ILOILO City – They may be competitors but for the sake of the Ilonggos, local bakers have come together to make sure no one would go hungry while the city is battling to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“My fellow Ilonggos, I hope as you eat pandesal you will taste the love, generosity and unity of the bakers,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
According to the city’s chief executive, many more players in the local bread industry volunteered for the city government’s “Ilonggo pandesal” initiative – members of the Iloilo Bakers Association such as Carlo’s Bakeshop, JD Bakeshop, Theresa’s Bakeshop, Tibiao Bakery, and Wewin’s Bakeshop.
Pandesal (also spelled pan de sal) is a popular yeast-raised bread roll in the Philippines. It is made of flour, eggs, yeast, sugar, and salt.
Individual loaves are shaped by rolling the dough into long logs which are rolled in fine bread crumbs. These are then portioned, allowed to rise, and baked.
The city government has been distributing free “Ilonggo pandesal” since April 6. This bread production and distribution was initially supported by Angelina Bakeshop as baker with the Uygongco Flour Mill and Carlos Uy Corp. as suppliers of flour and other needed ingredients.
“The ‘Ilonggo pandesal’ is free for all Ilonggos,” said Treñas.
Other companies supporting the “Ilonggo pandesal” program are General Milling Corp., BTJ Marketing, San Miguel Corp., 89-S Distribution Inc., and Great Harvest Commodities. They are supplying raw materials for the pandesal. San Miguel Corp., for example, donated 240 sacks of flour.
“This is, indeed, pandesal made with love and unity,” said Treñas.
Pandesal is most commonly served hot and may be eaten as is, or dipped in coffee, hot chocolate or milk.
It can also be complemented with butter, margarine, cheese, jam, peanut butter, chocolate spread, or other fillings like eggs, sardines and meat./PN
