In 2022, Sorsogon welcomed a total of 852,000 local and foreign same-day tourists. This year, it is aiming to attract one million local and foreign visitors. The provincial government of Sorsogon has stepped up its tourism campaign with their new campaign “Beautiful Sorsogon! -Where Beauty is Everywhere.”
From March 28 to April 1, 2023, the provincial government of Sorsogon invited ast least 40 media practitioners and tour operators to a familiarization tour. During those five days, Sorsogon’s varied and unique cuisine, as well as its stunning beauty, took center stage. The tour started with video presentations of what each of the province’s 14 municipalities and one city can offer local and foreign tourists.
Guests also feasted on famous Sorsogon delicacies during their familiarization tour of the province. Being surrounded by the ocean really has its perks, especially when it comes to fresh seafood.
Edible sea urchins
AT BANTIGUE Point Marine Sanctuary, edible sea urchins (locally called suwaki or uni) and sea grapes (lato) are cultured and harvested for food. The former is a known aphrodisiac in Japan for thousands of years. Steamed lobsters and crabs, as well as ginataang sahang (spider shells cooked in coconut milk), were served during our island hopping tours off Pilar (Casa Almei Beach Resort) and Matnog (Murong Burongan Island Resort), two of the three gateways (the other is Bulan) of Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao.
A showcase of native cuisine and the culinary heritage icon of Bicol is the three-hectare Balay Buhay sa Uma Bee Farm, a combination of a resort and bee farm with an amazing 2,400 colonies of stingless ligwan and pukyutan bees. At its restaurant, we dined on three healthy Bicolano dishes plus one companion dish – adobadong suso (boiled edible freshwater snails in coconut milk), tinolang manok (chicken stew) and deep-fried tilapia plus pork belly salad (lechon kawali with salted egg) and fruits in season, all washed down by melon juice. The enseladang pako (pako salad), served with pipino and a vinaigrette made with honey, calamansi, olive oil and spices, was a perfect companion of the adobadong suso.
Uma also serves the popular, very delicious and affordable kinigang, a unique Sorsogon delicacy and a perfect treat for seafood lovers, which is served as an appetizer. Almost looking like a tamale, it is made from shredded young coconut (lukadon), yerba Buena, libas, ukot/ulang (giant freshwater shrimp) and spices wrapped in hagikhik or banana leaf.
Native kakanin
AT ZOE’S Resort & Eco-Adventure Park in Bulusan, we tried tinitim, a native kakanin. A delicacy similar to cassava cake, it is made of steamed grated cassava, coconut milk sugar, vanilla and pili nuts. Another popular Sorsogon delicacy is their suman, a rice cake made with glutinous rice cooked on coconut milk and often wrapped in banana leaves or buried palm leaves for steaming. It is served during fiestas or eaten during breakfast, lunch and dinner or even as a snack.
Other must try desserts include the creamy halo-halo at Splendido de Rompeolas in Sorsogon City, Uwa’s tablea in Donsol, the sticky, sweet kalamay (made with coconut milk, brown sugar and ground glutinous rice and flavored with margarine, peanut butter or vanilla) and the delicious and easy to make puto (an accompaniment to the savory dinuguan, this type of steamed rice cake popular during holidays and festivals).
Pili (Canarium ovatum), the rarest nut in the world and the Bicol Region’s main produce, is also the most famous delicacy in Sorsogon, a favorite pasalubong (the most common ones sold are the roasted pili, pili nut brittle, bkayo, molido, pastillas, pili tart, tablea and pili candy) and, cooked in different ways, is popular during meals. The trees, a low-maintenance crop that grows in rich volcanic soil, are found throughout Sorsogon. Pili Haven, an agri-eco tourism site operated by Angkie Agri Enterprises, features everything about pili, from its multiple uses to how they were processed and eaten.
During the launch of the “Beautiful Sorsogon! -Where Beauty is Everywhere.” campaign last March 31 at the Residencia del Hamor Beachfront in Santa Magdalena, Bikol cuisine, with the Sorsogon touch, was served. Dishes include tilmok (crab meat wrapped in coconut leaf and steamed till cooked), pinakbet (eggplant, okra, string beans and other vegetables stewed with fermented fish), ginataang baluko (pen shell cooked in coconut milk), kinunot (dish with coconut milk and seafood) and, of course, the flavorful and spicy Bicol Express.
The Bicol Express, with seafood and coconut milk as the main ingredients, also included green beans and peppers which were added to the creamy and spicy coconut sauce. The pinausukang laing was different from the one served in the rest of the Bicol Region as it is smoked (it tasted smoky) and is darker compared to the others.
