00:00I don't consider myself as a chef even though I'm a self-taught cook. My aim of cooking
00:06in the restaurants and showcasing the restaurants is to promote our cuisine.
00:14My name is Marina, Marina Tsena Fernandes. I would say that I am a person that I do a bit
00:23of everything.
00:26When I was very small, I used to be at my grandmother's place during the summer time.
00:34I like her food very much and I just remember that she would make me call it a bolum vino,
00:41it's a very traditional cake that we had to beat the egg yolks. So her bowl to put the egg
00:52yolks is very
00:53high. I had to put it between my legs just to do it. She just said, beat it.
01:02I just beat it and beat it. And it was fun. She used to say to me, every generation,
01:09you should have someone that knows cooking. It is our tradition. Our cuisine is part of us,
01:16of who we are. So at the time I didn't understand. I really didn't understand why she said who we
01:23are.
01:23And then after when I grew up and little by little and I really agree and our cuisine is our
01:30identity
01:31as well because we are mixed and it is necessary to preserve so that we will not forget who we
01:39are
01:39and where we come from. I myself taught to cook. Then people start to invite me to showcase. Even
01:50when I was still working, I helped cooks right there. I would give out my recipes to them. Our problem
02:02nowadays in promoting Macanese cuisine is that first we have very little channels to promote. Secondly,
02:12is people do not know, do not even the locals, even Macanese, younger generations of Macanese,
02:20do not know how to make a difference between what is Macanese, what is Portuguese. So they mix together.
02:28If our own community, just like those 20s, 30s, if they do not know how to make this difference,
02:39how can you preserve our own cuisine?
02:45I come from a multicultural family. They probably came from Malacca. My great-great-grandfather was a
02:55count. Before he was a baron and then he became, when we, when Portugal still had the monarchy, he was
03:02a
03:02well-known businessman. And at the same time in Macau, he contributed a lot in terms of culture. He was
03:14also a
03:15benefactor. We have the tradition of working for the society. We have almost 300 years of history in
03:25Macau. We have roots. We are not wealthy, but we are well-known because we participate in a lot of
03:32things in part of the society. Our aim is to give back to our community. What we have, we share
03:40it.
03:43Macanese cuisine, we have Portuguese influence, we have Indian influence, we have Japanese influence,
03:51we have Brazilian influence, Africa influence. It's not only Portuguese bringing all these things,
03:56countries and the people who came. That is why it is called the first fusion food in the world.
04:03When you talk about fusion, you have to come to Macau. You have to learn with us.
04:26Macanese cuisine, you happen to dibmas. You know, we have2000. You have to come to Macau.
04:28You have Pennsylthen, you have a great ilysmanythey. You have a great ilysmany of the world.łbym
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