Award-winning chef and restaurateur Margarita Araneta Forés passed away at 65 on Tuesday, 11 February. Her son Amado confirmed the news in an Instagram post.

Much can — and should — be made of Forés’ immense influence on the Philippine restaurant scene. Winning the prestigious Asia’s Best Female Chef award in 2016 from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants organization was a well-deserved, albeit far-too-early, coda to a culinary career spanning nearly four decades.

After spending ten years, in her words, “learning the ropes of a career in the food industry,” she opened her first restaurant, CIBO, in 1997. The “caffé-paninoteca,” or sandwich shop, blossomed into a full-blown restaurant that introduced genuine Italian cuisine to Filipinos. Today, Cibo, with some 24 branches (and one in Bacolod City), is a popular gathering place for celebrating families, doting couples, and professionals looking for a modern yet authentic Italian meal.

More eateries followed. Lusso, a champagne and caviar bar that recently opened a new location at SM Podium, Grace Park, Alta, and The Loggia at Palacio de Memoria gave Forés the opportunity to flex her culinary muscles and explore new ideas, including incorporating more Filipino influences into her menus and utilizing organic, healthy ingredients in recipes. Her catering business — she had actually started her culinary journey as a caterer — is a go-to favorite among the A-List crowd.

Other honorific titles bestowed on Fores are the Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy) in 2018, and United Nations Ambassador for Gastronomic Tourism in 2019.

Born on 23 March 1959, Fores was the daughter of former Makati Medical Center (MMC) President & CEO, Raul Forés and style icon María Lourdes Araneta and a granddaughter of sugar and property tycoon J. Amado Araneta, who gave his name to Araneta Center — now Araneta City — in Cubao, and Dr. Jose Y. Fores, one of the founders of MMC.

In a 2017 interview with Rogue Magazine, she recounts how the death of the Araneta patriarch in 1985 drove her from New York to Italy the following year, where she immersed herself in learning all about the national cuisine for four months.

The trip imbued her with a passion for food and with the capacity to overcome challenges, including cancer of the thyroid in 2006 and later, cancer of the breast both of which she beat.

Fores ceaselessly traveled, honing her craft and interacting with other chefs and restaurateurs overseas. She was on a trip to Morocco and Madrid and had stopped over Hong Kong on her way back to Manila over the weekend.

She dined in Michelin-starred Indian Chef Palash Mitra’s luxe restaurant, Prince & the Peacock at the Magistracy in Central and was supposed to have re-joined friends again for dinner. She didn’t show up and the next day, Tuesday, worried friends had the hotel check on her suite at The Upper House where she was found, unresponsive.