Balasan, Iloilo will
celebrate Lechon Festival in a very festive affair on a quiet street fronting
the town hall on June 20-26, 2018. Activities include Cara-Gwapa Festival, Balasan
Got Talent and Lin-Ay sang Balasan and with nightly live band performances.
Highlighting the
festivity on July 20 at lunchtime is the Boodle Fight---a military style of
eating where long tables are prepared and food are on top of the banana leaves
and viands and rice are ready to eat using your bare hands.
Many visitors make
the pilgrimage to Balasan every July, where they are always joined by happy
throngs of locals enjoying some true Balasanon flavor. Balasan may not be as
popular as its neighboring towns in terms of attractions, but it honestly has
the best-tasting suckling roast pork in the entire province.
Many will argue that
their version of this dish is just as good as any out there. But the people of
Balasan display a fierce territorial pride when it comes to their favorite pork
recipe, and it is probably well deserved. The skin perfect crispy and herbed
accompaniment to the moist and garlic-infused flesh within, certainly
comparable to the roasted pig of Cebu or in the city if not better.
Organizers of the
annual Lechon Festival started it 10 years ago as a theme-based offering of
no-holds-barred Balasan cooking, a public, free-for-all roast and mixing this
great local cuisine with good times and good music.
The main street is
jam-packed and eventually becomes a standing room only. Almost everyone is
there and are excited to be eating an authentically prepared and rare taste of
the town: that crispy and polished skin, that juicy taste of its appetizing aft
and meat, and the heavenly combination of crispy soft, and its smooth texture.
Lechon is a local
delicacy well-loved by almost every Filipino. The lechon or the whole pig
roasted dish blended with herbs and spices is always present in the best
occasions of every Filipino homes like fiestas, birthdays, weddings,
anniversaries.
Most people will
recommend that you try Balasan lechón while you are here in Iloilo. There is a
good reason it is among the favorite foods in Iloilo. Come and join the people
of Balasan in celebrating this wonderful testament to the home-grown favorite.
Balasan is a 4th
Class municipality situated 128 kilometers away or almost a 3-hour drive north
from the city. Made up of 23 barangays, it is bordered in the north by Carles;
in the south by the town of Batad; in the east by Estancia; and in the west by
the town of Pilar in the province of Capiz.
To get to Balasan,
one can take the bus at the New Ceres Terminal in Barangay Camalig in Haro,
Iloilo City. For more information, please contact Mr. Cecil Crisme – Municipal
Tourism Officer at (033) 3970296 or email at dpicrisme@gmail.com.
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