Filipino-American Master Chef wows US Navy top brass

Growing up in his Kapampangan home, US Navy Senior Chief Culinary Specialist Jerome Feliciano says it was inevitable for him to learn to love food and to cook them at a young age.

Pampanga is a popular meat-loving gastronomic destination in northern Philippines, which also used to host some of the largest American military bases outside the US mainland.

Those backdrops would converge to bring Feliciano where he is now: a master chef in the US Navy who serves some of the top brass of the world’s superpower.

While discussing top security concerns that includes patrolling the disputed South China Sea, Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer, commander of the Japan-based US 7th fleet, took the opportunity to tell journalists of his admiration for his dedicated naval forces who included many Filipino Americans, including Feliciano.

“I’m so proud of him being a master chef. It really is phenomenal," Sawyer said in an interview on board the USS Blue Ridge, which is on a port visit in Manila.

Jerome Feliciano is awarded the World Master Chefs Society’s medal in culinary excellence during an award ceremony at the Jewel of the East Galley on board U.S. Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, July 10, 2018. (Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William Collins III)

The World Master Chefs Society is a distinguished professional association of 25 international chapters, according to a US 7th fleet article on Feliciano.

With such distinction, Feliciano, who received his certification in 2018, has joined the exclusive roster of 350 master chefs around the world.

Feliciano is the fifth active duty enlisted service member to receive this honor in the history of the US Department of Defense, the US 7th Fleet said.

About 150 of the hundreds of sailors manning the Blue Ridge, the command and control flagship of the US Navy’s 7th Fleet, are proud Filipino-Americans, including Feliciano, who also once worked for NATO forces as a chef.

“There were 39 countries I served every day. You should know their cuisine. One time, a Spanish general told me ‘my mom used to serve this, can you prepare it?’ So I learned,” said Feliciano as he cited the challenges he has faced over the years in military kitchens in Asia and Europe.

His journey to the military culinary world began when he joined the last batch of Filipino recruits to the US Navy in Clark, Pampanga in 1992. He has studied and finished fine arts in college but heard of the US Navy recruitment and signed up.

“I’m so proud to have worked for the Navy for almost 30 years. When you’re good at your craft, one good thing about the Navy is that you can go to school,” said Feliciano, who hails from Angeles, Pampanga.

While serving at the Navy, he graduated from Virginia Advance Culinary School in September 2012 and later on became a certified American Culinary Federation Executive Chef.

Feliciano said he was proud to be part of the Navy and that his accomplishment is “an honor and a privilege.”

As a military master chef, Feliciano took the opportunity to offer Philippine traditional dishes from his growing up years in Pampanga. That included pancit, lumpia and adobo, a quintessential Filipino dish of chicken or pork marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and spices that’s popular in his home province and beyond.

Did the US Navy people like them?

“Oh yeah. Everybody loves it,” Feliciano replied with a big smile. — LA, GMA News