VILLASIS–—If pinakbet is your favorite vegetable fare, then you should find yourself in this town on January 16 for a chance to be able to consumer as much as your can!

Get right into the middle of the Talong Festival when Pinakbet sa Kawa contest will be staged, where 1,232 kilos of vegetables that make pinakbet a delicious dish will be cooked simultaneously to be partaken by the townsfolk.

Pinakbet is a popular Ilocano dish with mixed vegetables steamed with bagoong or patis.

Mayor Dita Abrenica said each of the 21 barangays will be provided 56 kilos of pinakbet ingredients (30 kilos of talong, 10 kilos ampalaya, 10 kilos tomatoes, four kilos okra and two kilos siling haba) and will cook these in a kawa (a big cooking device) in front of the town hall in time for lunch.

The sahog (other ingredients), i.e., meat, fish or prawns and other condiments, will be provided by the barangays depending on their preferred recipes.

This year’s edition will be the 10th year for the Pinakbet sa Kawa as well. It started in 2005 under the administration of then Mayor Nato Abrenica, Mayor Dita’s husband.

The Talong Festival has since created higher public awareness and demand for the main product, the long purple eggplant variety.

Through the festival, talong lovers discovered its varied uses through the 101 Ways to Cook Talong Cookbook that was produced from recipes actually cooked and won in previous Talong Festivals.

“We can rightfully claim that we are the talong capital and we are the best producer of this agricultural crop,” she added.

Aside from the Pinakbet sa Kawa and 101 Ways to Cook Talong on Jan. 16, there will also be street dancing. (Tita Roces)

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