January 4, 2021 | 12:04 am Advertisement AAA For these two chefs, food becomes more than mere sustenance but a symbol of hope for better times. 1 of 3 A PRE-PANDEMIC reading corner session of Bolanday. SOME of over 300 families in Marikina and Rizal who received Gourmet Gypsy Noche Buena packs. — FACEBOOK.COM/WAYA.ARAOSWIJANGCO WORKING at making tinola to feed 4,000 people of Balsain and Annafunan in Cagayan, in the wake of typhoon Ulysses. — FACEBOOK.COM/WAYA.ARAOSWIJANGCO EVEN as the restaurant’s main branch along Quezon City’s Roces Ave. was forced to close after pandemic restrictions decimated the bottom line, requiring a major pivot to their second branch cum school which adapted to the needs of the times, Waya Araos-Wijangco’s restaurant, Gourmet Gypsy Art Cafe, has been feeding frontliners since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Since then, various disasters have hammered the country, including particularly the devastating typhoons Rolly and Ulysses. Ms. Araos-Wijangco helped out with relief operations for families in need in Cagayan Valley due to the ravages of Typhoon Rolly by helping set up a mobile kitchen there in partnership with Art Relief Mobile Kitchen; more recently, she gave a merry Christmas to families in Marikina and Rizal who were affected by Typhoon Ulysses.