P’sinan town celebrates Eggplant Festival today

VILLASIS, Pangasinan, Philippines – It’s pinakbet galore here today as the town celebrates its annual Talong (Eggplant) Festival with a cook-off of the Ilocano vegetable dish.

Now on its ninth year, the festival highlights the town’s most popular agricultural produce, the eggplant, with the 21 barangays whipping up their own versions of the pinakbet.

Mayor Libradita Abrenica, whose husband, former mayor Nato Abrenica, started the festival during his term, said the municipal government is giving each barangay 30 kilos of eggplant, 10 kilos each of ampalaya (bitter gourd) and tomatoes, two kilos of sili, and four kilos of okra (lady’s finger) to cook pinakbet.

It’s up to the barangays to add other ingredients such as longganisa, bagnet (crispy pork belly) or prawns, she said.  

After the judging, residents can partake of the pinakbet dishes “until supply lasts,” the mayor said.

Municipal agriculturist Cornelio Atchuela said the town remains as the top eggplant producer in Pangasinan and Region 1 with a production of 4,100 metric tons last year. Eggplants are grown in 410 hectares of land.

Atchuela said the town is able to sustain its good production of eggplants with different technologies like the use of organic fertilizers and soil conditioner, use of a hybrid variety, right timing for irrigation, and correct practices on pest and disease management.

Eggplant-producing barangays include Piaz, Caramutan, Lipay, Barangobong, Puelay, Amamperez, and San Blas with some 700 farmers raising the vegetable. 

Yesterday, elementary and high school students took part in a new contest, Villasis Heritage on a Canvas, where they made drawings of their perception of their town.