FROM SAN SEBASTIAN TO TAGAYTAY – A JOURNEY OF FOOD AND LIFE
Life has been good to Mikel Arriet, and he is sharing his blessings by paying it forward.
Growing up in one of the world’s most celebrated gastronomic destinations—San Sebastian in the Basque Country—young Mikel would watch people as they cook and it made him want to be a chef. His father wanted him to choose another path but the stubborn son was set on this one.
He trained at the Escuela Superior de Hosteleria de San Sebastian then went on to work in notable places in Spain like Ibiza, the Canary Islands, Barcelona, and Cantabria. In 2004, his good friend, Alfredo Roca, invited him to come to the Philippines to promote Spanish food for the Spanish embassy. “I was looking for a change, so I said, yes,” he recalls. He has been here since.
Arriet has found a second home in the Philippines, working for a management group that manages first-rate hospitality properties. Since 2018, he has been the General Manager of Anya Resort Tagaytay, a splendid retreat acclaimed for its elegant accommodations, excellent service, and superior F&B offerings that include Samira by Chele Gonzalez. Anya is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH).
His title may be GM but Arriet is a chef at heart. While management tasks may take most of his time, he will always answer the call of the kitchen. He will step in when the resort kitchens are short of hands, will work on developing recipes when needed, will cook a giant paella whenever he is called upon!
Last February, he and fellow LTB Philippines Chefs Association members trooped to Bacolod to cook the biggest paella for the benefit of the Kalipay Negrense Foundation. It was the second Gigante Paella they did in Bacolod. It took 100 kilos of rice and 150 kilos of other ingredients (all from donations), and the combined hands of 20 chefs and culinary students. It was a spectacular vision that spoke of shared culinary culture, camaraderie, collaboration, and love for others.
Arriet has been supporting the work of Kalipay for 17 years, ever since his friend Alfredo introduced him to its president and founder, Anna Balcells. “The moment I arrived and stepped inside the house, what I saw were beautiful smiling children. Each child looking for a hug, looking for a little contact, just two minutes of attention,“ he says. They did get his attention and he vowed to return and visit regularly.
Kalipay Negrense Foundation is a nonprofit working for disadvantaged children: homeless, abandoned, neglected, malnourished, physically and sexually abused, victims of child labor and trafficking, and foundlings. They rescue children and give them shelter, food, education, health care, and counseling. It was started in 2007 by Balcells and some friends in Negros Occidental. Kalipay is Visayan for joy or happiness, which is what Balcells hopes to bring to the rescued children’s lives.
The foundation houses about 170 children today, from infants to teens below 18 years of age.
The work is never done, as even when the older children move on to college or to live independently, there are always more children needing help. Through his years of involvement with Kalipay, Arriet has seen two of his sponsored children move on. He is currently sponsoring two more children.
Doing the Gigante Paella is just one of the ways he continues to support the foundation. He is there for fund-raising events, always ready to tell people about the work the foundation does, and tries to be there for other special moments like kids moving on. “I always come back to help because I believe in what they are doing,” he avers.
On kids moving on, he says, “To say goodbye is an achievement.” A poignant statement of reality and acceptance. It is one that will soon test him even more.
Though he has been based here for more than 20 years, he goes back to Spain once a year to visit his family. His next visit will be a bit different as, this time around, he and his son, Jon, will be scouting for a university—a good school where he can study computer science.
Jon is his adopted son, placed with him when he was just four years old. It took nine years to legalize the adoption. It wasn’t easy, Arriet says, what with all the requirements, tests, evaluations, and monitoring. “I wanted to be a father,” he says, “even more so after meeting Jon.” The two are inseparable, with Jon patiently waiting as his dad cooked and was photographed for the magazine. They are a family with their three dogs and two cats.
While work may take most of his schedule, Arriet will always make time to help when called upon, especially for a very worthy cause—even if it means cooking an even larger paella than the last one! What better way to pay it forward than with a dish that best exemplifies him, the paella of his native land adapted to the flavors of his adopted land. wf Cris C. Abiva
