Push Admin

This Culinary Contest Helps Preserve Ilonggo Heritage

Tabu-an is a unique regional culinary competition that spotlights Ilonggo heritage cuisine and ingredients

Article (news)

Michaela Fenix 

<p>How exhilarating to be back in <a href="https://metro.style/food/features/iloilo-named-unesco-creative-city-of-gastrono/36571" target="_blank">Iloilo City</a> not only to attend but also to judge the tenth year of <strong>Tabu-an</strong>, the Western Visayas culinary competition. While this tenth year had bigger tents for each group, set amidst the grassy open area of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/smcityiloilo" target="_blank">SM City Iloilo</a>, the early years had venues that looked like a driveway and one that seemed like part of a garage. No matter, one could feel the enthusiasm of the contestants to show off what they know of their province’s cooking. Then, on its 8th year, to use the term of the younger generation, the “level-up” happened when the location moved to the <a href="http://iloiloconventioncenter.com/" target="_blank">Iloilo Convention Center</a> though the cooking was still done outside considering how the methods involved using firewood and charcoal.</p><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3Dpfbid02w2p5pvomoKE4UA6w6RjDaqeF2UVNpreA3fAHJMVs6nJGFQJfztdiJeUVXWqS3h1Zl%26id%3D100009218241114&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500" width="500" height="648" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>Tabu-an will always be the best culinary competition for me because it preserves the heritage cooking of the region by using the ingredients of the place, the cooking vessels, and the cooking methods. And while the final outcome will reflect the taste and aroma that are needed, the presentation brings such heritage cooking to the present, worthy to be served as gourmet cooking anywhere in the world. After all, the contestants are from the culinary schools in the region.</p><div><br/></div><p>The indefatigable founder and organizer of the yearly Tabu-an is<strong> Rafael “Tibong” Jardeleza</strong>. He had just ended a successful food festival <a href="https://metro.style/food/features/the-manila-hotel-cafe-ilang-ilang-west-visayan-buf/36112" target="_blank">“Flavors of Western Visayas” at The Manila Hotel</a> in August where he cooked and showed just how to present his region’s cooking to the capital city. Then immediately after, he conducted several competitions throughout the region to choose who would represent the Western Visayas provinces. The ten contestants for 2023 were from Lambunao municipality of Iloilo, Guimaras, Roxas City in Capiz, Aklan, Antique,  and in Negros Occidental, San Carlos City and Bacolod City.</p><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F100009218241114%2Fvideos%2F353712797191790%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=560&amp;t=0" width="616px" height="441px" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>With the teams’ recipes on hand, I disturbed their cooking by asking about ingredient names or cooking methods which are usually in Hiligaynon. Even if I’ve judged through eight years of the competition, there are still new terms to learn. For instance, <em>bichuelas</em> is white kidney beans, <em>agihis</em> is small clams or <em>tulya</em> in Tagalog, <em>papisik</em> is cooking in a pot, <em>kinusipad</em> is shredded. The funniest was an Aklan dessert–<em>nagaeugaeog, <u></u></em><u>by </u><u></u>competitor Team Blue Flame. This is a milky dessert named after the Aklanon word, &#x27;to wallow,&#x27; and is a reference to a popular Aklanon tongue twister about a carabao wallowing in a mudhole. You may not be able to pronounce it correctly, but they got the last laugh because their dessert won third place— it is cassava cake with carabao’s milk, toasted desiccated coconut, paired with ginger ice cream topped with coconut curd (<em>latik</em>).</p><div><br/></div><p>Appetizers were first to be cooked. Yet appetizer in the Ilonggo context is quite different from the Western meaning. Jardeleza explained that it is the Ilonggo abregana can mean breakfast food, merienda, as well as a small tastings at the beginning of a meal.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/87c63e86-1fa5-474f-8a10-06c96fd9a08c_a.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Tabu-an celebrates traditional cooking using the old methods <span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Kevin de Asis   </em></span></span></span></span></div><p>Apart from appetizers, each team had to cook a main course and dessert. But once a course was finished, it was presented to the judges, complete with the explanation of the dish and including instructions on how to proceed to taste.</p><div><br/></div><p>For the abregana, top winner was <strong>Team Uma</strong> who cooked the ubiquitous <em>batchoy—</em>soup of pork innards with miki noodles. While quite simple and seemed ordinary, it was outstanding in flavor, had no pork pieces but the flavors were there and accompanied by the usual <em>puto</em> the team made from scratch.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/848f2ce3-756a-4530-b8b3-74a5318ada73_1 banner.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">First prize, appetizer category: batchoy by Team Uma<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Kevin de Asis  </em></span></span></span></span></div><p>Second place was <strong>Team Cocina Brigada </strong>who cooked a rice porridge, <em>linugaw nga ugat</em> (beef tendon) <em>kag prepilla</em> (with beef tripe) <em>nga may tinapa nga tiloy</em> (with smoked tamban or herring)</p><div><br/></div><p>Third place was <strong>Team Iloilo Province</strong> who presented <em>pinamarhan</em> na alumpiran nga pantat kag urang (braised mudfish and fresh water shrimp soured by a wild vine called alumpiran).</p><div><br/></div><p>The main course had <strong>Team Kasinamnam</strong> as top winner with their Callos de Iloilo. The team was quite impressive because they made their own chorizo Español and morcillas on competition day itself, worrying that those would not be ready when it was time to cook.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/3ab1a456-db6f-4e8b-97c6-c551c5ee59cc_2.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">First prize, main course: Callos de Iloilo by Team Kasinamnam<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Kevin de Asis   </em></span></span></span></span></div><p>Second place was Team Uma again with their <em>Tuba sa Nipa Pato</em>. The <em>pato</em> (duck) they roasted onsite was stuffed with lemongrass and <em>sambag</em> leaves, an herb also known as <em>sampa-sampalukan</em> because its much like the tamarind leaves, then presented with a wrapped glutinous rice (<em>pusô</em>) cooked with <em>tuba</em> <em>sa nipa</em> (sweet sap from the nipa palm).</p><div><br/></div><p>Third place was Team Cocina Brigada whose entry needed a longish name because all ingredients were mentioned—<em>bat-ang nga pata sang kanding </em>(grilled then boiled goat shank) <em>saVino sang Bugnay kag tablea Tsokolate </em>(then cooked in<em> bugnay</em> (ild berries) wine, fruit juices and alcoholic flavorings and thickened with chocolate).</p><div><br/></div><p>Dessert top notcher was Team Kasinamnam who presented an array of sweets known at specific places in the region—Balasan <em>cassava bibingka</em> (rice cake), Ilonggo butterscotch <em>sorbetes</em> (ice cream), <em>casuy bandi</em> (cashew brittle) from Antique, <em>bugnay</em> (wild berries) -poached mango with Calinog Tsokolate Ah.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/d03ec22d-d61b-4381-946e-c6b908fb05cd_3.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">First prize, dessert category by Team Kasinamnam<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Kevin de Asis   </em></span></span></span></span></div><p>Second place was Team Cocina Brigada with Dinulce nga Ube Sorbetes, Pastel de Leche, Quezo de Bola-Pinipig (milk cake spread with ube ice cream and ube halaya, and a tuile of queso de bola and pounded young rice). </p><div><br/></div><p>Third place was introduced earlier, the tongue-twister from Aklan.</p><div><br/></div><p>We, the judges, all agreed that through those ten years of Tabu-an, this group was the best, so far, dishes cooked perfectly with creative presentations. The overall champions were decided by the number of winning entries in each category. Team Cocina Brigada was the topnotcher with a place in all the categories. The runners-up both had two winning entries—Team Kasinamnam and Team Uma. </p><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsmcityiloilo%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0gmf3NNz1bin2Mg6Mjx47pRodNnZqATVtHtSWFVgFyTLUmkrKv3DtMLR6UUKTAcn4l&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500" width="500" height="250" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div><div><br/></div><p>	Shortly after, the announcement of winners was made during the program all receiving trophies with the heavy mortar and pestle, the symbol of Tabu-an, medals and congratulations from the judges. For us judges, a well-deserved thank you to sponsors SM City Iloilo, Southwest Tours and media partners. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Related Story: </strong><a href="/food/features/iloilo-named-unesco-creative-city-of-gastrono/36571" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Iloilo Is Now A UNESCO Creative City Of Gastronomy</a></div><div><em>Lead photo: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/smcityiloilo" target="_blank">SM City Iloilo Facebook page</a></em></div>