Cebu Events: Inasal Festival

I mentioned a few weeks ago about how roasted pig is one of the most appetizing dishes in the Philippines, especially in Cebu. This month, or a week ago (I didn’t miss it really but I wasn’t able to make an article about it), the heralded Inasal Festival (Roasted Pig Festival) in Talisay City was held with a blast. For years, the Inasal Festival has drawn crowd from all over the metropolis Cebu and province. This is the time when people will get to see lechon (roasted pig) and taste it from all over the place.

Its best-golden brown color, distinctive crispy skin and luscious meat from savory stuffed herbs makes it one of my most desired and craved food. Once you have tasted it, I bet you’ll want to have some for the rest of your life also. But beware; cholesterol may get the best of you. Just enjoy it meat by meat and don’t drown yourself with it or you might choke. That’s how tasty the Talisay lechon is.

Talisay lechon and festival

For years, I’ve seen festivals that honor saints, foundation days, and people or just for one thing that is worth celebrating because of the distinction that it offered. In Talisay’s Inasal Festival, the lechon is groomed with appropriate clothes (or any other idea that people can think of), place it on car or truck and design it with flowers or any decoration as long as it resembles the perfect float. One notable float was a lechon aided with oxygen, dextrose and placed on a hospital bed then paraded the streets of Talisay. This is actually the float designed by the crew of Talisay City District Hospital.

Other floats have their lechons depict a truck driver, basketball player, mountain climber and scuba diver. Some were also carried on a cart sheltered inside a hut together with a flatbed truck. Aside from those, the colorful designs are not inferior to that of the Flower Festival. Not so many flowers though but some are actually herbs and spices that are needed to provide the distinctive taste of a Talisay lechon.

I’ve wanted to join this Inasal Festival someday and find out why Talisay City deserves to be recognized as the lechon hub of the Philippines. Of course, I would want to see how they are able to give that juicy and delicious taste since some of the recipes are passed down from generation to generation.