21 versions of ‘pinakbet’ at ‘talong’ fest

VILLASIS, Pangasinan—Add cupfuls of “bagoong” (fish paste) to 750 kilos of eggplant, 250 kilos of ampalaya, 250 kilos of tomatoes, 4 kilos of okra and 2 kilos of “sili” to produce 21 versions of the traditional Ilocano stew we all know as “pinakbet.”

Large vats containing pinakbet fed hundreds of residents who attended this farming town’s annual celebration of the Talong Festival on Friday.

The “Pinakbet sa Kawa” is one of the features of the weeklong fiesta celebration started in 2009. The first festival required residents to grill rows of eggplants on the streets.

Romeo Abrenica, chair of the event, said the 21 versions of pinakbet were contest entries of villages, which designated barangay officials and the barangay health workers as their cooking teams.

He said the villages were handed a uniform set of ingredients but were allowed to add their own vegetable ingredients to make the traditional recipe more nutritious and palatable.

For instance, the entry of Barangay Baraca used “malungay” leaves in its pinakbet. Many rival villagers saw the ingredient and poked fun at Baraca cooks, Abrenica said.

“Some asked us if we were cooking ‘tinola’ (chicken stew). But malunggay leaves are nutritious and make the pinakbet tastier,” he said.

The pinakbet recipes were judged on their nutritive value, presentation and general appearance and preparation.

Pinakbet comes from the word “pinakebbet,” meaning to shrink, because the vegetables wrinkle when thrown into the mix.

The participants cooked their meals from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Fiesta-

goers sampled the meals down to the last morsel at 11 a.m.

The cook fest was not meant to break any record, Abrenica said. It was not even meant to be a contest but “we just decided to turn it into a contest to give incentive to the villagers,” he said. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon