining the public into their “I Love Wellness” journey for years now. I stood witness to this as they promoted their wellness campaign for the public and highlighted healthy products in their groceries with the “Shop Smart” tag label system.

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500 Filipino food professionals, chefs, restaurateurs, and foodies from the Philippine food industry gathered for a one day only event at the Culinary Festival 2014 hosted by Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) at Le Pavillon in Pasay City.

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SM Master Chefs @ SM Hypermarket

From the success of last year’s SM Master Chefs, SM Hypermarket launches SM Master Chefs 2012 in a festive gathering of top brands, media, and bloggers at SM Hypermarket Cubao last August 16, 2012.

The grand launch in SM Hypermarket was participated in by SM Master Chefs brands namely Unilever, San Miguel, Nestle, Bounty Fresh, and CDO.

Of course, there were cooking demonstrations as well by the aforementioned brands led by their top chefs namely:

• Chef RJ Garcia (San Miguel)
• Chef Pau Sia (Unilever Food Solutions)
• Chef Arnold Bernardo (Bounty Fresh)
• Chef Tess Sulito (Nestle)
• Chef Menoy Gimenez (CDO)

Chef RJ Garcia of San Miguel

Chef Pau Sia of Unilever – Knorr

Chef Arnold Bernardo of Bounty Fresh

Chef Menoy Gimenez of CDO

Chef Tess Sulito of Nestle

SM Master Chefs 2012

This year’s SM Master Chefs has three (3) main components: the Recipe Contest, the Cooking Marathon, and the Carinderia Makeover.

SM Master Chefs 2012

Recipe Contest

SM Master Chefs recipe contest was conceptualized with the SM Hypermarket customer in mind and it is easy to participate in.

Just buy your ingredients at SM Hypermarket and whip up a great tasting and, if possible, a unique recipe using any of the SM Master brands. You are then now eligible to join and get the chance to win and be hailed as one of the thirty three SM Master Chefs for 2012. Just bring your finished product to any SM Hypermarket store on judging day.

Cooking Marathon

A big hit from last year’s SM Master Chefs was the cooking marathon, it is included again in this year’s program to the delight of the grocery shoppers who witness these beneficial and knowledge-enriching cooking demonstrations by the master brand chefs.

It is brought back this year with new recipes from master brands Bounty Fresh, CDO, Nestle, Purefoods, Magnolia and Unilever Food Solutions – Knorr. Each will have a featured chef who will go around the 34 branches of SM Hypermarket every week in three months (which started August 21) for cooking demonstrations. The best thing about this is that they are for free!

Please see the Cooking Marathon schedule below:

SM Master Chefs Cooking Marathon Schedule

Carinderia Makeover

Small businesses and entrepreneurs in the food service business are in for a treat from SM Hypermakret!

If you run a karinderia, catering, or small restaurant business, then you can own a brand new kitchen and dining area furnished by SM Hypermarket with SM Master Chefs Free Carinderia Makeover!

SM Hypermarket is giving away a free makeover of their kitchen and dining area to five lucky and deserving food business operators in order to help them sustain their operations. With a minimum P500 worth of groceries inclusive of two sponsor brands or a fully stamped loyalty card, food business owners get a chance to win a makeover.

SM Master Chefs Master Brand Booths @ the Launch

What can you say about the SM Master Chefs program? I’m surely sharing all these great news from SM Hypermarket and about the SM Master Chefs 2012 with my mom.

Do you have the passion in promoting Filipino Cuisine?
Are you a creative writer with a knack for food?
Are you on a search to discover the best Filipino dishes?
Do you believe na “masarap” maging Pinoy?
Are you game for the challenge of going to 10 Philippine destinations and 101 restaurants for a total of 30-day foodtrip and P25,000 cash prize in hand?

Sooo Pinoy Kare-Kare

If you say yes to all of the above, then you should join Sooo Pinoy‘s The ‘Search for the Ultimate Food Blogger!’ (This reminded me of BloggerManila.com’s Search for the Blogger Apprentice, lols)

What is the Search for the Ultimate Sooo Pinoy Blogger?

“It is a nationwide search to help us find the best blogger who best embodies the Sooo Pinoy advocacy and will help best promote Filipino cuisine”, according to Unilever Food Solutions who hosted a launch dinner last night at Milky Way in Makati.

Sooo Pinoy

Sooo Pinoy is inviting all bloggers to join its Search for the Ultimate Food Blogger for chance to go on a once-in-a-lifetime food trip – an all-expense paid journey to ten beautiful Philippine destinations to dine in more than 101 different Filipino restaurants.

This is in line with their Sooo Pinoy advocacy to heighten appreciation and awareness for Pinoy food as Sooo Pinoy intends to tap the blogger community to promote Filipino cuisine.

Sooo Pinoy Advocacy

Criteria for Judging

• 50pts. Creativity – how good the story is told
• 40pts. Technical Writing Skills – grammar, technical structure, logical flow of paragraphs
• 10pts. Number of shares/follower engagement
• 100 points – TOTAL

Mechanics:

Composed of three rounds, the Search will not only measure the bloggers’ writing skills but their ability to engage readers as well. Each round is designed to test the bloggers’ creativity and passion for the advocacy. The winning blogger should be able to encourage Pinoys to discover our cultural identity through Filipino cuisine with articles that will leave readers hungry for more.

See detailed Search for the Ultimate Sooo Pinoy Blogger Mechnics here.

Sooo Pinoy Food around the Philippines

How to Join

Bloggers must submit an entry for round 1, a blog article that explains why they deserve to be the Ultimate Food Blogger. All entries must be received before October 24. Entries will be judged according to creativity, quality of the write-up, and popularity among readers. Only those who pass the first round will continue to rounds 2 and 3 in the hope of becoming the Sooo Pinoy Ultimate Food Blogger. Those who want to join may visit www.facebook.com/SoooPinoy to see the detailed mechanics.

October 24 is the date to hold as this is the last day of submission for Round 1!

I Want To Join!

Adobo: one of Pinoy Food Signature Dishes

Search for the Ultimate Sooo Pinoy Food Blogger

Readers of my Adventure-Travel   blog LetsGoSago.net knows just how much I would love to participate in these type of challenges. However, due to my upcoming academic trip to Taiwan, I have a problem with the round 2 and round 3 dates if ever I qualify moving forward. I guess that’s good news for the rest of you guys! lols. 🙂

Sooo, what are you waiting for? Join the search for the Sooo Pinoy Ultimate Food Blogger! (I’ll just wait for the 2012 edition, if ever)

What does it take to be a “Souperstar“? Lea, a wife and a busy mom to her family, exerts great effort to be creative in her cooking by experimenting on soup recipes. And with this, she depends on long-trusted brand Knorr.

Knorr Souperstar

A self-confessed “domesticated Carrie”, Lea has been sharing her experiences and hopefully soup recipes too (very soon) with busy moms like her through her blog, http://souperstar.ph/.`She could use some interesting widgets though, her sidebars are too bare. 🙂

In one of her blog posts, Lea shows how you can come up with an alternative to fried chicken, the Chi-Ka-Knorr. On the other hand, there is the easy-to-prepare Knorr Chicken and Corn Real Chicken Soup for the rainy days.

She also showed how Knorr Cream of Mushroom Soup can be used for the kid’s favorite fried chicken.

So how did Lea became a “Souperstar?”

“Remember my best friend Kaye, the girl from Unilever whom I ran into at the grocery last week? I forgot to mention she also helped me out with this little online hobby of mine. She told the people at Knorr about my mention of their product on my blog (the Knorr Cream of Corn soup she enthusiastically endorsed), they saw it and offered to co-sponsor it! Hence the apt website name – SOUPerstar.ph. Yay, thank you Knorr!”

Souperstar momblogger and her family

Momblogger Lea

In her blog introduction, “My late night chasing deadlines copywriting for ad agencies have now been replaced by keeping house and taking care of the two loves of my life…thanks to modern and my trusty laptop, I’m still managing to juggle a career as a freelance writer with being a pretty decent homemaker and part-time blogger. Who says you can’t have it all?”

Aside from helpful recipes, Lea also supplements her blog with photos of her cute kid, Gab, and her husband, J, and their food adventures for the day. You can follow Lea Souperstar on http://souperstar.ph/.

Imagine how it would be like to have Iron Chef, American Idol, and Survivor rolled into one cooking competition? That is how this year’s SM Super Chefs will be.

SM Hypermarket recently launched its latest edition of the Super Chef series by turning it into a reality show where participants can create their own versions of Adobo, Kaldereta or Menudo to be submitted with a proof of purchase in appointed Hypermarket branches.

SM Super Chefs 2010

Are you a housewife, a culinary school owner, a carinderia cook, or a food blogger like me? It doesn’t matter because Super Chefs is open to anyone who can cook, be they students or professional chefs.

The competition is divided into three stages: the audition, elimination, and grand finals.
The Super Chefs grand finals will be aired on the Asian Food Channel and hosted by Chef Tristan Encarnacion.

To get qualified for the audition round, interested participants just need to present a P1,000 single or accumulated purchase from any SM Hypermarket inclusive of the sponsors’ product together with your cooked dish on the submission day. Throughout the competition, their creations will be judged by celebrities Winnie Cordero and the country’s top chefs like Reggie Aspiras, among others.

The SM Hypermarket Super Chefs Grand Winner will take home a kitchen showcase worth P100,000 and go on a 4-day all-expense-paid trip to Singapore for a culinary training. Runner-ups will also win a P50,000, P25,000, P15,000 or P10,000 SM gift certificates.

The contest runs from May to July 2010. For details, visit any SM Hypermarket branch, log on to www.smhypermarket.com, or like Super Chefs on Facebook.

Super Chef Complete Contest Mechanics:

1.Contest is open to all cooking enthusiasts.
2.To join, just present a P1,000 single or accumulated purchase from SM Hypermarket, inclusive of at least one product from the following sponsors:
3.The contest is composed of 3 stages: audition, elimination and finals.
4.Criteria for judging:

• 50% Taste
• 25% Originality
• 15% Plating/Presentation
• 10% Affordability

Audition Stage

•Create your own version of Adobo, Kaldereta or Menudo and submit the finished product with proof of purchase at the appointed Hypermarket branch (see schedule below. You may submit as many dishes and join in any branch.

Submissions will be accepted from 2 pm to 4 pm.
DISH TO SUBMIT: ADOBO
June 15 – Centris Station, Valenzuela
June 18 -  Marilao Molino, Sucat, MOA

DISH TO SUBMIT : KALDERETA
June 16 – Bicutan, Pasig, Clark
June 19 – Novaliches, Mandaluyong
June 30 – Makati, North Harbour

DISH TO SUBMIT : MENUDO
June 17 РNorth EDSA, Las Pi̱as, Taytay
June 23 – Muntinlupa, Rosales, Baliwag
June 25 – Fairview

•Three (3) winners from each branch will be chosen (or a total of 60 winners) who will qualify to the next round.

SM SuperChefs Cooking Competition

ELIMINATION ROUND

•The 60 winners will be clustered into 3 branch locations and will be competing in a live cook-off at SM Hypermarket
•Contestants will be given 45 minutes and a P250 budget to shop for ingredients and prepare a dish using a secret ingredient which will be revealed on contest day.
•Four (4) winners from each cluster (or a total of 12 contestants) qualify for the Finals.

FINALS

•In the grand finals, contestants will be grouped into teams of 3.  They will go through four (4) rounds,  each preparing “themed” dishes (themes will be revealed on contest date) good for 6 persons.
•Contestants will be eliminated as each round progresses until only two (2) are left.  They will then face off for the grand prize.
•The Finals will be aired over the Asian Food Channel (AFC) and will be hosted by Chef Tristan Encarnacion.
• Super Chefs 2010 winner will receive aP100,000 kitchen showcase and a 4-day, all-expense-paid trip to Singapore for Unilever Cuisine Training.

Join SM Super Chefs 2010!