A fair of Ilocandia’s old culinary skills

This year’s Dulang (food) fair, a major activity in the annual Pamulinawen Festival, did not just bring back the Ilocanos’ comfort food. It also reinvented beans (bukbukel) to remind the young of their elders’ practical culinary skills.

The festival last week was a display of how the lowly beans—from mongo, pea and peanut to soybean and sesame—were transformed into creative food fusion by using ingredients from traditional and modern dishes.

The food fair is a component of the month-long Pamulinawen Festival that Laoag City marks annually in honor of its patron, St. William the Hermit.

Pamulinawen has become increasingly popular as among the top festivals in the country, earning recognition as a runner-up in the Best Cultural Festival in 2009, an award given by the Department of Tourism and the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines.

Mary Ang, festival organizer, said she wanted to show through the food fair how the old Ilocanos were practical in preparing dishes.

“In the olden times, people were spending hours in their farms tending their crops. They didn’t have time to go to the market. The most convenient and easiest food to prepare were bean dishes,” she said.

“They can stock them up, dry them or put them in bottles, sacks and cans. Whenever they have visitors and don’t have the time to run to the market, they can take them out and prepare all kinds of viands,” she added.

Ang said the Ilocanos’ reputation as practical could be gleaned from the food they prepared.

“In the olden times, the market was not accessible and it was far. [Going to the market was] tedious. Beans came in handy, especially during the rainy season when there was not much vegetables. Beans were the alternative,” she said.

Derived from the family of legumes, beans are traditional crops that are converted into various dishes and have helped define Ilocano recipes from simple bean-based snacks, like rice cakes, to complete meals.

Ang said the festival has become an avenue for beginning restaurateurs to introduce their original recipes and discover young talents for their culinary skills.

“Through the festival, we recognize locals for their creative culinary ideas. It is also a testing ground for their market viability since food samples are given free to festival-goers,” she said.

The festival included a food competition where participants were required to prepare original dishes, including pastries and juice, using beans.