Fried rice feeds 15,000 people in Baguio

BAGUIO City—A huge dish of fried rice fed at least 15,000 people here during the annual celebration of the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism (HRT) Weekend on Saturday.

The fried rice, served in a 7.62-meter dish, came in 13 recipes prepared by nine restaurants here. It used about 500 kg of rice.

Among these fried rice varieties are paella negra, tinapa fried rice, nasi goreng, chicken congee, Yangzhou chao fan, Gilligan’s fried rice, de recado and hamonado fried rice, pork adobo fried rice with squid rings, crispy dinuguan fried rice with lemon twist, yang chow fried rice, Asian vegetable and brown rice risotto, and the classic paella.

A restaurant served the Cordillera indigenous rice variety kintoman (red rice) with bagnet (deep fried pork) and puto bumbong (rice cake).

Mary Lou Galiste, executive director of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio, the event’s organizer, said the activity, called “Rice and Shine,” was a tribute to Filipino farmers.

She said through the event, they also hoped to educate the public about the many ways to prepare the staple.

“We wanted to show that rice can be cooked not only as kanin (steamed rice), it can be presented as rice with ulam (viand) in one dish,” Galiste said.

The HRT Weekend, held from September 1 to 3, also featured cooking showdowns; bartending, baking, food presentation and ice sculpting competitions; quiz show; talent show; and beauty pageant that were participated in by hotel and restaurant management students from Baguio and other provinces, mostly in northern Luzon.—Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon