JUST got back from Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, yesterday afternoon (February 24, 2013). ‘Twas my very first time in Puerto Galera. Despite the fact that Metro Manilans go back and forth to Puerto Galera whenever there’s an opportunity, I have personally never been to Puerto Galera until last Friday (February 22, 2013). So, when the invitation from the Puerto Galera Business and Tourism Enterprises Association (PGB-TEA) came for its KuLiNarya at Saya event, which happened to be Oriental Mindoro’s first culinary and travel event, and my schedule last weekend happened to be free, I said yes. We left Manila early morning Friday (February 22, 2013), traveled by land in a van to Batangas Port in Batangas City, and then took a motorized outrigger boat to Muelle Port in Puerto Galera afterwards, where the service jeepney of Puerto Nirvana (owned by PGB-TEA president Romy Roxas) picked us up.
After a quick lunch of adobo and pinakbet with freshly steamed rice in Hubert d’Aboville’s vast Villa Malasimbo residence up in the highlands of Puerto Galera, it was straight to work for the small group of Manila-based journalists. The KuLiNarya cooking competition organized by the PGB-TEA with corporate partner Marigold Corporation (manufacturer of Mama Sita’s mixes and sauces) was already ongoing at the Apartelle de Francesca grounds (located right along the famous White Beach of Puerto Galera) when we got to the venue. The six grand finalists were battling it out for culinary supremacy in a one-hour grand cook-off.
The six finalists were Corazon De Veyra of Coco Aroma and her Turones de Camotes, Delbert Axalan of Apartelle de Francesca and his Parrot Fish in Mama Sita’s Oyster Sauce, Rose Sandoval of Villa Lato Montagna and her Ginataang Puso ng Saging with Sinaing na Tulingan at Luyang Dilaw, Joseph Cuerdo of Puerto Nirvana and his Ginataang Laman-dagat/Mixed Seafood, Christian Castillo of Blue Ribbon and his Pinatakam na Alimasag, and Ariel Valenton of Utopia Resort and his Island Paradise.
The six finalists were chosen from among 60 recipe entries that have been submitted to the contest organizers. The officers of PGB-TEA put together this culinary competition to showcase the local food of Puerto Galera and highlight it so that both local and foreign tourists would know about them and get to try them, and since Marigold Corporation was its corporate partner, the recipes had to make use of some Mama Sita’s products to make the dishes more flavorful and easier to prepare.
Marigold’s Sylvia Reyes, who’s a niece of the Reyes clan’s matriarch Teresita ‘Mama Sita’ Reyes, hosted the grand finals and lent her culinary prowess by serving as a judge along with Mama Sita’s culinary specialist Chef Andro Faderanga. They also randomly selected a foreign guest from among the audience, Trevor Takasi, and, together, the three of them tasted and scored the six recipe entries to determine who’s the best of the best.
The winners, whose names were announced later that day during the International Food Festival & Mindoro Showcase of Pasalubong, Novelty and Souvenir Items held at the Tamaraw Beach Resort (also located along Puerto Galera’s White Beach), were Apartelle de Francesca’s Delbert Axalan and his Parrot Fish in Mama Sita’s Oyster Sauce as the grand champion, Villa Lato Montagna’s Rose Sandoval and her Ginataang Puso with Sinaing na Tulingan at Luyang Dilaw as the second placer, and Coco Aroma’s Corazon De Veyra and her Turones de Camotes in third place.
The local cooking contest and the international food festival that took place later that evening were the Kulinarya parts of Puerto Galera’s day-long culinary and travel event, KuLiNarya at Saya.
In between the two pocket events came a short trip to the Mangyan Village at Sitio Talipanan, Barangay Aninuan, Puerto Galera, to showcase the culture part of the event. Just a few minutes’ ride from the White Beach area, the Mangyan Village gave visitors of the island a glimpse at the life of the indigenous Mangyan tribe of Oriental Mindoro. This community of Mangyans, who originally lived further up in the mountains, had to leave their homes when armed groups started taking over their area. The Ayala Foundation secured this place at Sitio Talipanan and had a community built for them, so that the Mangyans could continue to live in peace.
Upon our arrival at the Mangyan Village, a group of Mangyan children, garbed in coconut husk fabrics, greeted us with a tribal song-and-dance number. They always do this as a gesture of welcome and greeting. Around them, adult Mangyans quietly continued working – weaving baskets and jars, coasters and containers out of nito vines gathered by the Mangyan menfolk from the mountains. These woven works of art are put up for sale at the Mangyan Village, and visitors who look at the products on sale always get awed by their impeccable craftsmanship, including the patterns that the Mangyans are able to form on their nito ware.
Next on the day’s schedule of events was the International Food Festival and Mindoro Showcase of Pasalubong, Novelty and Souvenir Items over at the Tamaraw Beach Resort. The patio on the second floor was allotted to an instant pasalubong center, where stalls and shelves displayed food items that Oriental Mindoro had to offer, including banana chips and crackers, turmeric ginger tea, seaweed noodles, vacuum-packed suman sa lihiya, coco jam, peanut turon and extra virgin coconut oil. Guests also got to taste freshly cooked bibingka (from a batter basically made of ground rice and made more special with the addition of fresh coconut strands) while doing their pasalubong shopping.
Over at the ballroom of Tamaraw Beach Resort, an international food festival took place, with booths put up by the different hotels and beach resorts of Puerto Galera to showcase their services and give guests a taste of their specialties. Hollywood Palm Beach Resort, for example, had a spread of giant pizzas in different flavors for tasting. Puerto Nirvana Resort sampled out Chicken Fritters, while Utopia Resort & Spa had Meatballs and Potato Fritters up for grabs, Bistro Dulangan offered Fried Chicken, and Orient Pearl Resort presented Japanese makis and cups of miso soup at its booth.
Everyone had a good fill, including guest of honor Puerto Galera Mayor Hubbert Dolor, who personally graced the event and handed out the awards to the winners of the KuLiNarya cooking contest along with PGB-TEA president Romy Roxas and the other officers of the organization of hotel, resort and restaurant owners.
Capping the night was entertainment, Puerto Galera style, at Coco Aroma Beach Resort at the White Beach. Live band music, coupled with beer and Puerto Galera’s famous Mindoro Sling, and a fiery fire dancing routine at the beachfront turned on the heat several notches higher before everyone decided to call it a day.
