Pangasinan brings out the bounty at summer festivals

What is 30 meters long, burning hot and has 12,000 ears?

The answer, obviously, is the very long ihawan rolled out in Santo Tomas, Pangasinan that can cook thousands of ears of corn at the same time—which is what residents did this week to celebrate the town's Corn Festival.

Festivals are happening nationwide as summer hits. And in Pangasinan, many of them are centered around food, according to a report by Micaela Papa on "Balitanghali."



Aside from Santo Tomas' celebration of all things corn, there is also the Longganisa Festival in Alaminos City. It is held in honor of town patron saint St. Joseph, but centers on the city's delicacy, which notable for its orange color and the small sticks impaling each sausage.

In the town of Balungao, their protein of choice is chevon—which sounds fancy, but it's another word for goat's meat. At the Goat Festival, the townspeople offer a range of dishes, from chevon meatballs to kalderetang kambing.

And then there's Bayambang. The town is inland and does not have a coastline, but this doesn't stop the locals from indulging in every fish dish they could come up with at the Malangsi "Fishtival."

Some of the towns are close enough together that you could go festival-hopping, picking up food at every stop and having yourself a satisfying meal featuring a variety of dishes from the festive people of Pangasinan. Pass the chevon.— BM, GMA News