Food and Leisure

The Great Googa Mooga food theme park

A TASTE OF LIFE - Heny Sison - The Philippine Star

June 21, 2012 | 12:00am

Even more importantly, it’s wine, food and the arts. Incorporating those three enhances the quality of life. —Robert Mondavi

Just in case your wondering, you are reading my title correctly; I did go to a food theme park. No, not a food festival, or a food bazaar. An amusement park, where food was the attraction and drinks and music were the entertainment.

On May 19 and 20, Brooklyn’s historic Prospect Park was turned into a circus of food and drink, where each taste was properly represented with its own band of exhibitors from the Sweet Circus, The Hamburger Experience, Hamageddon, and many more. It looked like a great adventure was about to unfold.

New York has always been a special part of me — from meeting friends to visiting my daughters, a trip to the United States is just not complete without a stopover in the Big Apple, and this year, I was pleasantly surprised when four months before my planned trip, my daughter Denise asked me to attend The Great Googa Mooga Festival. My daughter gave me four free tickets that she got for free. I brought along two of my dearest friends, Jimbo Barredo and Josh Tiu, owner of Zong Restaurant located at the Fort, as well as Suzy’s, a popular restaurant on Bleecker St. in New York City’s West Village. Since I could only use three, a random spectator got to enjoy an extra Googa Mooga ticket that cost $250 for free. With that kind of luck to begin with, my friends and I started our food odyssey.

With restaurateur Josh Tiu, owner of Zong Chinese Restaurant at the Fort and the now-famous Suzy’s Chinese Restaurant in NYC

To say that the festival featured a variety of food would be a gross understatement. Approximately 75 food vendors, 35 brewers, 30 winemakers and 20 live music acts came to celebrate this event, which hoped to promote togetherness within the community, very much like our local weekend market bazaars. The Great Googa Mooga featured exceptional finds, from exotic drinks such as the celebrity-cleansing secret weapon, Kombucha, to delectably delightful treats such as Dirt Cake, which is really just some pudding and devil’s cake placed in a plastic cup and creatively displayed on a mock dirt bed. But one thing that definitely caught my attention was the foie gras donut made by Do or Dine, priced at $11 apiece. It’s a gourmet donut filled with foie gras and strawberry jam instead of the usual Bavarian filling. The only way I can really describe it is that it’s sinfully delicious. Imagine yourself eating very light softened butter with tinge of fruity contrast, with little thought as to caloric content, and you probably have a very good idea of what this expensive donut tastes like.

There was also Maharlika, a food stall that had Filipino food on display, and had a longganisa shaped and served as a hotdog in an open-faced bun that could be garnished with bagoong mayonnaise. Complemented by an ear of grilled corn and topped with kesong puti that tasted more like parmesan cheese to me, you could accompany it with mango-calamansi water for a little taste of home. It represented Filipino-influenced American food, I guess, but nevertheless was a wonderful effort to reconcile Western taste with Asian-infused elements.

There were so many fascinating things all happening at the same time; it was astonishing to see all the wonderful foodstuffs that were featured at the festival. But one experience outdid them all, when we came across a celebrity chef, Masaharu Morimoto, the star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America, who has restaurants in different locations. I took the chance to get a quick snapshot with him and his preferred vehicle, which happened to be a Lexus SUV that he was endorsing. I also met Fany Gerson, chef-owner of La Newyorkina, an ice cream popsicles and sweets seller, where their main product was their flavorful Paletas, with flavors ranging from Mango-Chile to Key Lime Pie and Cucumber-Lime. These popsicles are a traditional Mexican frozen treat that is so fascinating that Fany could not help but author a book titled with the same name.

There was a large stage set up for musical performances and talks from industry giants that have already established their respectable places in the New York dining scene. The Great Googa Mooga Festival was conceptualized and produced by a team of visionaries that has captured the heart and soul of various cities through similar events such as the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival held in Tennessee and Golden Gate Park’s Outside Lands Festival, which features the vibrant flavors of the Bay Area’s California cuisine. The festival was my little journey through the gastronomic landscape of New York, and I’m very happy to see that New York’s culinary world lives up to the New Yorkers’ spirit and way of life: vibrant, energetic and full of wonderful surprises in every corner.