WHEN talking about chicken inasal, the “City of Smiles” definitely comes to mind.
Bacolod City is the acknowledged home of the mouthwatering chicken inasal – charcoal-grilled chicken marinated in vinegar, calamansi juice, and a cornucopia of other herbs and spices.
The Bacolod chicken inasal also has a unique basting sauce what gives it a distinctive yellowish hue.
Anywhere you go in this country or abroad, there may be grilled chicken dishes. But when you have already tasted the Bacolod chicken inasal, you will definitely crave for it.
As part of its food tourism, this city prides itself with the savory chicken inasal. Then Bacolod City mayor Jose Montalvo Jr. designated a portion of the Reclamation Area for the sale of the tasty chicken inasal. Through the years, the area grew in reputation as the base of the sumptuous Bacolod chicken inasal and became known as the “Manokan Country”.
Domestic and international tourists visiting Bacolod always take time to dine at the Manokan Country to relish the famed chicken dish.
But why does Bacolod City’s chicken inasal stand out from other grilled chicken dishes?
According to David Montoya, Manokan Country Vendors Association president and owner of the New Paz stall at Manokan Country, Bacolod chicken inasal is prepared “with a heart”.
“Bacolod chicken inasal is being prepared with passion. Its delectable taste has nothing to do with secret ingredients but the griller’s love of cooking. The inasal is prepared with a heart,” Monyoya explained.
If you can believe Montoya, “Ang tanan nga chicken inasal palareho lang ina ang mga ingredients, patis kag langgaw. Pero kon wala mo ina gina obra nga may pagpalangga, indi manami ang sabor.”
According to Bacolodnon historian Modesto Sa-onoy, the style of cutting the chicken and marinating it makes Bacolod inasal unique.
The chicken inasal became the signature dish of Bacolod, he added, back in the 1980s when it became popular as an accessible street food. Back then, the chicken was cut into small pieces and sold along Cuadra Street.
When then mayor Jose Montalvo Jr. found a suitable place that addressed food sanitation concerns, he transferred the chicken inasal vendors to what is now the Manokn Country at the Reclamation Area.
Chicken inasal was “institutionalized” in 2009. The Sangguniang Panlungsod passed City Ordinance (CO) No. 482, “Establishing a yearly festival to be known as the Manokan Country Inasal Festival in the City of Bacolod, incorporating a special committee to be created and providing funds for its implementation.”
With such city ordinance, a yearly Inasal Festival is held to promote this specific local food industry.
In 2018, the city council amended certain sections of CO No. 482, with the aim of establishing ownership of the intangible cultural heritage of the chicken inasal as a “Bacolod original.”
The “Manokan Country Inasal Festival” was renamed “Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival”.
The amended CO also stated that the Inasal Festival should be managed by a Special Committee and that the area covered stretches from the corner of Rizal-Ferrero streets, encompassing the whole Manokan Country area, up to the corner of Burgos-Ferrero streets.
To better organize the celebration, the festival’s funding was also added.
The City of Bacolod celebrates the Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival every first week of May./PN
