There’s something ‘fishy’ in Dagupan City

DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan – Indeed, there is something ‘fishy’ in Dagupan City…

This early, the organizers of the Dagupan Bangus Festival and the Department of Tourism (DoT) are already cooking up something for next year’s Bangus Festival…And that is, to break their own Guinness World Record for the “Longest Barbecue”. (Probably smittened by plans of the Cebuanos to break Dagupan’s World Record. If you’ll ask me, I think it would be more proper if Cebu will think of another “gimmick” instead of competing with their “kababayans”.)

I was at the 1st Bangus Festival where they made their first attempt for the Guinness World Record in 2002 dubbed as “Kalutan ed Dagupan” (Grilling in Dagupan). And now I am quite disappointed because I was not able to witness the momentous event last year, having heard so many stories about it.

The “Bangus Festival” held last weekend was a thanksgiving celebration, reliving the amazing feat the City achieved last year. Dagupeños described to me what a grand spectacle that was… “A streak of fire dotted the long grill like a flame thrower dashing through or like a laser beam shooting towards the street in slow motion. As the grills were lighted one after the other, the people, like a colony of ants were scampering towards the flaming grills.”

Several months after, the Guinness World Records office in London sent a letter and a certificate to the Office of the Mayor announcing that the “People of Dagupan has set a new Guinness World Record for the Longest Barbecue”. Dagupan’s 1,007.50-meter barbecue grill broke the 613-meter record of Peru in 1999. A victory party was held last Feb. 20.

Now considered as the “Bangus Capital of the World”, the grand festival showcasing what else…but the milkfish, popularly known as “bangus” is a brainchild of Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim.

A simple staging of the “Kalutan ed Dagupan” was held along A.B. Fernandez. Those who joined the “Kalutan” last year brought out their grills to relive the record-breaking feat, a grand reunion of sorts of last year’s participants.

A culinary arts competition dubbed as “101 Ways to Cook Bangus” was also held at the Dagupan City Astrodome.

Organized by the Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association of Dagupan, the culinary exhibition was an opportunity for the city’s top restaurants to show that their cuisine can rival those produced in the best restaurants across the globe and to profess bangus’ versatility in many dishes. He said that this initiative is aimed at “increasing support and awareness for the intensive production and global marketing of Dagupan bangus.”

Chefs from the city’s finest seafood restaurants showcased their utmost creativity and expertise in cooking bangus in different appetizing concoctions in four different menus: soup; appetizer; main course and frees-style.

Among the unique dishes produced were: Milkfish balls; Baked bangus; Pasta with bangus cream sauce; Crispy hot bangus fritters; Stuffed bangus belly; Creamy fish soup with garlic toast; ‘Sopas na bangus sa gata’; and Bangus rolls.

According to Lim, they have experienced a boom in the bangus industry since the festival started, especially now that they are holding the World Record. “Soon we will see even more projects like the construction of the state-of-the-art Bangus Processing Plant in Bonuan, which is worth R150 million.”

Fully-aware of the popularity of Bonuan bangus and the problem of deboning it, Mario Sandoval and Edelminda Sandoval of M.F. Sandoval Trading here introduced the deboned marinated bangus, deboned smoked bangus and other products such as bangus relleno, embutido, longganisa, lumpia, nuggets, kilawin, among others.

Now 11 years in the business, M.F. Sandoval Trading is supplying some of the country’s biggest supermarkets and restaurants including SM Supermarket, Big R (Robinson’s Supermarket), Makro, Price Smart, Max’s Restaurant, Padi’s Point, Mario’s Restaurant and Goldilock’s. They are also currently exporting in Guam, Switzerland and Saipan. “But our wildest dream is to acquire HACCP Accreditation, which is a pre-requisite to US market,” said Mario Sandoval.

Mayor Lim added that their aim is “to showcase local bangus and other products with potentials of global competitiveness like these Bonuan bangus products which might earn for Dagupan a more conspicuous place in the world tourism and trade maps. And this goal is slowly being realized.”

Other events lined up were Bangus Trade Fair, Bangus Rodeo and the “Gilon! Gilon!”.

Thousands of spectators also flocked to the City’s main thoroughfares for the said street dancing competition. “Gilon! Gilon ed Dalan!” is an expression in the dialect that tells about catching fish on the streets.

The bangus harvest dance festival competition was participated in by all the barangays, schools and neighboring towns of Dagupan. There were 30 participating groups composed of at least 40 dancers. Barangay Poblacion Oeste bagged this year’s grand prize of R40,000 and a trophy.

One of the more interesting and intriguing festival events was the Bangus Rodeo, which features competitions for the Longest Bangus, Heaviest Bangus, Fastest Bangus Deboner and the Most Beautiful Bangus or the so-called “Bangus Beauty Pageant”.

Lim hastens to add that “the City has other things to offer like its beautiful beaches, the still untapped potentials of a scenic river system, fresh seafood and the widest array of goods and services.”

Dagupan also has a lot more reason to celebrate as it successfully transformed itself from a so-called “sleepy town” into a multi-faceted business hub and tourist destination.