Victorias Kalamayan Festival 2023 Features Barangay Homecooks

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The Kalamayan Festival 2023 was recently held in Victorias City, Negros Occidental after years of hiatus. This time, they held an art exhibit at the Victorias City Hall and the highlight was the Sabor Victorias Cook Fest from the barangay level. 13 Barangays vied for the honor of being ingenious homecooks who level up Victorias Food Products in the most creative and delicious dishes.

Related: LCC, USLS-IS Dominate 8th VMC Interschool Art Contest

Laing and More at the Victorias Kalamayan Festival 2023

Victorias City is the home of Victorias Milling Corporation (VMC) and subsequently, its subsidiary, Victorias Foods Corporation (VFC).

*Victorias Mayor Javi Benitez (Right) gave his all-out support to the Kalamayan Festival 2023. Here with VMC President Linley Retirado during the opening of the Sabor Victorias Cook Fest.*

Engr. Linley Retirado, VMC President, said about Sabor Victorias,” We have invited our Barangays to join this CookFest, not only to showcase our homegrown Victorias products but also to showcase the culinary talents of the people of Victorias.”

Victorias Mayor Javi Benitez gave his all-out support to the Kalamayan Festival, or VMC Day as he calls it, because “You can’t say Victorias without (thinking of the) city government and Victorias Milling Company.” He is also thankful for the company’s support of the different endeavors to bring prosperity to the city.

The homecooks from the 13 barangays have to come up with any dish that involves the creative and appropriate use of VMC and VFC products–from refined sugar, to Spanish sardines, canned bangus, luncheon meat, to frozen products like bacon, as well as the seasonal Victorias ham.

Victorias City, Negros Occidental, Victorias Milling Company, VMC, Victorias Foods Products, Victorias ham, Victorias Spanish Sardines, Victorias Bangus, Sabor Victorias Cook Fest, barangay homecooks, cooking competition, Kalamayan Festival 2023, Mayor Javi Benitez — A table laden with Victorias food products. This is where the Sabor Victorias contestants picked the major ingredients for their dishes. In the photo, are (L-R) Engr. Retirado, Mayor Javi, VMC Corporate Communications Director Anne Tiongco, and Ms. Mate Espina.

Given one hour from preparation to plating, the contestants were provided with all the ingredients and cooking utensils they needed. They even got to pick products to use from a table laden with Victorias Foods products.

Entries

Held at the Victorias City public plaza, the 3-person teams beat the heat and pressure to come up with unique dishes and present them aesthetically.

With the given parameters, the homecooks were able to impress the panel of judges, composed of Chef Don Colmenares, Chef Richard Ynayan, and Chef Jairus John Cambelisa.

These are the dishes presented to the judges.

Laing using bangus and smoked bacon
Sweet ham in Cream of mushroom sauce
Bacon and squid in coconut milk
Spanish sardines pasta
Pasta with hot Spanish sardines
Bacon wrap with yogurt sauce
Binalot na VFC ham na may puso ng saging, talaba, sugpo, and mango in glutinous rice wrap
Leche flan
Cordon blue mornay
Spanish sardines menudo
Sweet & sour sardines + ham & bacon omelet
Carbonara with bacon, ham, and Spanish sardines
Aglio olio with bacon and Spanish sardines

In the past: Sabor Victorias 2015 Cook-Off: 5 Cooks, 5 Recipes Using Victorias Foods Products

Winners

In the end, the judges picked the following winners with their respective prizes:

First prize – Laing, won P20,000 cash, trophy, and Victorias products
Second prize – Binalot, P15,000 cash, trophy, and Victorias products
Third prize – Sweet ham in cream of mushroom sauce, P10,000 cash, trophy and Victorias products

The rest of the participants each received P3,000 as consolation prizes. It was amazing how the homecooks from the different barangays of Victorias City came up with these ingenious recipes using Victorias products. Congratulations, everyone!