Do you own any McCormick product in your kitchen?

If your answer is yes, welcome to the club. In my own opinion, I think every household, or those who spend time in the kitchen are very much familiar with McCormick spices or simply the brand itself. I’m not a regular cook. But whenever I think of cooking for the home (which is rare btw! Haha!), I start off with buying the ingredients I need from the brands I trust. Choosing spices automatically falls on looking at McCormick products. It’s not because the brand is popular ok? I think it’s because I grew up with it. Seeing familiar McCormick products in our kitchen influenced me with trusting the same brand. Proven and tested, McCormick products boost the flavors of our homecooked dishes.

When I found out about McCormick Flavor Nation Festival, one of the biggest foodie festival using McCormick herbs and spices, I marked my calendar and allotted one afternoon for the event.

At the event last May 16, 2015, which occurred in West Block Bonifacio High Street from 2:30pm onwards, I almost backed out from walking along High Street because of the terror summer heat. If you live in Metro Manila, you know what I’m talking about. The weather tempts me to stay inside an airconditioned room, just there. Suddenly, when our car passed by the event, saw the booths cooking up their dishes and heard loud music, I was unstoppable. I needed to be there. So, to cut to the chase, I entered McCormick Flavor Nation Festival.

Admission was free for everyone – includes live cooking shows, band performances and on-stage entertainment. To taste dishes from the food purveyors, an event passport was required, which could be purchased at the registration for only P150.

Korean Chix Barbecue by The Loud Chef

From the entrance, I took a quick left to the first stand. This is where I tried the spicy Korean Chix Barbecue. I wasn’t warned by the purveyor that it was a spicy encounter. Chicken fillets were doused in a spicy-sweet-soy-sesame marinade. Good save by the next stall, 3 types of rice to choose from. Those rice cups turned out to be my quick fix to remove the piquant flavors sitting in my tongue.

Nasi Lemak Rice

Among the 3 variants of McCormick Rice Cookers, I love the simplicity of Nasi Lemak recipe mix. Other 2 variants are Biryani Rice and Hainanese Rice.

If you didn’t get the memo, I’m crazy for chicken wings. When I saw McCormick Buffalo Wings spices from Bagwings stand, I wanted to bag them and cook up chicken wings at home. 3 Buffalo Wings flavors to choose from – Screamer (spicy), Barbeque and Teriyaki.

I couldn’t leave Bagwings without getting my small plate of Chef Jaycee’s luscious roasted pork belly, also known as Bagnet. For me, this is the winning dish at McCormick event!

Under the big tent of McCormick Flavor Nation Festival, a refreshing Thai Pork Salad was very apt for the season. Generous slices of pork meat and subtle McCormick spices (cayenne, paprika, black pepper & salt) playing with its meat and vegetables.

Near the stage, pasta lovers could choose from Tomato Pesto, Tinapa Pasta or Creamy Carbonara at the Pasta Bar.

Taking out cheese in nachos isn’t a problem with Chef Arch’s Asian Nachos. It’s a twisted local nachos with meat, sweet and sour spices, and thin crunchy nacho chips.

From its name Sisig Maki, you know what you’re trapping into your mouth. The fusion of Japanese and Filipino ingredients were also used with McCormick Rice Cookers mix for its rice wrap.

My last plate was worth latching on to. Cinnamon Cupcakes with Chocnut Ganache was served with a generous portion of dolce chocolate with cream and local chocnut, maple syrup and McCormick’s cinnamon powder. Hmmm… As far as I remember, I’ve got pancakes, chocolates and McCormick cinnamon spices in my kitchen. You know what I’m about to do next. 😉

Small plates but big flavors. Although, I wouldn’t mind bigger plates next time. *Ehem, ehem*

Guests with McCormick passports will get 1 Spiced beverage from the bar list + 1 Brew Kettle Belgian Beer.

In this McCormick fun tent, all I needed was a basket to fill in with all the spices and recipe mixes for the kitchen.

With McCormick recipe mix, I feel I can cook my favorite comfort dishes like a pro.

Other than getting busy with our plates, the loud stage performances entertained us as well.

If you missed this McCormick Flavor Nation Festival at BGC, let’s all hope for the next one.

Do you use McCormick to spice up your homecooked meals?

Share with me your thoughts! 🙂

Cheers,