[Ilonggo Notes] The Creative City of Gastronomy, one year on

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On the cusp of November 2023, World Cities Day, Iloilo was named a UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy, the first such city to be recognized in the country. There are 56 worldwide, in 34 countries — amid a handful of others in SE Asia (Battambang in Cambodia, Phetchaburi and Phuket in Thailand, Kuching in Malaysia).

With the designation, Iloilo City joined 300 other creative cities worldwide in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) — recognized in the fields of Literature, Design, Film, Music, Media Arts, Crafts and Folk Arts and Gastronomy. Two other Philippine cities are in the UCCN: Cebu (Design, 2019) and Baguio (Folk Art and crafts, 2017).

And before anyone raises an eyebrow, it must be emphasized that Iloilo City needed to put in a comprehensive application, submit a plan and budget, make commitments, and be endorsed by the National Commission for UNESCO of the country. Local chief executives sign off on the application. For gastronomy, a number of criteria need to be met:

Well-developed gastronomy that is characteristic of the urban center and/or region;
Vibrant gastronomy community with numerous traditional restaurants and/or chefs;
Indigenous ingredients used in traditional cooking;
Local know-how, traditional culinary practices and methods of cooking that have survived industrial/technological advancement;
Traditional food markets and traditional food industry;
Tradition of hosting gastronomic festivals, awards, contests and other broadly-targeted means of recognition;
Respect for the environment and promotion of sustainable local products;
Nurturing of public appreciation, promotion of nutrition in educational institutions and inclusion of biodiversity conservation programmes in cooking schools’ curricula.

Thus, it is evident that cuisine, or dishes alone, no matter how popular or tasty, are not sole criteria, even if these are the things that come to mind immediately when “Gastronomy” is mentioned. Some say, “Bakit Iloilo? Di ba mas masarap sa….” (Why Iloilo? Isn’t the food of xxx more tasty?” Well, Iloilo City was unsuccessful when it first applied in 2021, then took the suggestions from UNESCO to heart, and came up with another proposal after two years, which was successful. The designation is for four years. UNESCO will re-evaluate the status, with monitoring reports that show the city’s commitment and engagement with the UCCN. One of the main objectives of the UCCN is to function as a laboratory of ideas and innovative experiences intended to capitalize on the full potential of culture and creativity for sustainable urban development.

With such a title, to paraphrase a popular saying about great power, “…comes great responsibility” — and Iloilo is not resting on its laurels. A year on, the city has organized a series of creative events and initiatives. These include a City Of Gastronomy roadmap, food crawl maps and gastronomy tours; Street food markets, night markets, the “Merkado Lokal” on the third Thursday and Friday of each month; the Rise-a farm project that Integrates initiatives of six departments of the city. There have been Chef Exchanges & visits – Japan, Thailand and China; training of market vendors, ambulant food peddlers, and participation in international gastronomy festivals and conferences. Crowd-drawing Festivals such as the Dinagyang, the Kasadyahan, city charter day inevitably have food fairs and al fresco dining spread over several city blocks.

The city has sent delegates to attend COG annual conferences and UCCN events; for the Macao International Gastronomy Festival in June – three businesses were supported to setup stalls — Richmond Hotel’s chef Ariel Castaneda, Patpat’s Kansi owner Taboy Servando, and Kap Ising’s Pancit Molo. The gastronomy festivals of Buraydah (Saudi Arabia), Kuching (Malaysia), Bergamo (Italy), Tsuruoka (Japan) and Sukothai (Thailand), invited delegates from Iloilo to give talks and presentations and participate in panel discussions. Iloilo is bidding to host the 2026 COG conference and festival. The National book award winning cookbook, Flavors of Iloilo was reprinted; a Food Safety Manual was produced.

April, Filipino food month, is another opportunity to sample the culinary delights of the city and province— popup stalls, culinary competitions, cooking demonstrations, symposia and conferences, featuring talks by chefs, academics, entrepreneurs, and heritage advocates from both the public and private sector. The Iloilo provincial capitol markets and fairs, an initiative of the Provincial government is held right in the heart of the city, with the annual “Namit!” (delicious or tasty!) festival organized by the Iloilo Provincial Government through the Provincial Culture, Arts, History, and Tourism Office, DOT Region VI, and SM City Iloilo.

Publications on Food and Gastronomy take center stage

The big event of 2024 was the launch of Gastronomic Expressions of Our City, Iloilo: Nature, Culture, and Geography. This was held on December 14, 2024, at the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art, where the “Timplada” (Mixture, season) — a multimedia exhibit on the art of Ilonggo cooking — was ongoing. The book can be considered the definitive publication on gastronomy — and Ilonggo gastronomy in particular. It introduces a conceptual framework on Gastronomy, developed by Food scholar, writer, and book designer Ige Ramos of the Ugnayan Center for Filipino Gastronomy.

Four major dimensions of gastronomy are all comprehensively discussed by Ilonggo writers (Geography by the undersigned, Ingredients — Glenda Tayona and Pearl Marie Socias, Ethnicity-Hazel P. Villa and Technology, Ted Aldwin Ong). Profusely illustrated with photos of ingredients, landscapes, dishes, markets, kitchens and cooking tools, the book also has hand-drawn illustrations of typical Ilonggo ingredients by the artists Vic Nabor and Kevin Fernandez.

A book on gastronomy cannot be complete without recipes — and there are close to fifty, from starters, to the savory and the sweet, for those who would like to try preparing food in the Ilonggo way. These were contributed by Ilonggo chefs and cooks, from upscale hotels, to native kakanin makers in the public markets. Mickey Fenix, whose byline has appeared in dozens of publications and articles on food, was the editor. Iloilo City’s First Lady Rosalie S. Treñas was project executive director and the driving force behind the book’s production; she was ably assisted by Leny Ledesma and Lea Lara of the city’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events) team.

Special features readers are bound to enjoy include pieces by Dr. Clement C. Camposano, chancellor of the University of the Philippines Visayas; an afterword by Dr. Laya B. Gonzales, college professor and member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Philippines; Foreword by Tourism Secretary Cristina Frasco; Preface by Eric Zerrudo, NCCA executive director, and an Introduction penned by City mayor Jerry Treñas.

The Iloilo City of today cannot be separated from Iloilo Province, or from the whole island of Panay itself, which was the source of plants, shellfish, fruit trees, various agricultural, riverine and marine resources long before an “Iloilo City” came into being. The cultural influences of our forbearers and later settlers from China, Malaysia, Spain, Mexico, and the US influenced our food and cuisine, as did the development of new technologies and ways of seasoning, preparing and presenting food. The galleon trade, urbanization and population interactions are forces in bringing these disparate elements of geography, ethnicity, ingredients, and technology all together, and cities literally become melting pots.

To help document and compile local ingredients nationwide, John Sherwin Felix of Lokalpedia has been to Panay and Negros several times in the past year, exploring the region’s ingredients, from the planting, harvesting, marketing, cooking and tasting, mainly with small-scale, family run farms, the bagsakans, town markets, and carinderias. This is a boost to our local food artisans in Panay and Guimaras, whether it is producing artisanal salt, tsokolate tablea, cultivating batwan, kadios or raising native chicken breeds

However, the city is also beginning to feel the strains of growth and development. As a regional and urban center, it attracts migrants and settlers, who also need adequate housing, water, good sewage facilities and transportation. Inflation rates are among the highest in the country, and local news outlets report that rice production in the province – as well as livestock production — declined significantly in 2024. This is disturbing news for self-sufficiency and the gaps need to be addressed. A bright spot is that child malnutrition rates in the city have declined steadily over the past four years. – Rappler.com

The Gastronomic Expressions of our City, Iloilo: Nature, Culture, and Geography (8.5 inches x 11 inches, 244 pages) is available in two versions, hardbound at P1,200 and soft cover at P950. For orders, contact the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. at 0960-420-2129 or visit their office at the Ground Floor, Iloilo Freedom Grandstand, Muelle Loney Street, Iloilo City.

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