In the coastal town of Santiago Ilocos Sur they started the festival for sea urchin. They call it "maritangtang festival".
The ricci de mare of Ilocos is gaining popularity and market. Well people just believe its a good aphrodisiac. Of course its the unique taste of yellow to orange roe that really captivated them.
The celebration includes the contest among fishermen from 6 coastal barangays of the town. The contests are biggest sea urchin and the heaviest which got 5 grams this year.
Then there's the cooking contest that brought local recipes among the fishermen. Well, the very common steaming and eating as roe are the very popular thing for them. Cooking is unusual.
But they come up with good dishes that includes Lumpia with Maritangtang that won the grand prize.
The Maritangtang With Paria (ampalaya) got the second prize and many of the judges appreciated the dish because of combining the roe and bittergourd leaves.
Other dishes are "maritangtang soup" and "sea urchin con cardis".
The festival was initiated by board member Gina Cordero and town Mayor Josefino Miranda. Sponsored by provincial government through Governor Ryan Singson.
The provincial government lauded the festival as it wants to establish seafoods centre in the province.
