In the bid to further provide traceability and one identity for the city’s chicken inasal, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia is proposing for a “unified” recipe of the product among local hotels, restaurants, and other food establishments.
Leonardia, at the sidelines of the first Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival on Saturday, said he has already made such proposal before, however, the mayor is not yet sure of the acceptance of food establishments.
“I was actually proposing if it is possible for us to come up with a recipe using uniform ingredients for all restaurants, hotels and other food establishments here,” he said, adding that “once materialized, all their products will be called Bacolod Chicken Inasal.”
Tagged as the City of Smiles, Bacolod is not just known for its MassKara Festival. It has also gained popularity among tourists, both local and foreign, through its chicken inasal.
In fact, the staging of the first Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival is aimed at showcasing to the world the city’s finest chicken inasal, a food offering that has been boosting the local tourism industry.
At least 3,000 revelers, including 100 street children, were treated to a free chicken inasal simultaneously grilled in a 300-meter long grill placed along Araneta Street.
Leonardia, in his speech during the festival’s opening rites, said though other towns and cities in the country also have their own version of inasal, Bacolod has distinct taste that visitors are looking for.
He, however, pointed out that even stalls at the Manokan Country in Reclamation Area have different tastes of chicken inasal, like that in restaurants and hotels.
“Even establishments that have branched out outside Bacolod City have varied chicken inasal products,” Leonardia said, adding that “it is really my dream to uniformly name all these as Bacolod Chicken Inasal”.