Ilocano food, what to try and expect.

*Video is credited to pinasa sarap via youtube.com 

Food represents the culture of one place and even the people’s personality.

*Image is credited to Rain Tajon 

Last April, the province of Ilocos Sur hosted the “Palarong Pambansa”, a National Athlete Competition for every region in the country, both elementary and secondary level. The Cordillera Autonomous Region and the Cagayan Valley Region were billeted in our town and also, sports tournament were held too here.

My friend and I were having some “empanada”, a common snack here in Ilocos Region made out of rice dough with vegetables, egg, and meat as its filling, in of our favorite food stall; we got to sit with one mother of an athlete and her kid. As we were all enjoying our famous empanada, I was asked by this mother if I can recommend where they can buy Vigan longganisa(local pork sausage), so I did recommend the best that I know so far, based with what Vigan longganisa is known for, garlicky taste. 

With everything we talked about, I have come up with the idea of writing Ilocano food that I would love to recommend to every tourist that will be visiting, or visiting the province. This Ilocano food, they can eat and bring home as “pasalubong” or take home gifts or souvenirs,  this food that they can really find here in Ilocos Sur and where they can buy them.
But before that, let me say a little background of Ilocano food.

● Ilocano Food: What to expect.

*Image is credited to Rain Tajon 

Stingy they call us Ilocano but we are not, we are just frugal who prefer to save money for the rainy days. When it comes to food, our frugality reflects with our cuisine, but that doesn’t mean we compromise the taste and nutritional value of what we serve or offer.

In Ilocano food, we present them in the best possible way, with what the province is mainly producing, like the “longganisa” that has a lot of garlic on it since the province produces garlic (the municipality of Sinait is known for), and it is being served with sugar cane vinegar, another province’s main product.
When it comes to the taste, they can be salty, savory, sour and very filling with the stomach, yes, we loved to spoil our tummy by making it heavy, lol. You can also say, “Exotic” since we use every part of the animal.

Now, let me get down to my recommendations.

● Ilocano Food that Tourists should try.

1. Empanada and Okoy.

*Image is credited to Jules Mariano

Here in Ilocos Region, there are two places that are known for “Empanada”, Batac empanada and Vigan Empanada; by the way, the empanada is rice dough filled with vegetables, egg, and meat and shaped like a half-circle. Two places, two different flavors or tastes. Here in Vigan City, empanada has an egg and vegetables or some put shredded papaya and this is for the regular one, the one with Vigan Longganisa is ordered as “special”, so you know what to expect when you choose your empanadas.

Basically, empanadas are served with sugar cane vinegar with chili and shallots, hence the appetizing taste of every bite.
Okoy, on the other hand, is another must try together with empanada since they are usually sold in one food stall or what we call “empanada”. Okoy is deep fried shrimps(small ones) with batter and same thing, it is dipped with the sugar cane vinegar.

The place to buy:

You can grab them in stalls along the Plaza Burgos or check them in Irene’s empanada (one can be found along Crisologo street). Either stall offers the best tasting empanada. Tourists can sit down or just grab one or two while roaming around the metro, it is a great snack.

2. Sinanglao.

*Image is credited to Rain Tajon

They can either be for breakfast or for the snack or for lunch, whenever you like to eat it. Sinanglao is a dish actually that has soup and meat, considered exotic due to what you can see in every bowl of it, intestines, blood cake with the bitter taste from either vile or from the intestines and also sour from vinegar or kamias. Since it is a dish, you can have it with rice or without rice, depends on your tummy wanted to, lol.

The place to eat it.

Vigan Post office. Yes, I mean no, well, the place is just a few feet away from the post office, and so if you wanted to ask for residents around Vigan, they know where they can send you. And, if you are wandering around the Crisologo street, just a few meters away and they are open early in the morning.

3. Bagnet.

*Image is credited to vigattintourism.com 

Bagnet is another oily, considered not that healthy but famous product of the province. It is a deep-fried pork belly, that can be eaten as it is with local bagoong(fermented fish), tomatoes and shallots/onions. The other thing you can do with bagnet is had it mixed it another Ilocano dish, the pinakbet(Vegetable dish). Some restaurants offer Pinakbet with bagnet on their menu.

*Image is credited to https://blauearth.com

Bagnet can be good “pasalubong” too for friends and family back home.

The place to buy.

Here in my town, we got a lot of sellers here along the national high way, but there are also stores around Vigan City, so where to really buy? I would recommend you to buy those that are sealed with cling wrap if you will bring it home and look for the ones that looked like it was just cooked.

4. Tinubong.

*Image is credited to agrimatmagsingalwordpress.com 

These can be described just like the rice cakes but it is cooked in a bamboo. Generally, made of grounded glutinous rice, sugar, coconut milk, coconut strips and other ingredients that are inserted in the “tubong”, which is the bamboo.

I remember when we were young, “tinubong” was cooked in an open pit with charcoal and given as Christmas presents to carolers and friends. Now, cooked in the oven and the availability is not just during Christmas, it is now all year round.

The place to buy.

 We got some stores here along the high way in our town, they taste great but I would recommend tourists the best tasting “tinubong” which can be bought in the other town, specifically near the church of Magsingal, Ilocos Sur. They taste more authentic for me.

On Personal Note.

The list that I have made is just a few from my original list. I have come to see which food would be best to identify Ilocos Sur from other provinces in Ilocos Region, food that tourists will say, “FROM ILOCOS SUR”.
My recommendations are based on my personal taste, though I am a self-confessed foodie, I somehow try to give the best food and the best place to buy. Not that I have something from the stores, lol.

If you have any plans of visiting or revisiting the heritage province, get yourself into this food that my province offers.

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