Walden Bello, food critic: VP candidate has been leaving food reviews of election debate meals
Vice presidential candidate Walden Bello hasn't just been firing up sentiments on the debate stage, as he's also been firing up reviews on the locations and food of the events themselves
After the Commission on Election (COMELEC)'s first "PiliPinas Debates: The Turning Point" vice presidential debate on March 20, the former congressman took to social media to critique the food being served at Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Pasay.
"Now for the long-awaited part of the evening: I try the food," he wrote alongside a photo of him with a plate of food that appears to have chicken, mushroom beef, vegetables, and rice.
A few minutes later, Bello updated the thread with a photo of his now-empty plate and clapping hands. He even took the opportunity to take a dig at a former debate's meals.
COMELEC food: passable. Definitely better than Quiboloy's microwaved casino food.#PiliPinasDebates2022 pic.twitter.com/F53v1lW13i
— Walden Bello (@WaldenBello) March 19, 2022
In a post after the Apollo Quiboloy-led Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) Presidential Debates held on Feb. 15, Bello lamented that the event grounds were "unbelievably huge, garish, vulgarly opulent, and monumentally ugly."
Bello was present to show support for his running mate, Leody De Guzman. He then went on to review the food served for the candidates.
"The food was, to be kind, awful, and I have reason to believe it was surplus food from the casinos in the hotel, the stuff they gorge people with when they're fixated, glass-eyed, on the slots, unaware of what they're ingesting."
During his live-tweeting of the event, he continued to make mention of the meals.
The format for the SMNI Debate is terrible. The questions really have no spark. The atmosphere is becoming so soporific and to top it off, the food seems to have come from the casino kitchen. #ManggagawaVSMagnanakaw
— Walden Bello (@WaldenBello) February 15, 2022
PhilSTAR L!fe has reached out to the concerned hotel for comment.
Meanwhile, Bello didn't leave a review for CNN Philippine's vice presidential debate held in the University of Santo Tomas, where he dropped F-bombs and called fellow VP candidate and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio a "coward" for failing to participate.
In 2009, Bello authored a primer titled Food Wars, chronicling food insecurity and how the production crisis affects countries such as Mexico, Africa, the Philippines, and China.
He has also served as an analyst and executive director for Food First, a US-based nonprofit organization committed to ending global hunger.
