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The Pinoy Foodie in Iloilo: A gastronomic and historic welcome in Sta. Barbara

It started last March during the Sooo Pinoy event of Unilever Food Solutions in Iloilo when I met Ms Maricar Erese, the Executive Producer of the TV show THE PINOY FOODIE. The show is hosted by the (self proclaimed she always say) "Adobo Queen" Nancy Reyes Lumen and shown every Sunday 830am on GMA NEWS TV. Plans of having the said show shoot in Iloilo began to take form and just last week, I co-organized the The Pinoy Foodie Iloilo Food and Heritage shoot with Mr. Eugene Jamerlan, among others, that spanned 3 days of non-stop eating, shooting and more eating ...
It all began with a breakfast in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo hosted by the Municipal Tourism Officer Ms. Irene Magallon. Everybody digged in the delectable “pamahaw” prepared by Ms Irene consisting of kusahos (a local beef tapa version which is sundried for days), binodo (tuyo that has been “soaked” in salt for days then fried and finally having a vinegar as broth), linagpang nga bangrus with guinamos (grilled milkfish then stewed in sauteed local bago-ong called guinamos) and kadyos, manok kag ubad (a dish of local beans, native chicken and the pith of the banana tree). Completing the breakfast were chorizo recado, kalkag (shrimp fry) fried rice and boneless dilis. 
With the town hall, centennial museum, Gen. Martin Delgado monument and one of the biggest flags in the Philippines as backdrop, the show began shooting with a cooking segment sponsored by Solane (formerly Shellane). 
Ms Nancy together with two  Santa Barbara barangay nutrition scholars, cooked an Ilonggo favorite dish – kadyos, manok kag ubad. Read more about this dish.
Changing backdrop to the historic Sta. Barbara Parish Church, the trio then dished up Linagpang nga Bangrus with Guinamos. An easy to prepare that involves grilling and stewing.  Read more about this dish.
 After a quick tour inside the church and convent, snacks of native delicacies followed consisting of baye-baye, bingka, puto lansom, bandi and kamote juice as food finds. And we then discovered how the delectable bingkas are made by Sta. Barbara's bingka queen, Leling (right) in her makeshift stall.
And finally, a shoot inside the Original Jaspe Baye-Baye in Brgy. Cabugao Sur for the mouth-watering baye-baye, considered to be one of the most popular Ilonggo native delicacy.
It was a day (actually just half of daytime) full of great food finds as well as Ilonggo food and food ways as The Pinoy Foodie started their food and heritage tour around Iloilo. And surely there will be more to come ...
Ms Nancy Lumen proudly wearing her souvenir T-shirt from Sta. Barbara beside Ms Irene Magallon.

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