Presidential sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz shared that food plays an integral part in the Aquino family and that her brother, President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III, can cook his own meals and usually settles for simple food such as pizza, hamburgers, dimsum, among others.

This was related to some members of the press when the Manila Hotel invited Aquino-Cruz as a guest of honor in line with its promotion of local delicacies from Pampanga for the month of July.

“He (President Aquino) can cook his meals. He’s so simple, he can survive with corned beef, bacon…but he can cook, if he’s really hungry,” adding that the president is fond of hamburgers.

“During the campaign, he survived eating just fastfood hamburgers. But he also likes trying different kinds of hamburgers in restaurants,” said Aquino-Cruz, although she noted that the president is “not into hotdogs ata.”

She also mentioned that Kapampangan cuisine is something close to the siblings’ hearts.

“We like sweet stuff, like tocino,” she said.

Meanwhile, Aquino-Cruz recalled that their late mother, President Corazon Aquino, would cook spaghetti with meatballs especially when it came to their weekly family reunions on Sundays.

“There are no exact proportions for the spaghetti with meatballs,” Aquino-Cruz said, adding that it was probably the motherly love of the former president that made the dish special.

When asked of who among the siblings loves to cook the most?

“Maybe Kris would be the best, believe it or not,” said Aquino-Cruz.