Friday, May 30, was made even more special by the fiesta vibe at SM Megamall’s Trade Halls 1-3, where Food Festival 2025: Flavors from the Regions was formally opened by the Department of Trade and Industry. The three-day festival, open to the public for free starting 10 a.m., celebrates Philippine recipes, delicacies, and food products, and ends this Sunday at 9 p.m.
Filipino food and Manila Sound were like hand in glove in the food fest, the disco beat, and Taglish lyrics luring the gourmands, weekend shoppers, and casual strollers to come and visit. Sampaguita singing Join na Lang Kayo was effective in urging everyone to “have a good time” while checking out the more than 200 booths managed by MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), sampling the freebies, and buying what they’re offering. Even the “flowers”— men and women costumed in light green, swaying and twirling to VST & Company’s I-Swing Mo Ako while holding giant paper daisies — appeared to be enjoying the beat.
The DTI Food Festival 2025 opened at SM Megamall’s Megatrade Halls 1–3, with emcees Tim Yap and Isabelle Daza-Semblat. From May 30 to June 1, the event showcases over 250 regional delicacies nationwide, a vibrant celebration of Filipino culinary heritage, creativity, and entrepreneurship.
In the early-afternoon launch program hosted by Isabelle Daza and Tim Yap, the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra under principal conductor Rodel Colmenar rendered a pleasing performance. Trade Secretary Maria Cristina Aldeguer-Roque delivered the opening remarks and welcomed everyone, especially the esteemed guests, Indonesian Ambassador Agus Widjojo and Malaysian Ambassador Abdul Malik.
Roque said the food festival was one way to help the country’s food producers. She underscored the necessity of being “aggressive” in supporting MSMEs, pointing out that food is both “cultural testament and economic opportunity.”
DTI assistant secretary Nylah Bautista and CIDO officer-in-charge and BCD director Lilian G. Salonga
The festival highlighted the diversity of the Filipino palate. That the craving for pork remains in top spot was evident in the aroma of longganisa and bagnet wafting in the halls. The staff at Tita Luds Food Products of Calumpit, Bulacan, was in the thick of frying the distinctive Filipino sausage, while at Basilio’s Chicharon of San Nicholas, Ilocos Norte, a horde of customers patiently waited for their freshly fried bagnet to be chopped and packed. (Plan B: They had ready-made bagnet chips on sale for those in a hurry.)
A different smell emanated next to the chicharon, which turned out to be rabbit meat from Easter Joy Rabbit Ventures of Angono, Rizal. (Not partial to meat, including rabbit, I tried not to gawk at those savoring the samples while waiting for the answer to a curious customer’s query: What’s done with the rabbit fur? Apparently, it’s made into fur coats.)
The traditional pork siomai was reworked by the Mandaluyong-based Papaping’s Baked Boneless Bangus into siomai bangus, which they sold alongside their staple, baked rellenong bangus. The steamed siomai bangus was an instant favorite; their frozen packs were sold out hours after the festival’s opening.
Walking around, I wondered if the group who hankered for something spicy and with coconut milk bought a lot at Sally’s Authentic Bicol Express from Talon Dos, Las Piñas.
With my fondness for sweet stuff rearing its head, my first purchase was a big bag of banana chips (a childhood favorite) from Bahaghari Global Food Inc. based in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro. I also scooped up brazo de Mercedes, chocolate caramel cake, pianono, and the trio of revel bar, walnut brownie, and cream puff from Sonia’s Cakes and Bakes Inc. of Mandaluyong.
I threw a pack of uraro cookies into my bag from a stall behind Sonia’s, keeping my fingers crossed that it’s as good as the one my sister got recently from Lucban, Quezon. Into the bag also went a bottle of sardines in olive oil by Victorias Foods of Negros, as well as bags of Kuya B’s mushroom chicharon —in flavors of salt ‘n’ vinegar and garlic—from Camarines Sur.
Manila Philharmonic Orchestra
As others flocked to buy local spicy vinegar, olive-oil-marinated tuyo, salmon belly in oil, coffee, black rice, etc., I queued at Unas Naimas Refreshment Kiosk of San Fernando, La Union, for their 22-oz. pure sugarcane juice (there’s an option to mix in calamansi or lemonade). Apart from liking it when I first tried it in Singapore, I was swayed by their standee declaring sugarcane as a natural sweet superfood loaded with vitamins C and B-complex, and minerals, calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium.
Minyang’s Lumpia of Eastwood caught my attention because, apart from pork lumpia, they also sold such variants as vegetable, chicken, and fresh, as well as sweet turones.
Nearing the end of our food trip, I found more to purchase from Janna’s of Samal, Bataan, (near the Aisle 3 entrance). The proprietor, Jonathan Oconer, who had named his enterprise after his daughter, explained that his Seafood Bites (mussels and capiz, or windowpane oysters), sauces (garlic shrimp and Thai green chili, and chunky pesto), and pickled radish are all homemade and without preservatives.
Jonathan Oconer
On Janna’s FB page, Oconer wrote in Filipino how a grandmother had a moment of enlightenment after complaining that his pesto sauce was too pricey compared to another product. Without saying a word, he had her try his chunky pesto. She liked what she tasted, pronounced it delicious, and said she wanted a jar of his sauce except that she had already bought a jar from another.
“I said no worries and to just buy when she needed one the next time,” wrote Oconer.
Janna’s isn’t ubiquitous yet, but Oconer is a regular in trade fairs and food festivals. And there’s always FB. There’s a high chance you’ll see the brand again among the popular food vendors.
