Baguio girds for longest ‘longanisa’ attempt

BAGUIO CITY — This highland city is girding for a record-breaking attempt for the longest longanisa (meat sausage).

The Sept. 30 feat is the first of its kind for local longanisa makers since the city had its own recipe of the Filipino delicacy in 1946, just after the Second World War.

Session Road, the city’s main thoroughfare, will be closed to traffic as the 3.5 kilometer-long longanisa is unveiled.

Nancy Alabanza, of the Alabanza Meat Store which is leading the event, said the feat would need 30 hogs or 1,061 kilos of pork costing P150,000 — from just 500 kilos the organizers initially planned three months ago.

From an initial 24,000 pieces of longanisa, the target is now 96,000.

Anthony de Leon, president of the Baguio Tourism Council, shrugged off any "competition" with the longanisa of other places. "We are like comparing apples and oranges," he said.

Vonda Alabanza, however, said the original Baguio longanisa is distinct from that of Vigan or Pampanga. "We don’t want to compare and compete," she said.

"We are only highlighting Baguio’s own longanisa" as part of the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Baguio (HRAB) Week, De Leon said.

He wanted Baguio’s image as a tourism capital to be "repackaged" amid stiff competition from other Philippine tourist destinations like Boracay.

The previous HRAB Week featured attempts for the longest raisin bread and the biggest carrot cake. Although the feats fell short of Guinness records, they placed Baguio City in the global tourism map.

Refusing to divulge Baguio’s original longanisa recipe, which the Alabanzas consider "a trade secret," De Leon said, "The pudding is in the eating."

What the Alabanzas can disclose though is that no preservatives are used in the longanisa recipe.

From only seven stalls selling longanisa at the public market in 1946, the industry now boasts of 85 outlets.

Sought for comment, Vigan City Mayor Ferdinand Medina, who is in Sweden together with some local officials for a trade mission, said, "Sabihin mo sa kanila, pinakamasarap pa rin ang Vigan longanisa (Tell them that the Vigan longanisa is still the most delicious)."

He added though that he sees nothing wrong with Baguio’s staging of its longanisa event, noting that Vigan has been celebrating its Longanisa Festival for six years now.

"We only want to show a touch of Baguio," HRAB officer Cathy de la Rosa said. "We should bring back what people look for in Baguio (like longanisa, peanut brittle, and strawberry, among other things)."