Is Filipino Cuisine the Next Big Thing in Food?

Cristina Quackenbush hasn't even opened a full time restaurant yet, but already the woman behind New Orleans' popular Filipino pop up Milkfish is getting interviewed in national stories about the future of Filipino food. The Today Show's food blog?yes, apparently the Today Show has a food blog?talked to food personality Andrew Zimmern about the "next big thing" in food, and he pointed to Filipino food. Zimmern told Today, "It’s just starting. I think it’s going to take another year and a half to get up to critical mass, but everybody loves Chinese food, Thai food, Japanese food, and it’s all been exploited. The Filipinos combined the best of all of that with Spanish technique."

So Today turned to Quackenbush, whose pop up runs every Sunday at Marie's Bar. She agrees with Zimmern's assertion: "I definitely think (Filipino food) is gaining popularity. I have never encountered anyone that I have fed that did not like it!" If it is the "next big thing," as Zimmern and Quackenbush believe, New Orleans should probably expect to see the Milkfish brick-and-mortar sooner rather than later.

· Andrew Zimmern: Filipino Food is the "Next Big Thing" [Bites on Today]
· All Milkfish Coverage [-ENOLA-]

Outside Marie's Bar, home of the Milkfish pop up. [Photo: flickr / infrogmation]