Remembering Chef Margarita Fores

Fores, a tireless promoter of Filipino cuisine has died at 65

This morning I woke up to the tragic news that accomplished chef and tireless promoter of Filipino cuisine Margarita Fores has passed away. She was 65 years old.

According to news reports she died of a massive heart attack in her Upper House hotel room in Hong Kong, where she was on a stopover after traveling to Morocco and Madrid.

One of her chef friends, Vicky Cheng of Vea and Wing, was shocked and heartbroken, as he had only spoken to her hours earlier. He wrote on his social media post:

Cheng with Fores in a collaboration dinner

Why is life so not fair!!?

I was just speaking to you yesterday, you asked me to go out for a night cap…. And I said I had an early morning I couldn’t come out…. I didn’t know it was the last time you were ever going to ask me 😢😭

“Oh no worries! Will always be back to see you!…“ this was the last message you sent me 😭

I interviewed Fores back in 2023 for a Mother's Day story about how chefs' mothers or grandmothers influenced their career paths into the kitchen.

Her mother had just passed in March that year, describing her as "My Mothers, My Rock, My Everything", and how she introduced the young Fores to Europe, in particular Italy and fell in love with the cuisine.

Fores learned how to cook Italian and brought her skills and passion back to the Philippines, opening Cibo in 1997, followed by Lusso, Grace Park, and The Loggia.

In 2017 I made my first trip to her home town, Manila, where a food exhibition called Madrid Fusion was held. She introduced me and several other Hong Kong journalists to Filipino cuisine, from adobo, a braised meat stew, to kinilaw, where raw seafood is marinated in citrus juices much like ceviche. 

Fores fell in love with Italian cuisine

I learned how Filipinos eat rice three times a day and for festive occasions will roast a stuffed baby pig called lechon.

As we took in these sights and flavours, Fores was there to explain and demystify Filipino cuisine. We were excited to learn from her.

Before and after the pandemic she came to Hong Kong frequently, where she made friends with many chefs, praising their food, and was supportive of them.

Thai chef Thitid "Ton" Tassanakajohn wrote on his social media that Fores set an example to others.

"I will remember to be kind, to hold a good heart even [if] the world turns on me. I will make people smile and laugh. And I will remember to be a good person," he wrote.

Fores was born in 1959 into the wealthy Araneta family, her grandfather J Amado Araneta was a tycoon, and the family had businesses in real estate, food, leisure and hospitality.

In 2016 she was named Asia's Best Female Chef" by the World's 50 Best Restaurants. 

Fores survived cancer twice, including thyroid cancer around 2006. She has a son, Jorge Amado, who was learning the restaurant business from her and has his own restaurant, a mano.

Margarita your big smile and enthusiasm will be missed. RIP.