Tasting Pangasinan

In my last post, I talked about how wonderful it is to learn about stories of people you meet when travelling. Isn’t it heart-warming to feel how comfortable they are in sharing with you, a person whom they’ve just met, some of the most significant fragments of their lives?

This time, though, I won’t be talking about another story I was enlightened on during another travel. But this post is something about one of the most exciting activities you can do when travelling—food trip.

Cela's Tapa and Meat Products' version of the ever famous pigar-pigar. You can find that in Mangaldan, Pangasinan.

Pangasinan boasts of not only cool tourist destinations and scenic views but also of delicious foods and delicacies that will tickle your palate—another good reason for you to travel to this place. So, if you’re looking for that perfect destination for your food trip, head out to Pangasinan.

As one of the advocacies of Google Business Group (GBG) Pangasinan and Dagupan chapters that is the promotion of food tourism in the province, Pangasinan Food Tour made tummies glad and full on Jan. 10-12. The event which was another awesome way to kick off 2014 with is a prelude to the upcoming creation of a food map in Pangasinan.

Indeed, Pangasinan is a total package when it comes to food. The best tasting bangus (milk fish) is in Dagupan City. That sticky puto (rice cake) with a texture you've been looking for is in Calasiao. How about a mouth-watering bagoong (fish sauce) and alamang (sautéed shrimp paste) that can be a perfect match to your grilled bangus and green mangoes? You'll find both in Lingayen.

Whatever food you’re craving for, Pangasinan surely has that. And expect the satisfaction your taste buds will get.

Pangasinan Food Tour 2014 featured seven towns—Alcala, Laoac, Pozorrubio, Mangaldan, Calasiao, Binmaley and Lingayen—and one city—Dagupan. Guests coming from Manila and from the media, and our team visited several restaurants and eateries during the three-day event, making my stomach so full it felt like it would burst.

Some of them offered regular finds like inihaw na bangus and hito (catfish), and kare-kare. Others dared to be different by adding a twist to ordinary dishes—like putting tomato sauce in pinakbet and making a clam soup spicy. Still others weren’t contented and created their very own recipe out of the available ingredients in the province—like the bangus siomai and veggie noodles.

But, it wasn’t just my tummy that was happy; my heart was glad as well, for I got the chance to know more about the place I live in.

It may have been a job-related task of tasting food and dumping everything served in front of us into my stomach, but I also consider it a reward after a year of hard work. Still, I would say that the event was another great—and tasty—combination of work and leisure, something I've quite loved since getting this job.

Well, I’ll leave the excitement hanging for now. You’ll get to know more about the restaurants and eateries we featured, and our delectable finds in my succeeding posts. Meantime, let your taste buds crave as you feast on photos posted on my Instagram account.