“As a producer of content, you always want a catchy name.” That was Sashi De speaking about his show’s title, Maximum Foodie, airing Saturdays at 10 p.m. on Asian Food Network (AFN). “Something that hasn’t been done before and also that in social media, you want that catchy title that hasn’t been hashtagged before,” added the host, whose passion for traveling and filming make a perfect pair to catalog and capture his travels around the world. The Philippines is always on his go-to place (and must-revisit place) list. “It’s a combination of two strong words: ‘Foodie,’ everybody loves food, …everybody can relate to that. ‘Maximum’ kind of amps it up a little bit... It’s catchy, I think it embodies the spirit of the show pretty well.”
From viewers’ perspective, the “maximum” may also connote going beyond the presentation of a destination’s sights and sounds that a travel-and-food show explores. That subtle characteristic of Maximum Foodie makes audiences to be more engaged in. It offers a plate of information that educates the Wanderlust in every televiewer.
“Everybody has their own experience as human beings, so everybody has a different takeaway message,” said Sashi, whose goal as a voice of Maximum Foodie is “to show people, the armchair travelers that look, besides what you know about a particular destination, there is so much more and because we focus on food and some of the best chefs in the world, we provide that insight into their lives, into their personal projects that (are) going on. It’s a good way to sort of be a fly on the wall and learn more about the culinary world, not only from my vantage point but also from the vantage points of the chefs, my friends that we cover on the show.”
Sashi also hoped that his perspective will be a starting point for viewers to get their takeaway from the show, which is to “get more knowledge about what is actually going on and the different spectrum of the culinary world,” he said. “That’s my goal, now, what everybody takes away from it, that’s very individualized. If you love food and culture, you’re gonna absorb that information like a sponge, (it will) even inspire you to go out (and visit) Davao and check out cacao and learn about them and the chocolate industry there. There’s just a culture of learning and (the feeling of) being inspired and that’s my goal.”
In the Aug. 22 episode, Sashi flies to Davao in Mindanao, the second largest Philippine island. He is exploring a story about cacao which is associated with chocolates and tablea. What titillates the palate is the generous serving of historical accounts on how cacao reached the South East Asian country, given its colorful, colonial past. Among the “remnants,” the traces, are the criollo, forastero and trinitario varieties of cacao (beans) and the thriving chocolate industry. Sashi said the industry is “nascent and it’s big and the world is starting to notice it because supply chains are now focusing on the Philippines for cacao so it’s a massive movement going on.”
After a visit to a cacao farm, the traveler goes to Siquijor, a province located in the Central Visayan region. Sashi shared, “I really hope you get to watch the second episode because we go into the more lesser frequented parts of the Philippines and we see how the shamans of Siquijor use cacao as part of their potions and things like that. It’s really a strong movement and I was really happy to be part of it.”
Maximum Foodie is a platform that contributes to the growing discourse on food is culture. Yes, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. But another way to appreciate food is also through knowing the culture that has shaped it as a context. Prior to the Davao-and-Siquijor episode, the show went to Hong Kong and after, it will hop to Hanoi, Mumbai and Bali.
Again, Sashi will give travelers and televiewers “a view on what’s going on around the world” and the culinary world.
(Asian Food Network is available on Sky Cable Channel 248, Cignal TV Channel 62 and Destiny Cable Channel 22.)