Passion is a gift, and a life without passion is a life not lived at all.

Margarita “Gaita” Forés embodied this truth, her legacy defined by an all-consuming love for food that fueled innovation, influence, and inspiration. She transformed the Filipino palate, refining its sensibilities and expanding its horizons through her deep love for Italian cuisine.

That kind of passion is inseparable from deep pleasure.

A 2021 Instagram video shows Forés dining at L’Arpège, the three-Michelin-starred Parisian restaurant owned by Chef Alain Passard. She kept wiping away her tears, breathless with overwhelming ecstasy. Her spoon hovered mid-air, halted by a surge of emotion, as she tasted Passard’s signature “holy grail” dish—carpaccio of langoustines with cream and caviar. She had no words, only a caption: “A true affirmation that I chose the right industry to be a part of.”

On 11 February, Forés was found dead in her hotel room at the Hong Kong Admiralty Hotel. She was 65. The culinary world reeled, and the grief extended beyond chefs and restaurateurs. She left an indelible mark on those who had tasted not just her food, but her passion and generosity.

The day she was found unresponsive, she had been expected at a luncheon — a midday meal she would have talked about with enthusiasm in her posts. Her last restaurant visit was to the celebrated Prince and the Peacock in Hong Kong, where she gushed over lamb patties with spice and pickled shallots in her Instagram stories.

A progenitor of Italian cuisine in the Philippines, Forés was more than a chef; she was a force of cultural transformation. Decades before the advent of social media influencers, she shaped the way her countrymen thought about food, drawing them into a world where quality, authenticity, and heritage mattered.

A soul for food

That fire had been lit decades earlier when her family — the prominent Araneta clan — left Manila for New York City in the harsh winter of 1971. At that time, Italian food was shifting from mere immigrant fare to a refined and influential cuisine in America.

By the 1980s, Forés was absorbing it all, navigating the trattorias of Manhattan with the keen hunger of an apprentice. What she tasted in those years — from authentic Italian pasta to the boldness of an unfamiliar ingredient — would define her future.

In 1986, at 25, possessed by a burning obsession, she left for Italy, bypassing the rigidity of traditional culinary schools for the warmth of real kitchens. She trained under three chefs in Florence, Rome, and Milan — but it was in the homes of ordinary Italian families that she found her true education. This was her edge: An intuition guided not by formal training but by market visits, by the way an Italian mother kneaded dough, and by the unspoken wisdom of generations passed down at an Italian dinner table.

But while she was a Negrense with the soul of an Italian, her devotion to Filipino food was just as fierce. Forés understood that cuisine was more than sustenance; it was history, identity, and storytelling. She saw it as a responsibility — to exalt Filipino food on the world stage and to bring the best of Italian gastronomy home.

In 1997, she founded Cibo, a restaurant that introduced Filipinos to the elegant ease of modern Italian dining. What followed was an empire: Lusso, with its unapologetic decadence; Grace Park, a farm-to-table restaurant; Alta at Ascott; and The Loggia.

The accolades came swiftly. In 2016, she was named Asia’s Best Female Chef by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Two years later, the Italian government knighted her, awarding her the Order of the Star of Italy for her contributions to Italian culture abroad.

Her influence, however, extended beyond restaurants. She became a UN Ambassador for Gastronomy and hosted culinary travel shows. Through her company, Cibo M, she curated wedding feasts for numerous celebrities. Her career was built on service — feeding, educating, and cultivating joy through food.

Burning bright

When the news of her passing broke, tributes flooded in. Beyond the brilliance of her craft, those who knew her spoke of her warmth, her benevolence, and her refusal to be anything but fully present for the people she cherished.

Chef Vicky Cheng, for one, called her “one of the kindest people to ever exist.” Chef Chele Gonzalez remembered her positive energy and the joy she spread.

In a beautiful tribute video by Erwan Heussaff on his FEATR digital video channel, Forés appears as she always was: hair pulled back in a ponytail, eyes twinkling with delight, her smile wide and genuine as she said: “I’ve always been a rebel and a survivor. But above all, I’m a mother who loves to make life and living more beautiful and delicious for others.”

At the time of her death, she was between journeys. She had just come from Morocco and Madrid, and Hong Kong was an extended layover before her return home. But somewhere in the quiet of a hotel room, her soul slipped into permanent sleep. Her spirit took its final flight — 700 miles away from Manila.

Yet, her legacy continues its journey home, not only through the institutions she built but through the lives she touched. After all, nearly 40 years of dedication do not fade overnight; her passion still burns brightly, even in her absence. As her mentee and friend, Miko Calo, wrote on social media, “We will continue what you’ve started.”