Banga Food Festival in Balanga City opened

BALANGA City, Bataan – This component city in Bataan on Thursday opened its Banga Food Festival with a One Town One Product (OTOP) Trade Fair, cooking contest and cultural dancing at the crowd-filled Plaza Mayor.

The festival has for the theme “OTOP ng Bayan, Sagisag ng Kasaganaan.” Mayor Jose Enrique “Joet” Garcia said that Balanga is a high-tech city but has not forgotten agriculture that continues to be vibrant. “Masigla ang agrikultura sa Balanga kaya ito’y nakakatulong sa food security hindi lamang ng lungsod kundi ng bansa man,” the mayor said.

On sale at affordable prices are dried and smoked fish, bottled bagoong, various vegetables, delicacies, fruits like mangoes, noodles, okoy, balot, penoy, camote, corn, melon, dried squid, buko juice, suman, kalamay and different cooked food described as lutong bahay. Most of the cooked foods are in small clay jars known locally as banga.

Students from the Bataan National High School provided entertainment through folk dancing while chefs from 11 well-known restaurants in the city prepared different recipes in the cooking
contest. Prepared were malungay seafood broccoli, alupihang dagat with coconut milk and malungay leaves, chicken kanunyagan, malungay shrimp foo yong, Ika Sagi with moringa sauce, prawns with coco-malunggay sauce, spicy chicken fillet, malungay pesto ravioli and tilapia fillet in malunggay pesto sauce and another with malunggay also as main ingredient.

“Hindi lamang masarap ang mga iniluto kundi masustansiya pa,” Garcia said. Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Gaudencio Ferrer, SP committee on agriculture chairman, lauded the city for its various programs for farmers.