A new flavour for the Dinagyang 2011 Food Festival

Aside from the dances, drums and colorful costumes, Dinagyang also means food and Iloilo City has a lot to offer during this 3-day event. The festival brings them to the streets with the much awaited Dinagyang Food Festival. For four days, major streets in the city are lined with food stalls and kiosks that everywhere one turns it all about food.

As this article states, major streets in Iloilo City will have a food festival there will be plenty of places to indulge in during Dinagyang 2011.

ILOILO City's world-famous Dinagyang Festival will turn the spotlight on Ilonggo cuisine this year.

Tourists are encouraged to try chicken barbecue the Ilonggo way and other tasty local dishes during the festival.

There are also the world-famous Ilonggo delicacies and other concoctions to bring home after enjoying the Dinagyang ati-atihan and Kasadyahan competitions.

Not only that. The 1st Iloilo Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB) International Food Festival 2011 will attempt to dominate major streets in the city on January 20-23, to showcase international dishes for the festival revelers and visitors.

Similarly, members of the Iloilo Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association (IHRRA) will also hold a food festival on the same date on top of food festivals hosted by other beverage and wine companies and shopping malls.

Not to be outdone, the Iloilo Provincial Government will hold yet another food festival at the capitol grounds, where the city's and the province's restaurants will compete with one another.

Organization-sponsors for the food festival will try to outdo each other with their best menus, according to city tourism officer Ben Jimena. This way, the food festival areas will augment the food strips along the major streets in downtown Iloilo.

Meanwhile, the City Council approved the city tourism office's request to close off the food festival sites. From the original site on Delgado Street beside the Amigo mall, the expanded food festival area will now cover other streets considered as routes of the Dinagyang parade.

The ICVB, headed by former tourism undersecretary Salvador Sarabia Jr., will hold the first international food festival at the half-lane of Ledesma St., starting from the corner of Valeria to the corner of Quezon St.

Meanwhile, IHRRA, headed by Dr. Sandra Sarabia Gomez, will hold its festival at the half-lane of Ledesma from Iznart to Quezon St.

Road closure will also be implemented at Delgado St. from Iznart to Quezon for the food festival and from Ledesma to Valeria St. until Gen. Luna to accommodate the participating restaurants' kiosks.

A food strip will also be in place at the long strip of Iznart from Ledesma to the provincial capitol area.

Jimena said the food festival area is a testament to the Ilonggo hospitality and love for good food, which visitors need to taste. (Lydia C. Pendon)

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region. Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of batwan and the malinamnam na sabaw . One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces 1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit (or tamarind powder) 1 piece pork broth cube (

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home. A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ". Here's the recipe for Valenciana

Takway

The gabi (taro) is just one of those plants which is edible from "roots to tops". The most popular of which is the tuber part which is used in a variety of dishes and mostly in combination with coconut milk. Its leaves, of course, is the main ingredient of a Bicol specialty, laing . It is dried then chopped and sauteed with other ingredients including, again, coconut milk. Then there is takway . The local term for its tendrils/runner, that part which is torn between being a stem or a root for it neither grows upwards nor downwards - it grows sideways . Scraped off of its outer skin, takway is often a key ingredient in vegetable dishes like laswa and the gabi tuber with coconut milk and local snails know as bago-ngon . It is also popular when cooked adobo style with guinamos , the local bago-ong . It is very popular in the region that even big supermarkets sell takway in style - cleaned and plastic wrapped in styro with some additions to make it easier to prepare.

Batwan

Ilonggos know batwan or batuan by heart as the fruit is almost endemic to the Western Visayas. Its scientific name is Garcinia binucao, derived from the Tagalog name for the fruit, binukaw. It is a large green fruit with large seeds and its a favorite souring ingredient in most Ilonggo dishes especially KBL or kadyos, baboy, langka and the Ilonggo-style paksiw known as "pinamalhan". It is characterized by a tamed sourness compared to tamarind and kamias . The fruit is sold by pieces or kilo in wet markets and even big grocery stores. Batwan is the preferred souring ingredients for the Ilonggo favorite- KBL. The photo shows boiled batwan with skin and without skin (right) A favorite riddle when we were young - "Among the many fruits in the forest, but one (batuan) is the best. What is it?"

A native (foods) welcome in Guimaras

Even after having breakfast less than an hour that time, we couldn't say no to this lot of native delciacies that welcomed us in Guimaras. First and foremost, Guimaras best known produce is their sweet mango famous almost worldwide. And it comes with it's best partner, ibos. This brown baye-baye variety is made from toasted rice thus giving it a more disctinct flavour compared to it's more "caucasian" cousin. I like the one wrapped in banana leaves compared with the one in plastic for it gives it a more native feel. So when you're in Guimaras, be sure to check out the markets for these native delicacies that can make your trip more gastronomically satisfying.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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