VILLASIS – This town will hold a unique “Talong” festival on Jan. 11 to seek world recognition for the lowly eggplant, one of the main vegetables that go into the cooking pot when preparing the famous Ilocano dish “pinakbet”, incidentally the chief farm product of the town.

Mayor Nonato Abrenica said main feature of the “Talong” festival is the holding of the “Talong” grill event over more than a kilometer distance of the Mac Arthur highway that seeks to establish a record in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Villasenians hope to rival the “Bangus” grill event in Dagupan City held in May last year whose entry into the world record book is still uncertain to date.

Villasis is a town in eastern Pangasinan whose majority of people trace their roots in Ilocos Sur and Norte, and La Union, and who are Ilocanos in spirit, character, taste and are highly distinguished from the rest of Filipinos for being too “thrifty.”

Abrenica invited all residents of Villasis, including tourists, to participate in this world record-breaking feat scheduled on the eve on the town fiesta that also seeks to restablish a name for the town as the bread basket capital of the whole of Pangasinan.

The town also produces tomatoes, okra, ampalaya and squash, all components of the “pinakbet” dish, patola, root crops such as sweet potatoes, peanuts, turnips (singkamas), cassava and other vegetables.

The town owns the province’s biggest and most modern vegetable “bagsakan” market where all vegetable farmers from Pangasinan and the nearby provinces bring their products for sale to traders from nearly all parts of the country by wholesale.

Established in early last year, the town’s “Bagsakan” market is a brainchild of Mayor Abrenica and Vice Mayor Roderick Mina, supported by Rep. Mark Cojuanco of the fifth district of Pangasinan.

This was aimed at ensuring a ready market for their products and to discourage middlemen who corner most of the profits in the vegetable trade.

Since the vegetable market was up, traders are now coming to Villasis to buy vegetables in bulk which they bring to Divisoria in Manila and Nepa Q Mart in Quezon City for redistribution to other parts of the country.

The municipal government plans to hold “Talong” festival yearly not only to promote the town’s eggplant but also serve as a market encounter between buyers and producers.

There will be enough eggplants to be grilled on that day as Abrenica already tapped the eggplant-producing barangay Barangobong near the Agno river to supply all the eggplants needed for the activity.