MAPANDAN – The town of Mapandan in central Pangasinan is seeking a place in the world map with the help of a tiny plant called “pandan”.

For four years now, under the administration of Mayor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim, son of retired General Jose Calimlim, the town has been holding the “Pandan Festival”, now one of the biggest crowd drawers in the province of Pangasinan.

Mapandan folk paid tribute to ‘pandan’ once more when they recently held ‘Hapag Pandan’ which featured many food preparations using the plant’s aromatic leaves for flavoring.

Calimlim spearheaded this activity as part of the 4th Pandan Festival that aims to put this central Pangasinan town in the tourism map.

The ‘Pandan’ festival was graced by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when it opened last Tuesday (April 4), till April 9 which featured a night of street dancing.

The town derived its name from the tiny ‘pandan’ plant. The name was carried thru the decades after it separated and became independent from its mother town of Mangaldan at the turn of the 20th century.

“We are proud of our traditions and our roots,” said Calimlim before thousands who packed the town plaza to witness the cooking demonstrations, interspersed with folk dances to the tune of the lilting municipal song “Mapandan”.

The leaves of ‘pandan’ were used only before to provide rich and sweet flavor to rice. But this time, it is used in any kind of food preparations, including in fish, meat, vegetables and even wine.

Calimlim awarded trophies and cash prizes to the Women’s Union of Primicias, Mapandan that topped in the ‘Hapag Pandan’ when it cooked the ‘best exotic food called “Calderetang Bayawak “with ‘pandan’ flavoring.

A woman who demonstrated “Calderetang Bayawak” was awarded for the best recipe demonstration.