DAYS before February ends, Sta.

Maria town in Bulacan province

celebrated a festival dedicated to a snack that sometimes brings heartburn.

Makers of “chicharon” (pork rind crackling) in this first-class urban town

were given their well-deserved recognition during the 12th Chicharon
Festival held on February 23, 2019.

Sta. Maria’s chicharon industry is composed of more than 20 chicharon

makers, providing the town its unprecedented economic boom in years.
It has also made Sta. Maria a tourist attraction, drawing people who want a
taste of the town’s most famous product.

Some producers have their own “secret preparations” for making chicharon,
but others have been importing pork skin from Spain, Australia, United
States and Canada.

Last week’s festivities included a parade and contest of different floats of

pigs and cooking evolution that are joined by many students and businesses.
The parade starts at 9:00 in the morning. There are seven schools that
participated in this parade - Gloria Mariz Academy, San Gabriel School, San
Vicente School, Parada National High School, Catmon Nation High School,
Golden Mines Academy and lastly the JPI. The Catmon National High
School and Parada National High School also entertain the audiences by
doing a street dance during the parade. The schools use boxes, newspapers,
and other art materials as their instruments in making the floats. The design
of their floats are truly exceptional and creative, but there is one school that
really outshines the most. It is the JPI Technologies Training & Services Inc.
They designed their floats simple yet creative. And because they really put
efforts to their floats, they won the 1st place in the contest.

In the cooking evolution, the challenge is to create a new and unique recipes
that would make good use of chicharon in just two hours. There are 22
participants in the contest. One of the participants is the SHApee, a Grade
12 students of Sacred Heart Academy. They showcase their talents by
presenting a chicharon that have a sweet yet salty taste. They named their
finished product, “Forbidden Sweet And Salt”. This group is one of the
contestants that have a good presentation and taste, but unfortunately they
did not win. But still as a SHANs, we’re are proud of them. The students of
ICI are the champion for this competition followed by