‘Kalamay’ eating in Pulang-Angui Festival

MEN line up in the “kalamay”-eating contest of the Pulang-Angui Festival on June 28. Kalamay is made of hardened sugarcane juice and coconut milk molded in half of a coconut shell. MICHAEL B. JAUCIAN

FIFTEEN brave men, all residents of this town, lined up in a long table on Sunday, hoping to be the first to finish in the kalamay-eating contest, one of the highlights of the Pulang-Angui Festival held on June 4-30 in Polangui town, Albay province.

The contest, now on its second year, has been a crowd favorite, as it tested not only a person’s strong will, but also his strong teeth because he had to bite into the kalamay, which is made of hardened sugarcane juice and coconut milk molded in half of a coconut shell.

Kalamay is one of the two ingredients in making coco jam. The other one is coconut milk. It is also used in sweetening pili nuts and peanuts for panocha and other desserts. When melted, it is a perfect match for suman and latik.

Polangui Mayor Cherry Sampal said one of the main objectives of the contest was to showcase and promote kalamay, which is “very healthy for human consumption and a very good ingredient for making desserts.”

In front of about a hundred spectators at the town hall grounds, contestants started to dig their teeth into the kalamay at exactly 10 a.m. on June 28.

Nelson Barona, 35, a resident of Barangay Gamot, emerged a winner after eating kalamay in just 10 minutes. He received a P5,000 cash prize.

Barona said he did not expect to win because all he wanted was to have fun and test his teeth if it were indeed still healthy and strong.

He said he “enjoyed” the competition, but described it as “tough.”

“I never imagined that I can eat hardened sugarcane which is almost as hard as a rock,” he said teary-eyed, while touching and checking his teeth.

Catalino Reodigue, 39, of Barangay Pinagtabguan, finished second, with a time of 14 minutes.

Like Barona, Reodigue said he was surprised he was able to eat the kalamay at all.

“My technique was to chew it fast and drink lots of water so it (kalamay) will be pushed fast directly to my stomach,” he said.

The other contestants who failed to win in the contest complained that the kalamay was “very hard and sticky.”

But for them, joining the contest was considered a “very rare experience.” They were given P500 as consolation prize.

Polangui is one of the top producers of kalamay in the country, having about a hundred hectares of sugarcane plantation.