Biggest batchoy bowl to feed 3,000 streetchildren
There will be more than enough servings for lovers of Iloilo's famed La Paz batchoy on January 22 as makers of the savory noodle dish eye a world record in cooking the biggest batchoy bowl.
Around 3,500 liters of batchoy will be cooked in public at the La Paz district plaza, according to city tourism officer Ben Jimena. It will then be served to around 3,000 streetchildren in the city, he said.
The popular dish which was first prepared nearly 80 years ago at the La Paz market has become the city's most popular dish and is already available in franchise stores in shopping malls nationwide.
The dish is made from a mixture of meat broth and yellow noodles topped with slices of pork meat and innards, fried chopped garlic, spring onions, fermented fish paste (guinamos) and crushed pork cracklings (chicharon).
Jimena said the dish will be prepared around 10 a.m at the plaza on a stainless steel bowl measuring 2 meters in width and 1 meter in height.
Organized by Deco's Batchoy and the Iloilo Convention and Visitors Bureau, the activity is part of this year's celebration of the Dinagyang Festival.
Edgar Sia II, Deco's Batchoy owner and ICVB president, said they are eyeing to set a world record in the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest bowl of La Paz Batchoy.
Sia said the volume of the dish to be prepared would be enough for at least 400 servings. He said 300 servings will be reserved for street children while the rest will be for guests.
The preparation will take from three to four hours and will involve seven cooks from Deco's. The contents of the giant bowl will then be transferred to regular bowls, said Sia in a telephone interview.
“The La Paz Batchoy has always been identified with Iloilo and Ilonggos so we thought of this activity as part of the Dinagyang festival,” said Sia.
The week long Dinagyang festival culminates on January 24 and 25 with the Ati-Ati tribe contest. The festival has been voted several times by tourism officers as the country's best festival.
Sia said they have invited representatives from the Guinness World Records to witness the event. They are also seeking official recognition from the world record body for the activity.
Jimena said they are planning to make the giant bowl, which was custom-made for P170,000, as a marker in the district plaza.