Yes, Chef! Pauline Lagdameo on Mastering Foodservice Commercial Cooking

Asia is one food-crazy continent! We take great care to pick restaurants based on culinary vibes, rankings on international gourmand guides, mentions in magazines, Instagrammability, and added hunger. Yes, Chef! features the region’s chefs’ stories of love and labour in kitchens that have made some of our restaurants the next big thing in Asia.

While other kids were immersed in toys and games, Chef Pauline Diaz Lagdameo discovered her genuine passion for the art of cooking and baking as early as seven years old. When she reached high school, her love affair with cooking was ignited by taking lifestyle culinary workshops, from party platter classes and Chinese cuisine to cake and Christmas goodies decorating.

Despite the magnetic allure of her gastronomic dreams, Chef Pauline took a detour by pursuing a degree in Communications and working in the advertising industry for a time. However, her culinary calling continued to beckon, leading her to take up an associate degree in culinary arts at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont, United States.

In an interview with The Beat Asia, the former pastry chef and instructor, Chef Pauline, shared her culinary journey filled with unexpected twists as she pirouetted into the realm of a foodservice commercial chef for the Kraft Heinz Company.

Can you give us a walkthrough of your current role at The Kraft Heinz Company? What does your typical day-to-day work entail?

When I am not traveling, my typical day is usually spent answering emails and attending meetings, with a larger part of the day being spent in the kitchen, either developing new recipes or product testing. Depending on my various projects, I may also be doing ideations with customers, conducting training sessions, or doing photo or video shoots or demonstrations.

When I am traveling, it is usually to attend customer meetings, do ideation sessions, conduct training sessions, do demonstrations, or attend internal company meetings.

Since we have an internal global chefs network that meets regularly, I may also have online evening meetings with the other Kraft Heinz chefs around the world.

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the food industry. What sustainable practices have you implemented in your previous and current roles?

Sustainability is a personal goal of mine, and luckily, it is also a major goal of our company. It may seem very grandiose but one can start by doing simple everyday things.

I try to implement this by minimizing waste and maximizing the usage of the ingredients, suggesting recipes that can contribute to sustainability, recycling whatever packaging I can, and even simple segregation of waste.

I also try to implement this with customers by developing recipes wherein they can maximize the usage, not only of our products but their other ingredients, as well. Depending on the directions of our customers, I try to recommend locally sourced, sustainable products to go with our sauces and condiments.

How has your culinary training in the United States influenced your approach to menu development and cooking techniques? Can you share specific elements of British cuisine that have shaped your culinary style?

My culinary training is from the U.S. However, the techniques I learned are all based on Classical Cooking techniques, which are primarily French. I believe that cooking techniques are basically the same, whether for Asian or Western cooking, taking into consideration that there are unique local techniques in various cultures.

All these classical techniques that I learned are all incorporated into the job I have right now, which is not to have my own style, but to be able to adapt to the style of our various foodservice customers.

Having worked locally and abroad, what distinguishes the experience of being a chef in the Philippines from working in other countries?

I believe that each country, as well as different career paths for chefs, are unique in their own way. I was able to work with people of different cultures, learn different types of cooking, and use different ingredients that may not be available in the Philippines. This broadened my scope of knowledge and skills in handling different types of food and developing my tastes for different types of food.

I think the main difference between being a chef in the Philippines compared to being a chef in another country is that the kitchens here tend to have more staff who have more focused job responsibilities vs. kitchens abroad where cooks and chefs have to multi-task more because of higher labor costs.

I find myself lucky to have experienced working abroad because I think I was able to utilize more of the skills that I learned in culinary school, which may not have been the case if I had worked solely here in the Philippines.

Your culinary journey has taken you through various companies. Reflecting on your career, can you share the most memorable chapter and why?

I think my most memorable chapter is the one that is still ongoing right now. It is my job as a foodservice commercial chef.

The reason why I believe this is the most memorable right now is because, in this job, I am, first of all, able to incorporate my formal education, as well as all the other skills and knowledge I have gained throughout my career.

I am fulfilled when I am able to help our customers grow their businesses through new food offerings or by supporting them in their various culinary activities. I also find fulfillment in helping others grow in their own knowledge and skills, whether it is our internal team, our customers, or students and consumers, through my various demonstrations and teaching sessions.

Lastly, I am able to use my Communications degree to help me determine what dishes would best fit the directions of our customers through analyzing and applying market trends and insights when developing customer solutions, as well as applying these skills in my various culinary activities.

Do you manage your own restaurant? If yes, could you tell us more about it? If not, do you have plans to enter the restaurant business in the future?

I do not have a restaurant right now, and I think that my culinary experience is best applied in my current job, as well as in the education of future chefs, instead of running a restaurant. But I have a home baking business which, luckily enough, I had already started even before the pandemic hit. Since I had designed this business to be a delivery business, it was very easy for me to continue this during the pandemic when getting around was very limited due to the lockdown.

While I still have that business [to] this day, I am now working full-time as the Foodservice Commercial Chef of Kraft Heinz – South-Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, a job I started early last year.

Your strength and resilience in overcoming cancer are admirable. Can you share your unique perspective about life and celebrating one’s accomplishments?

When I got cancer, my priorities and how I looked at life changed. I realized that intangible things, such as true personal fulfillment, are more important than material things. Helping others, experiencing the beauty of the world, spending time with family and friends, and doing things that I love are more important than working 12 to 14-hour days for higher pay and more prestigious positions.

I now find that accomplishments worth celebrating are those that have affected others and our world in a positive way. These are the ones that give me personal fulfillment now because I feel that I have been able to make a change, no matter how small, in someone else’s life.

With your extensive background, what important lesson can you share with aspiring culinary professionals?

I think that the most important lessons I want to share with aspiring culinary professionals are to always be flexible, keep an open mind, and keep learning.

Lastly, as one of my chef mentors once said, which I also believe in — “Never think you are the best! The day you believe you are the best is the day you will start to go down because this is the day you will stop learning and growing.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To know more about Chef Pauline Diaz Lagdameo, you can follow her on Instagram.

Enjoyed this article? Check out our previous Yes, Chef! profiles here.