The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Department of Tourism and National Commission for Culture and the Arts, presents a new season of Fiesta Filipinas 2 focusing on Pahiyas, a colorful harvest festival celebrated in Lucban, province of Quezon, every 15th day of May in celebration of St. Isidore, patron saint of farmers and rural communities.
This live telecast event focusing on the Festival will be launched on April 2, 2022 at 12 midnight (Vancouver time) by featuring a virtual tour of Quezon province, with a new and exciting “local wanderer” who will showcase the must-visit sites, must-eat delicacies, and must-do activities in Lucban, Quezon.
It will be live streamed on April 2, 2022, at 4:00 PM (Philippine Standard time) via the DFA’s official Facebook page and YouTube Channel.
Ninety-four (94) Philippine Embassies and Consulates General from around the world are expected to join virtually for the Pahiyas festival episode.
This online Celebration of Philippine Festivals is a way to bring Philippine culture and celebrations closer to Filipino hearts, and showcase Filipino ingenuity, creativity, spirituality, and resourcefulness.
Fiesta Filipinas Season 2 is a four part, multi-format online event series that aims to introduce and showcase Philippine festivals, culture, and traditions to our global audience and invite them to the Philippines when conditions are more favorable.
Aside from the vibrant parades and performances, the local cuisine is the usual main attraction in barrios and towns during fiestas. To authentically showcase the unique Fiesta experience in Quezon, a cooking segment will be one of the new elements of Fiesta Filipinas this season. With this new segment, a showcase of the province’s famous delicacy will also ensure a gastronomic experience for the bisitas (guests).
The new cooking feature this year includes a “bisita chef” visiting chef), who will participate virtually in the cooking segment of the livestream event, demonstrating how to cook Quezon’s famous pancit habhab to an audience of about a hundred from various Philippine diplomatic posts all over the world.
Pancit habhab, is a specialty noodle dish of Lucban, Quezon. It uses Miki Lucban noodles or dried flour noodles with slices of pork belly and vegetables. The noodles are cooked in the same sauce where the vegetables and pork belly had been sautéed. The pork belly in the dish may be replaced with chicken or shrimps or a mixture of a little of each.
Pancit habhab was a popular street food in Lucban. In the olden days before plastic containers, street vendors served pancit habhab on banana leaves and it was eaten without a spoon or fork, hence the word habhab, a tagalog word meaning to gobble up, from the banana leaves.
From Vancouver, the live event will be participated in by Chef Helen Orimaco-Pumatong of the Vancouver Community College; Professional Photographer Ms. Marzia Sager of EM Sager Photography; Ms. Raena Macaraeg, a nine-year old Filipina Artist; and four young ladies from the non-profit organization, Framing the Future, namely: Mary Ortega, Michaela Jurado, Samantha Santos and Asra Fatima. Chef Helen will serve as the “bisita chef” and will do the live cooking of “pancit habhab” for Vancouver.
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