TABUK CITY, Kalinga (PIA) – Tabuk City championed local ingredients and the talents of its homegrown chefs and cooks in the Mangwa Culinary Challenge on Nov. 28, 2024 at the Tabuk City People’s gymnasium.
Supported by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Kalinga, the competition aimed to promote Tabuk’s food culture and showcase Tabukeños’ culinary flair as it challenged the participants to create a dish that incorporates local ingredients, which could potentially become the city’s new delicacy.
“The reason we included a cooking competition [in the Mangwa Creative Festival] is to showcase or promote the culinary heritage and the agricultural abundance of Tabuk City. We need to showcase din our creative skill on preparing a [dish] that can be promoted as a new delicacy for Tabuk City,” said Kevin Racraquin, Trade and Industry Development Analyst of the DTI-Kalinga.
“Soon there will be a project that we will be launching then the winning recipe will be having a public tasting for all Tabukeños,” Racraquin said.
Among the ten contestants, the team of the Kalinga State University (KSU) clinched the first with their dish ‘Chinawis and Ginufa Kiwet’ dish featuring a rice eel, locally known as ‘kiwet’, as its main ingredient.
Placing second was St. Tonis College with their ‘Binalot na Kiniing sa Gata’ dish while Alberto’s Pizzeria and Ristorante won third place with their ‘Kinamang’ entry.
St. Tonis College also won a special award for Audience Favorite Recipe, while the Kalinga Street Foods team received the Best Use of Indigenous Ingredients special award.
Held back to back with the Mangwa Culinary Challenge Show was the Mangwa Table Setting and Skirting competition with KSU winning first place, Kalinga National High School in second place, and the Future Hoteliers, Restaurateurs and Tourism Organization as third place. The Unity Trio team also received a consolation prize for their participation.
The competitions were among the events lined up in the Mangwa Creative Festival in November geared towards promoting Tabuk City’s creative industry.
The festival is bankrolled by the DTI’s Lunsod Lunsad program in line with Republic Act No. 11904 or the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act. (JDP/IOS-PIA CAR, Kalinga)
