Chef Jessie Sincioco: Chef for all seasons and reasons
Whether she’s preparing a dish for a pope, a president, a prince or a pauper, the fire in chef Jessie Sincioco isn’t just in the flames dancing on her stove’s burner. It’s in her heart.
It’s because Chef Jessie, who trained in college to become a banker, but won the grand prize in a cook fest for her mango cake with whipped cream, believes her work is a calling for a higher purpose other than just a satisfied burp.
“If you want to be happy in life, you just have to follow what God wants you to be. And I think this is my destiny. God placed me in the kitchen because He wanted me to cook for his Vicar on earth. The pope,” says Chef Jessie who was handpicked to be the personal chef of Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila when he visited the Philippines in January 2015.
Despite the access she had to the Pope, Chef Jessie also lined up at the Luneta during the Mass the Holy Father celebrated there, which at the time set a record as the largest papal gathering in history, with almost seven million people in attendance.
And yet, Pope Francis spotted Jessie in the crowd, with a little help from Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle.
“I remember it was raining. I had an iPad covering my face. They were wearing raincoats and riding in the pope’s vehicle—Pope Francis, Cardinal Chito, and the pope’s interpreter. Then I heard Cardinal Chito say, ‘Your Holiness, that’s Chef Jessie.’ The pope called me.”
Pope Francis then squeezed both her hands and said, “Grazie mille. Delizioso! Delizioso! (A thousand thanks! It was delicious! Delicious!),” referring to the delicious meals she and her team prepared for him and his delegation.
But that is not her fondest memory of the beloved pope, who passed away on April 21. “The most memorable is what he said to me when he was about to go back to Rome. He whispered to me, ‘Please pray for me.’ I said, ‘Wow, the Holy Father is asking me to pray for him? Isn’t it should be the other way around?’ It really showed his humility and his simplicity. That is something I really love about him.”
After Pope Francis died, Chef Jessie paid tribute to him in a social media post: “To our dearest Lolo Kiko: We will forever cherish the fatherly hugs, the sweetest smile, the most approachable and welcoming gestures and the Lolo who always said ‘Grazie mille! Delizioso!’ every time we saw him in the hallways of the Nunciature! We all felt so comfortable with him—like we’ve known him for a long time. He was extremely fatherly.”
***
I was privileged to interview Chef Jessie for PeopleAsia’s YouTube channel recently in the Chef Jessie Building on Pililia, Makati. She took us on a tour of the building, particularly her wall of mementoes from the Pope, including the three personal, signed letters he sent her. She also invited us to join her for Mass in the chapel on the building’s top floor.
It was from this building that she prepared thousands of packed meals during the pandemic for some of Metro Manila’s healthcare frontliners.
“I believe God has blessed us with the talent to cook and prepare good food,” Jessie said in an interview. “So, we have to put this talent to good use. By providing the best available food to our heroes, we somehow utilize this God-given talent to help them perform their duties well. It’s the closest thing we could do in helping them save precious lives.”
To this day, she’s part of a group called “Angels for Street Kids,” which conducts feeding programs in various depressed neighborhoods in Metro Manila. The group is headed by Mayenne Carmona.
***
With us during the interview was Chef Jessie’s niece, Abie Sincioco Mateo, the executive chef of the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. Like her aunt, Chef Abie started as a pastry chef. When Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez asked Jessie, who catered for many of his functions in Manila, to refer a chef, she thought of someone who would not let her and the country down—her niece Chef Abie.
“I didn’t want to lose a chef in one outlet, but then, I wanted to help the ambassador,” she recalled.
In 2018, Chef Abie, representing the Embassy of the Philippines, was selected as the People’s Choice Champion and as well as the Judges’ Choice Champion for her pork sisig during the DC Embassy Chef Challenge with over 24 participating nations. Held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, embassy chefs showcased the unique flavors of their home countries in a culinary showdown. According to Chef Abie, to enter sisig as the Philippines’ entry to the competition was the idea of Ambassador Romualdez, who is said to enjoy the bangus version of sisig.
Chef Abie, who had to prepare 1,000 tasting portions of the sisig, consisting of 120 kilos of pork, had an able assistant: her aunt Chef Jessie, who flew to the United States to assist her. Abie paired the sisig with another of the Philippines’ best products—San Miguel Beer.
They cook for others, but do they have a favorite dish themselves?
“If you ask me, any time of the day, if I’m hungry and I would like to eat something, it’s tinola,” Chef Jessie said in a heartbeat.
Chef Abie’s favorite, on the other hand, is chicken pork adobo.
I asked Chef Abie the most important lesson she has learned from her famous aunt. “Work hard and always focus on what you do,” she replied. “That’s what she always says, that what you do should be right. Your heart should be there in everything you do.”
I then asked Chef Jessie what she wants to be known for even if she is far from hanging her apron on a gallery of mementoes.
“I just want to be remembered as someone who really gave importance to the talent that God has given me,” she said simply, the fire of her faith and her calling in her eyes.
