ANGELES CITY- This city has initiated steps towards having its famous dish “sizzling sisig” declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an intangible cultural heritage, as it declared yesterday April 29 as “Sisig Fiesta of Angeles City” every year.
“This is part of our UNESCO bid and we have planned many activities throughout the city,” said Angeles tourism chief John Montances in a press conference here.
The city council earlier approved a resolution declaring sizzling sisig as an intangible cultural heritage amid the dish’s national and even international fame.
Intangible cultural heritages were first recognized by UNESCO in 2001 when it awarded the title of “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” to 19 outstanding cultural spaces or forms of expression from the different regions of the world.
In Asia, UNESCO honored six masterpieces, among them, the Hudhud chants of the Ifugao of Northern Luzon.
On November 25, 2005 the Maranao epic chant, the Darangen, was also proclaimed as another Philippine tage of humanity.
UNESCO defines oral and intangible heritage as: “The totality of tradition-based creations of a cultural community, expressed by a group of individuals and recognized as reflecting the expectations of a community in so far as they reflect its cultural and social identity; its standards and values are transmitted orally, by imitation or by other means.”
The resolution on sizzling sisig prescribed pork and other ingredients and ways of preparation for such dish to qualify as authentic. The pork consist of pork cheeks and ears which are boiled and then grilled before being finely chopped and mixed with other ingredients before being served on hot metal plate.
“It’s mortal sin to top it with fried egg,” Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan said, even as he noted that the first “sisig” dish was served in a makeshift eatery along a railroad near Valdez St. here in the 1970’s.
Pamintuan said, however, that it was his late brother Benedict who later introduced sisig served on hot plate or the sizzling sisig.
Montances said that Sisig Fiesta on April 29 would also feature a motorcade, street dancing, sisig and other food stalls, cooking demonstrations, culinary competitions, live bands, spoken word Kapampangan poetry, face painting and even tattooing.
