Spearheaded by the Negros Cultural Foundation and Balay Negrense, Silay City celebrated its 25th Adobo Festival in 2022 at Casa A. Gamboa.
The event kicked off with cooking demonstrations from culinary consultant and lecturer – Datu Shariff Pendatun; artist, restaurateur and food writer – Claude Tayag; and chefs Gab Melocoton and Jai Cambelisa of Timplada.
The Adobo Cooking competition Cook Off started at 9AM and was won by the following who cooked on the spot their Adobo dish with their own personal twist to the traditional Adobo recipe.
1st Place – Paul Mugar of Pahanocoy, Bacolod City – a member of Team G Culinary Team of Gransavore Restaurant at GT Hotel Bacolod
Winning recipe: “Adobo nga Uhong sa Manok nga may Bisaya nga Ensalada kag Kalkag Kalo-Kalo”
2nd Place – Emmanuel Caldera of Guimbala-on, Silay City
Winning recipe: “Adobo sa Butong ni Gong-gong”
3rd Place – JM Villa
Winning recipe: “Chodo-Boudain” – a boudain sausage stuffed with his special chodobo recipe
After the cooking competition was the gouache painting lessons by artist Tey Sevillano of Artfull Philippines in collaboration with Group Likha. Gouache is an art medium nearly identical to Watercolor but is more opaque than the latter.
In the afternoon, Howie Severino gave a lecture on “Baybayin” from the tagalog root word “baybay” meaning “to spell” is an ancient Philippine script dating back to early 1500s and is a pre colonial writing system used by the natives. There were also lessons on pen and ink, basic drawing and clay art by local artists.
The winner of the first ever competition for Silay Food Writing Competition held in memory of Doreen Gamboa Fernandez was also announced the same day. The winning piece titled “The Serendipitous Birth of an Ifugao Adobo” was written by Raymond Aquino Macapagal and tells about his adventure in cooking the Adobo in a place where the concept of “sour” is foreign to the locals and “suka” or vinegar which is one of the main ingredient for the dish is non-existent.
The place was open until 9PM from November 5-6 and were participated by local cafes, and food establishments serving their signature local dish as well as exhibit booths for crafts and arts where guests can buy souvenirs or support local artists.