Unearthing the Roots of the Philippine Organic Farming Pioneer

He had no grand ideas about making it big in the coffee business or any other agricultural endeavor close to it. Being an intrepid businessman with holdings in real estate and various other interests, he had a full plate as it was. He did it for the love of coffee and herbs and vegetables and all the wonderful gourmet things he could do with them.

And so in his earnest desire to enjoy the coffee he wanted, the Gourmet Farms business was born. Gourmet Farms, Inc. started as a roasting company for coffee beans that were traded by another of Escaler’s subsidiaries. At that time, coffee wasn’t the “it” beverage of local urbanities and there wasn’t much of a local market to speak of. Coffee Farmers were planting and harvesting coffee without so much as a grain of technology or business –sense to look for new and sustainable markets.

In those early years (as he still does to this day), Escaler would buy all if not most of their harvest. He would roast the beans and find new markets for coffee. He and his band of coffee-miesters also taught the local farmers newer and more efficient farming techniques.

Filipinos and Starbucks have more in common than a love for mocha frappes and late night espressos. Long before Starbucks peppered the city, his small, almost unknown coffee company based in Tagaytay, was already providing Starbucks’ roasting plant in San Francisco with coffee beans to roast for its own and Seattle’s Best stores.

Twenty Five years down the line and past the coffee craze, Gourmet Farms introduced a new culinary lifestyle in the Philippines – the use of fresh herbs and salads as the main part of the meal.

Having travelled extensively, Escaler found himself in the US in the mid ‘80s at the height of California cuisine’s Chez Panisse and Alice Waters’ fame. He thought it would be great to bring that kind of “healthy and light” approach to food back home. “My mother was a foodie and she would buy all these herbs from Italy and grow them in our house in Parañaque. And we would give them to friends as gifts. “Escaler recalls that there was a time when the only fresh rosemary in town was from rosemary plants they imported from Italy.

Aghast at the absence of fresh, organic herbs and produce, Escaler converted a 2-hectare orchid farm in Tagaytay into an organic farm. Then in 1989, he built a log cabin, the iconic Gourmet’s Café serving what else...coffee, salads and some sandwiches. The Café provided urbanities with a respite from the city amidst the initial 2-hectares in Silang, Cavite that Escaler purchased to farm organically grown lettuces and herbs.

Customers could enjoy freshly brewed coffee while waiting for their produce to be harvested from the Farm out back. “When we started, this was a 30-seater. Then I said, what are we going to serve? We decided to have salad and pasta, then coffee and tea. I was really just to showcase our products – what we were growing in the farm. I wanted to provide a healthy alternative to your unusual lunch.”

Pinoys not normally given a lighter fare like salads, took to Escaler’s idea of fresh gourmet produce. A new wave of healthy cuisine and salad craze ensued. Although running the café wasn’t smooth sailing all the way, Escaler takes pride in “making a contribution to the culinary landscape and healthy eating. And that we are able to provide employment.”

Gourmet Café along Aguinaldo Road became a must for weekend warriors on the road to Tagatay. Its rustic features and country interiors charmed even the most discerning of Manila’s high society. “At our peak, Jobo Fernandez who was the Central Bank Governor then, had to wait in his car for 3 hours just to get a table because we didn’t take reservations.”

“Then even Jaime Zobel called to say that his aunt Mercedes was coming from Spain and wanted to eat at our place. People would come, even on weekdays. We never took reservations, even for friends. And that’s all we served – salads, pasta, sandwiches. It was something new for Filipinos then.” Pinoy diners were coming around and slowly changing their mind about salads and other produce. What once was thought of as provincial peasant fare had turned “gourmet” and “lite”, new buzzwords in the culinary scene.

As word got around, Escaler extended the Café’s products to include bottled dressings, sauces, spreads, flavored oils, herbs and wine vinegar under the brand of Gourmet’s Kitchen Exclusives. Gourmet’s new healthy converts could then replicate the Gourmet taste in their own homes. The coffee/farm business was no longer just a passion but destiny.

Gourmet Farm babies often say that they miss the familiar log cabin perched on the side of the road with the small picnic area cum playground at the back. But the demise of the log cabin gave rise to other structures coming together in Escaler’s grand vision of the farm.

The former 2 hectare plot has grown to 11 hectares. The roadside coffee shop/general store sells everything from locally sourced herbal soaps to the farm’s expanded range of produce, potted herbs, bottled pasta sauces, coffee and herbal teas, and environment-friendly merchandise.

Behind the shop, at the bottom of a gentle slope is a white Mediterranean building with a blue dome. Wooden double doors serve as the dramatic transition from the garden outside to the light, airy space within simple-called The Dining Room.

“The idea here is to leave families celebrate special occasion. It’s like a family comedor where you can bring your children and grandchildren,” says Escaler.

Presiding over The Dining Room is restaurant manager Reign Dimdam, who says they serve some of the café’s old favorites like the ever popular salad bar, some pastas and a few Filipino-inspired dishes.

All the production facilities were incorporated into the farm in recent years. The coffee roasting facility, tea-making, kitchen and packing areas behind The Dining Room make for very interesting and fragrant tours for the farm’s visitors. “What we grow are organic lettuce and 13 culinary herbs. The whole farm-90%-is dedicated to lettuce and herbs, “proudly states Escaler, who relies on a strong management team to oversee every aspect of the farm operations.

Beyond these storehouses lie the still growing farm and Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was initially intended to provide accommodations and a meditation facility for priests and monks. The serenity ad beauty of the place was too much to be kept secret from the public. Soon enough, more and more people kept asking to use the 10-room enclave with the stunning chapel as a venue for private retreats and weddings. Ernest himself only goes to the farm on weekends. “This is my hobby that turned into a nightmare because the bigger you are, the more problems, the more aggravation” he says wryly. Yet despite the aggravation, Escaler remains a visionary.

Born in Manila in 1949, Ernest De Leon Escaler graduated from Ateneo de Manila majoring in Economics and got an MBA from IMD in Lausanne. He’s worn many hats from venture-capitalist, estate manager, producer, project developer to gentleman farmer. But whatever titles are accorded his achievements, Escaler was and always will be a philanthropist at heart.

In the early days of the farm, Escaler would send much of the farm’s excess produce to the nearby convents and seminaries. He jokingly says that maybe that’s why his venture became such a success because “all the nuns and priests were praying for us.”

Gourmet Farms is very much involved in the Tagaytay community. On Sundays, they provide biscuits to the Missionaries of Charity for the children to attend Sunday school. They also treat the Tagaytay prisoners to party every Christmas. From the religious to LGUs all of them have been beneficiaries of Escaler’s charitable streak.

“Whenever local government officials want to showcase Tagaytay or Cavite, they bring the lay group of the Pink Sisters. Everything they need, they ask us. “He also supports the local artists by allowing them wall space in The Dining Room.

Gourmet Farm’s future is clear in Escaler’s mind, “What I want is to bring our food from the farm to your plate, in your home. We’re producing our pre-packed salads that are triple washed when you buy it, you just open it into your bowl, put dressing and eat it. I hope the time will come when I can go straight to the people’s tables. Number 1, you cut the middle men, number 2, you get the products super fresh.”

Gentleman farmer Ernest Escaler wants to continue his legay of sustainable farming practices that benefit both the community and the country. “Our role is to help our county be self-sufficient and not have to be import oriented,” so says the man who despite all the obstacles, continues to dream big for Gourmet Farms and the next twenty five years.

Words by: Sandee Siytangco-Masigan

Photographed by: Greg Mayo