4th Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival
Celebrating festivals is unquestionably a part of Filipino culture. Be it religious, cultural, or anything unique to a spot, each town or city can discover a approach to highlight it in the shape of a yearly festival. One perfect example is the Chicken Inasal Festival of Bacolod City.
Recently, we were invited by the City of Bacolod, together with other travel journalists, to experience the festivities and the much-awaited grilling event featuring the enduring Chicken Inasal, a grilled food within the Philippines famed for its sweet, savory, smoky, and tangy flavor.
But why does Bacolod City have fun the Chicken Inasal festival? And the way do they have fun this unique yet mouthwatering festival? Keep reading as we share how Bacolod celebrates the 4th Chicken Inasal Festival, a really one-of-a-kind experience value savoring.
Concerning the Festival
While the Chicken Inasal will be found on just about all menus within the Philippines, this succulent comfort food originated in Bacolod’s Cuadra Street. Since 1976, the people of Bacolod have been savoring the dish where marinated chickens are grilled using charcoal.
“Inasal” is the cooking approach to grilling meat, which implies charcoal-grilled or roasted, hence the name. Also, Bacolod’s Chicken Inasal has a rather tangy flavor because it’s marinated in a mix of lime, vinegar, pepper, and annatto. Today, the Chicken Inasal vendors will be seen grilling in Manokan Country near SM Bacolod, attracting hundreds of locals and tourists visiting the City of Smiles.
On May 5, 2018, the first Chicken Inasal Festival was held by the City of Bacolod to have fun its eightieth charter anniversary. Through the first festival, various vendors in the town gathered and grilled over 3,000 chicken thighs, boasting the unique recipe of Bacolod’s grilled food.
Held along the road from Bacolod Plaza to San Sebastian Street, the participating food establishments grilled sticks of chicken thighs on a 300-meter-long grill, aiming to create a recent Guinness world record. But resulting from lack of time, the town did not set a world record that yr.
Meanwhile, the 4th Chicken Inasal Festival, held on May 26-28, 2023, is livelier because it’s a three-day event involving grilling, a cook-off, and a Music Festival. The town allotted an initial budget of PHP1 million, and festivities were held at The Upper East Megaworld, showcasing 3,000 sticks of various chicken parts.
Chicken Inasal is now a Bacolod cultural property.
Although other cities claimed the grilled dish origin, Chicken Inasal is now officially a cultural property of Bacolod. Last yr, Councilor Em Ang proposed an ordinance approved by the town council wherein Chicken Inasal is asserted Bacolod’s cultural property.
Based on the Republic Act No. 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act, a “cultural property” is defined as any product of human creativity, revealing the identity of a nation and other people, comparable to natural history sites and specimens, schools, mosques, churches, and other religious worships, whether privately-owned or public, intangible or tangible, and immovable or movable.
As well as, the Bacolod City ordinance goals for the Chicken Inasal to be registered to the Philippine Registry of Cultural Properties (PRECUP), an archive with all details regarding cultural properties considered notable to heritage.
TasteAtlas, an experiential travel guide, also included the Inasal na Manok of their list of the 50 Best Chicken Dishes within the World, receiving a 4.6 out of 5 stars. In response to TasteAtlas, Bacolod’s Chicken Inasal is a singular Filipino grilled chicken dish, the Visayas region’s signature dish.
Furthermore, an existing ordinance relevant to this one designates every 4th week of May as Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival, succeeding the revision of the Manokan Country Inasal Festival. As stated within the revised ordinance, the festival goal was to determine the ownership of Chicken Inasal, an intangible cultural heritage originating in Bacolod.
Bacolod sets record for longest Chicken Inasal grilling
Despite not making a world record, Bacolod City set a record for having the longest Chicken Inasal grilling within the Philippines. Through the 4th Chicken Inasal Festival, Bacolod has arrange a 320-meter-long grill along the most important road to have fun the return of this event.
The three-day grilling event features 3,000 sticks of Chicken Inasal, consisting of varied parts cooked by around 70 vendors. Also, the Chicken Inasal Festival grilling event was held at The Upper East Megaworld to make the event much more exciting.
In response to Councilor Jason Villarosa, chair of the tourism committee, Bacolod’s city government can apply for a world record of the longes Chicken Inasal grilling. But because it requires a PHP1 million initial fee to ask the Guinness World Records team to Bacolod, the festival was only showcased locally.
A day before the event, the town government of Bacolod also handed out 1,600 Chicken Inasal meals to non-government organizations and charitable institutions, including Alaga BCD animal welfare advocates, Bacolod Girls’ Home Foundation, Bacolod Boys’ Home Foundation, Social Development Center, St. Ezekiel Moreno Monastery, and St. Vincent’s Home for the Aged.
Aside from that, the first-ever Barangay Inasal Cook-off was held on Saturday afternoon on the Manokan Country, wherein restaurants offer the distinguished grilled chicken marinated in lemon herbs, spices, vinegar, and lemon or calamansi.
Nine villages participated within the cook-off, competing for the tastiest and juiciest charcoal-grilled chicken. But among the many contests, Barangay Mandalagan luckily bagged the “Best Barangal Inasal” award. The second place is Barangay Singcang-Airport, and the third runner-up is Barangay 29.
Chicken Inasal Awards
On the second day of the event (May 27), the town government of Bacolod acknowledges the important thing players in offering domestic and foreign tourists the best-grilled Chicken Inasal. As grilled charcoal chicken is worried, these pioneer and legendary enterprises help sustain the image of Bacolod because the home of the famous Chicken Inasal.
Thus, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez led the popularity of Bacolodnons with the longest participation within the Chicken Inasal enterprise and social media influencers. Bacolod City awarded them with the Chicken Inasal Awards in various categories.
One in every of the lucky awardees of the Coast to Coast Award is the multi-awarded Bacolodnon actor Joel Torre who owns JT’s Manukan. The Chicken Deli of the Ciocon family also bagged the Coast to Coast Award. Meanwhile, the Pioneer Award was given to Bernadette Posadas of Bernadette’s, Neda Velez of Velez’s, and Francisco Bolonia of Nena’s 1.
Nena’s Rose received the Local Alternative Award, the Cajili family’s Bacolod Chicken House was awarded the Family’s Alternative Award, and Aida’s Chicken the Tourist’s Alternative Award. Based on the web votes, the “Inasal sang Masa” is Galpad’s Inasal, while Aida’s Chicken was named the Vloggers Alternative.
For the Chicken Inasal Reel contest, the champion was Terence Mitchao, 1st runner-up was Brilliant Peñaroyo, and the 2nd runner-up was 2M Journey. The Chicken Inasal Vlog contest champion was Xhiel Macalalag, 1st runner-up was Tia Lacson, and 2nd runner-up was Uaekabayan Souq.
Bacolod’s Chicken Inasal is undeniably one of the crucial popular dishes within the Philippines, intriguing the palate of local and foreign diners. While there are various variations of grilled charcoal chicken within the country, trying Bacolod’s original Chicken Inasal is a taste you will certainly remember for all times. So next time you visit Bacolod, add to your things to do the Chicken Inasal Festival.
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Read: Ultimate List of the Best Hotels in Bacolod City
