Director Karina Rosa Tiopes
TACLOBAN CITY — The Eastern Visayas Food Fest will move to a new host province next year after two consecutive years of staging in Tacloban City, the Department of Tourism (DOT) announced.
DOT Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said the 2026 edition of the festival will be hosted by the provincial government of Samar and the city government of Catbalogan City, giving more communities across the region the chance to experience and showcase their local cuisine.
Tiopes made the announcement during the successful street food festival held along Magsaysay Boulevard in Tacloban, noting that the rotation aims to promote wider appreciation of Eastern Visayas’ diverse culinary offerings.
She said bringing the event to Samar will allow residents to experience street foods from different provinces while also introducing regional delicacies to new audiences beyond Tacloban.
“All over the region we have different street food and to introduce them to Eastern Visayas is something that we wanted to do,” Tiopes said.
The festival features ready-to-eat dishes and snacks from across the region, including baduyang pasayan and ube of Catbalogan City; puto bugas, bibingka, and kutsinta of Calbayog; piyaya and milky donut of Tacloban; tuba-based ice cream from Palo; moron and empanada from Leyte; and various local products from Northern Samar towns.
Farm products such as vegetables, poultry, and rice were also showcased by farmers’ groups from Tacloban and Palo with support from the Department of Agriculture.
The Eastern Visayas Food Fest is part of the Filipino Food Month celebration under Proclamation No. 469, led by the DOT, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the Department of Agriculture, aimed at promoting and preserving Filipino culinary heritage.
Tiopes also floated the possibility of organizing localized versions of the festival in the future, encouraging private stakeholders to sustain similar food tourism events in the region.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
