By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Bacolod City is already known for its sugar industry-related culinary wonders, but one signature dish makes the city more popular — the chicken inasal.
The famous Bacolod chicken inasal, hailed for its distinct flavor among other grilled chicken across the Philippines, is the city’s certified cultural property.
This year, the city will mark the return of one of its well-known festivities celebrated every May, the Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival, co-presented by SM City Bacolod.
The city’s famed dish was believed to have been concocted in the 1970s and instantly became a hit, whetting the appetites of Bacolodnons’ discriminating taste buds.
Seeing the delectable chicken inasal’s vast economic potential, enterprising residents became grillers, and thus emerged what is now the famous Manokan Country — the hub of Bacolod’s most sought-after dish that attracts gourmands far and wide.
Realizing the huge tourism potential of chicken inasal, the city government thought of celebrating the dish, thus born in 2009 the groundbreaking Manokan Country Chicken Inasal Festival.
This year, the three-day festival kicks off today, May 26.
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez anticipates an “inasal-packed extravaganza” that will boost local tourism and register record-economic gains, especially for micro-entrepreneurs.
Benitez said he recognized the business sector in helping mount the festival through various sponsorships.
The mayor also thanked SM City Bacolod for its support as the festival’s co-presentor.
SM City Bacolod will hold events at its premises with nightly entertainment and food fests with Manokan Country inasal vendors, cook-off competitions, and even a dessert extravaganza to showcase other local delicacies.
The awards night for the grilling community will also be held at SM.
Other Chicken Inasal Festival events will be conducted across the city, where residents can enjoy inasal and drink pairings, and partake in the longest grilling station of chicken inasal.
Festival visitors will also find the best-tasting and most popular chicken inasal at the Manokan Country in the Reclamation Area./DGB, WDJ