Theodore Day Salonga: A traditional chef in modern times

Chef Day.

Day and I have a common interest. We used to play badminton. We met five years ago at the court, but those clears, smashes, lobs and aces only tell a little about him. Clad in his dry fits, he looked like a sporty, easy-go-lucky kind of a guy. But ask him about his passion, and you'll know more about him.

I visited his company's website, mondaychefs.com. It told me those academic achievements that those dry fits, sets and matches didn't tell me. A graduate of La Salle and a lot of different courses taken from different schools like the American Hospitality Academy, his resume speaks for itself. After all those achievements I read on his profile, I know Day have gone a long way and is set to go even further.

He traveled and continuously travels Asia to discover its rich culture on food. He may have gone to China to learn to cook pancit bihon the Chinese way, or to Thailand to know all about Thai Cuisine, but his heart always goes back to Laguna. He loves Laguna. A Lagunian who wants the Laguna Cuisine to be recognized, not just in our country but the whole world as well. He believes that our cuisine deserves to share the seat with the already famous Pampanga Cuisine.

In this day and age, Day keeps up with the world. You'll see him at Twitter and Facebook updating us using the latest gadgets he can lay his hands on. But deep within him lies a traditional chef with a huge passion for cooking, food and celebrating life. He takes pride of our heritage and wants to share and promote our roots and tradition.

Just recently, he created a personal blog, Chef By Day. In this blog, he shares tradition. Recipes that were maybe even older than him, perfected by his mother through perseverance and experience, long before he even saw light on this earth. Some were his own, a product of learning and experimenting.

As a person with a desire to live this dream, he opened the doors of his home to Foodies who are into culinary tours like him. Located at Bgy. Duhat, Sta. Cruz, Laguna, Our Heritage Cuisine is his way of sharing his passion in traditional Tagalog cuisine. Strictly by reservations, one can experience an entirely different and anuthentic concept of traditional Tagalog cuisine - Day's advocacy. As the write-up said:

"OUR HERITAGE CUISINE offers authentic Southern Tagalog cuisine. It lives up to the hype of offering the finest yet nature-inspired dining. The ambience serves to highlight the difference between urban noise, dirt and hassle versus the nature's calm. One does not only experience dining with nature but tasting the ingredients the local farmers have harvested, thus, giving that authentic taste. As diners get to spoon feed, they get to help out sustain the farmers' livelihood."

Currently, he also shares his cooking skills by giving lessons in his home here in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. He says that this is one of his ways of paying it forward to the community. And he's proud to say that he shares his knowledge of traditional recipes from scratch... and no shortcuts. He is a contributor of Cook Magazine. He is a consultant to bars, restaurants and other established food companies.

When asked about his greatest achievements, I was awed by his humble answer. He didn't talk about awards, certificates, recognitions and all. He says that he doesn't usually focus on achievements. It is more on the journey and the process... the things learned. But the greatest would be staying true to his Laguna roots, the acknowledgement and respect he earned from colleagues, and last and the most important thing of all, living his dreams.

Nowadays, Day laid low in playing badminton. He says he's not the athletic chef I met five years ago. Initially, I thought that just like the other players, Day might have gotten too much of it. But when I asked him why he's not playing anymore, I was blown away with what I discovered.

One thing that many people like me do not know is that Day is a survivor. Three years ago, he was diagnosed with a rare muscle dis-ease. But he wanted to live, he chose to live. He fought, survived and is now living his dreams. Still recovering from the dis-ease, he is now happy that he is alive and continues to celebrate life.

He told me that this is the first time he talked about this personal detail out in the open. Only a very few people knew about this because he didn't want to dwell on it and didn't want people to take pity on him. He allowed me to write about this because right now, he doesn't care about those anymore. All he wanted now is to continue to live his dream - cooking, and to be an inspiration after having survived the rare dis-ease.

Thedore Day Salonga. Atraditional chef in modern times. A survivor. An inspiration.