Cadiz City is set to host a unique culinary competition on Friday, September 5, focusing on a single, unconventional ingredient: “buriring” (pufferfish).
The cook-off, which starts at 9 a.m. at Cadiz City Park, aims to highlight this local delicacy and celebrate its yearly abundance.
The event, led by City Tourism Officer Julie Grace Dominguez, will feature two categories: traditional and innovative.
The traditional category requires contestants to use local souring agents like “libas” leaves or santol fruit, along with butter or margarine. In the innovative category, groups have the freedom to create unfamiliar and exciting dishes.
Twenty-two local villages, divided into eight clustered teams of five to seven members, will compete.
After the judging, the public will be invited to a free tasting of all the prepared dishes.
The top three winning teams will receive cash prizes of P10,000, P7,000, and P5,000, respectively, while the remaining five groups will each receive a P1,000 consolation prize.
The competition also celebrates the “buriring” as a “sustained blessing” for the city.
Dominguez said the non-poisonous pufferfish appears in large numbers in Cadiz’s waters during “tiempo muerto” (the dead season in the sugar industry) beginning in July.
Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. expressed excitement for the event, stating it not only showcases “buriring” as part of Cadiz’s food heritage but also as part of Negros’s slow food movement.
The mayor assured visitors that the specific species of pufferfish found in their waters is safe to eat, inviting everyone to “come, and eat our ‘buriring’ as it tastes like “heaven”.*