Shaping the Next Generation of Filipino Culinary Professionals:18th Philippine Food Expo Presents the Culinary Challenges

Wazzup Pilipinas!? 

The Culinary Challenge returns as one of the flagship events of the 18th Philippine Food Expo 2026, bringing together the country’s most promising culinary students and educators for a three-day celebration of skill, creativity, and professional excellence. Happening on April 17–19, 2026 at the World Trade Center, Metro Manila,

The Culinary Challenge, organized under the Philippine Food Expo, serves as a vital platform that bridges classroom learning and real-world culinary practice by mirroring industry standards, encouraging innovation, and nurturing the next generation of Filipino culinary talent.

The competition is open to currently enrolled students and faculty members from culinary schools, colleges, universities, and hospitality and tourism management programs. Participating institutions can gain national visibility, recognition for culinary excellence, and a meaningful benchmark for aligning academic training with professional practice.

National Platform for Culinary Excellence

The Culinary Challenge strengthens collaboration between culinary schools, colleges, and universities across the Philippines, while fostering healthy competition and professional growth among students and faculty alike. Participants gain hands-on experience that reflects the realities of hotel, restaurant, and tourism operations. At its core, the Culinary Challenge emphasizes:

● Technical culinary mastery

● Creativity and artistry

● Nutrition and healthy cooking

● Professional discipline and teamwork

“Bounty of the South: Davao on a Plate”

This year highlights the richness of Southern Philippine flavors, with a particular focus on Davao's regional ingredients, heritage dishes, and culinary identity. Across most categories, participants are challenged to reinterpret local flavors using modern techniques while maintaining cultural authenticity.

The competition features a diverse set of categories that test a wide range of culinary and hospitality skills:

● Food Styling & Photography: An on-the-spot food styling competition which aims to showcase the combination of art and culinary skills of each student.

● Philippine Regional Table Setting: Participants shall set-up a 2-seater table judged by their hospitality, service, and thematic presentation.

● Creative Filipino Dessert Platter: An on-the-spot cooking competition where participants must create a creative Filipino dessert platter using local flavors.

● Healthy Pasta: An on-the-spot cooking competition where participants must create a nutritionally balanced Filipino-inspired pasta.

● Kitchen Masters (30-Minute Challenge): A time-pressured, on-the-spot cooking competition.

● Pinasarap Breakfast: An on-the spot cooking competition where participants must create a “Balanced Pinoy Breakfast Meal”

● Mystery Ingredient: An on-the-spot cooking competition focusing on Davao Regional Dishes using Mystery Ingredients.

● PFE Knowledge Challenge: Academic quiz bee to test the knowledge of student tandems on local food and beverage, geography and tourism.

A Culinary Stage That Shapes Careers

As part of the 18th Philippine Food Expo, the Culinary Challenge stands as a testament to the country’s commitment to culinary education, innovation, and cultural pride. By empowering students, mentoring them alongside faculty, and placing Filipino cuisine at the center of global conversations, the Culinary Challenge continues to shape the future of the Philippine culinary industry one plate at a time

For more information, kindly email pfeculinarychallenge@gmail.com. Stay updated on further announcements by following @philfoodexpo on Facebook and Instagram.

More airlines join NAIA’s self check-in and automated gates

Wazzup Pilipinas!? 

Self check-in kiosks at NAIA are now accessible to more passengers as more airlines join the new automated passenger processing program introduced by NNIC.

More passengers can now use NAIA’s Self Check-in kiosks, automated Pre-Security screening gates, and Self-Boarding gates at Terminals 1, 2, and 3, as additional airlines complete system integration and join the airport’s automated passenger processing program.

 

The system, which has been progressively implemented across the airport, allows eligible passengers to check in, print boarding passes, tag their bags, clear initial security, and board flights through automated lanes, helping reduce queuing times and ease congestion at traditional counters. A phased activation of automated Bag Drop features is also ongoing.

 

The services are currently enabled for the following airlines and passenger categories:

 

TERMINAL 1

-Philippine Airlines: International destinations, excluding Middle East and Japan routes

-Asiana Airlines: Korean nationals and foreign passengers with no visa requirements

 

TERMINAL 2

-Philippine Airlines: All domestic destinations

-Cebu Pacific: All domestic destinations

-AirAsia: All domestic destinations

 

TERMINAL 3

-Cebu Pacific: All domestic and international destinations

-AirAsia: All international destinations

-United Airlines: Foreign passengers with no visa requirements

-Qatar Airways: All passengers

-Air Canada: All passengers

 

“These systems are already operational, and we are seeing more airlines come on board as integration is completed,” New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC), the airport’s private operator, said. “As participation expands, more passengers will be able to move through check-in, security, and boarding more efficiently.”

 

The automated processing systems form part of NAIA’s broader efforts to improve passenger flow and align airport operations with biometric-enabled standards used at major international hubs across Asia, the Middle East, and North America.

 

Passengers on eligible flights are encouraged to use the Self Check-in kiosks located near the check-in areas of each terminal. After printing boarding passes and bag tags, they may proceed to Bag Drop counters or automated lanes before continuing through the Pre-Security and Self-Boarding gates. Additional airlines and routes will be enabled in the coming months as integration work continues.

The Bitter Aftertaste: How Climate Change is Scorching Your Daily Brew

Wazzup Pilipinas!? 

For billions, the day doesn't truly begin until the first sip of coffee. But that cherished morning ritual is under a growing, invisible threat. New research reveals that carbon pollution is fundamentally altering the "Bean Belt," turning up the heat to levels that coffee plants simply weren't built to survive.

A Global Crisis in a Cup

Coffee is a global powerhouse, with 2.2 billion cups consumed daily—two-thirds of adults in the U.S. alone are daily drinkers. Yet, the very supply of this beloved beverage is tightening. A comprehensive new analysis from Climate Central reveals a startling reality: between 2021 and 2025, climate change added an average of 47 extra days of "coffee-harming heat" annually across the 25 primary coffee-producing nations. These countries represent a staggering 97% of the world's total coffee production.

Scorching the Top Five

The impact is most severe in the nations we rely on most. The top five producers—Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Indonesia—supply 75% of the world’s coffee. On average, these five nations now face 57 additional days of harmful heat every year specifically due to climate change.

Brazil: The world’s leading producer faced an extra 70 coffee-harming days annually. In its premier growing state, Minas Gerais, heat stress was present for an additional 67 days per year.

Vietnam: The second-largest producer saw 59 extra days of damaging heat.

Indonesia: Experienced 73 additional harmful days due to a warming climate.

Colombia: Faced 48 extra days of heat stress.

Ethiopia: The birthplace of Arabica coffee saw 34 additional days of harmful temperatures.

The Science of Stress

Coffee plants are notoriously finicky, thriving only within narrow temperature and rainfall windows. The "danger zone" begins at 30°C (86°F). Once temperatures cross this threshold, the plants suffer from heat stress that reduces yields, degrades bean quality, and leaves them wide open to devastating diseases and pests like coffee leaf rust and the coffee berry borer.

Arabica beans—which make up 60-70% of the global supply—are particularly vulnerable. Suboptimal growth for Arabica actually begins at even lower temperatures (25-30°C), meaning these findings likely represent a conservative estimate of the true damage.

The Human Cost: From Farm to Counter

While the data is cold and clinical, the human reality is anything but. Smallholder farmers, who manage about 80% of global coffee production, are on the front lines.

"Coffee farmers in Ethiopia are already seeing the impact of extreme heat," says Dejene Dadi, General Manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperatives Union. "Without sufficient shade, coffee trees produce fewer beans and become more vulnerable to disease."

These farmers are being squeezed from both sides: rising production costs and shrinking yields. Despite providing 60% of the global supply, smallholders received a mere 0.36% of the climate adaptation financing needed in 2021. Ironically, the cost to help a 1-hectare farm adapt is roughly $2.19 a day—often less than the price of a single cup of coffee in a high-income country.

Why Your Latte Costs More

This environmental pressure isn't just a distant problem for farmers; it’s hitting consumers directly at the cash register. Volatile weather and extreme events in the "Bean Belt" have already contributed to price spikes, with record highs reached in December 2024 and February 2025. Combined with shifting rainfall patterns and severe droughts, such as the one seen in Brazil in 2023, the cost of your daily brew is likely to continue its upward climb as the planet warms.

As Dr. Kristina Dahl of Climate Central warns, "Climate change is coming for our coffee... these impacts may ripple outward from farms to consumers, right into the quality and cost of your daily brew".