CAGAYAN DE ORO -- This year’s Big Bite Food Festival at the Ayala Centrio Mall shone the spotlight on Northern Mindanao street food. The four-day event brought treats and delicacies from Cagayan De Oro City, the mountains of Bukidnon, and the beaches of Camiguin and Iligan.

Now on its fifth year, the event has been managed by Professional Organizers Inc. since its inception. In the beginning, the event was patterned after a similar festival in Pampanga’s Marquee Mall.

“The challenge for us to define what was Northern Mindanao cuisine and what foods were unique to our region. Over time, Big Bite in Centrio started to have its own unique character. Starting 2016, we changed the date of the festival to coincide with the beginning of summer. So, every year, Big Bite becomes Ayala Centrio’s event to welcome summer,” said Angela Dayrit-Kho, vice president-finance of Professional Organizers and Big Bite event manager.

Through the four days, themed culinary competitions were held at the mall’s activity center. The festival kicked off with the largest boodle of street food prepared by the three schools participating in the culinary contests - Culinary Institute of Cagayan De Oro (CIC), Liceo De Cagayan University, and Pilgrim Christian College, as part of the opening ceremonies. Liceo De Cagayan won the first day’s Cagayan De Oro Humba Challenge.

The second day brought Big Bite to the mountains of Bukidnon. The CIC won the Krispy Kreme Donut with their mango and chocolate topping, while Liceo De Cagayan's stuffed maruya with sweet potato and topped with pineapple and ube sauce won the Longest Maruya Competition. Later that day, celebrity chef Boy Logro demonstrated how to make Hawaiian beef steak from Bukidnon pineapples, and Mesclun Salad in mayo mustard dressing.

Day 3 was Big Bite beach day putting the focus on Camiguin, Iligan and further regions of Northern Mindanao. CIC won both Day 3 competitions: the Island Beverage Competition with a refreshing non-alchoholic smoothie served in coconut shells; and the deep-fried breaded balut for the Gourmet Street Food Challenge.

Celebrity chef JP Anglo celebrated his birthday on the activity center stage by showing off his version of the Northern Mindanao favorite, sinuglaw using roast chicken instead of pork, and grilled fish with imbao gata and guinamos.

The mall’s outside corridors, garden, and driveway were populated with booths by mall tenants selling one-off products and special guest food concepts from around the region.

“The festival is a haven for iconic street food concepts. We were able to reach out beyond the four corners of the mall and discover what’s new. We gathered them in one venue gave them a platform their potential deserves.,” said Hammer Roa, general manager of Ayala Centrio.

Roa emphasized Ayala Mall’s commitment to the local community citing that prime spots are currently occupied by well-loved Cagayan De Oro restaurants such as Thai Me Up, Bigby’s, Panagatan, Candy’s Café, and Sunburst Chicken.

Here are selected nibbles from Big Bite 2019:

Ang Humba ni Aling Violy is legendary at Cagayan De Oro Cogon market as the perfect meal after a long night of drinking. Tender pork is stewed in pineapple, soy, and Aling Violy’s secret ingredients. With the long lines waiting for a taste of humba, it’s no wonder it ran away with the Best Food Discovery - Savory award.

By Clarkie’s started out as a roadside nipa store in Alubijid. It became a halo-halo stopover on the way to Laguindangan Airport. Its upgraded halo-halo version of Zamboanga’s Knickerbocker mixed won the award for Best Food Discover - Sweet category.

“A naked banana cue” is the best way to describe ginang-gang -- carefully chosen saba that’s just the right ripeness, grilled on charcoal then served with dabs of margarine, and sprinkled with sugar. This was from the Ginang-gang ni Mae booth.

Chicken inato is Cagayan De Oro’s version of the inasal. This inato is from Steve’s Barbecue located at the Centrio garden during the Big Bite festival

Chingkeetea started in the Pabayo food district of Cagayan De Oro where a lot of the city’s food entrepreneurs start out. Chinkitea branches are known for their interiors mostly designed by artist Chinkee Te.

Topview Bar whips up a cocktail made with Bukidnon pineapples. The desiccated pineapple garnish was a nice touch.

Fat Pauly’s is Northern Mindanao’s contribution to the Philippine craft beer scene. Brewed in Iligan, it is served in bars and craft beer watering holes all over the country.

Humble Press owner and chief barista Arnel Banuag sells coffee beans grown in Northern Mindanao that he roasts himself. The beans he had on hand during Big Bite were from Wa-O in Lanao Del Sur and Pangantucan, Bukidnon which are known for their chocolate notes. Have a cup of his Cortada, a full-bodied flat white pulled a special way to get rid of the bitter notes.

Bowerbird Coffee no longer has an actual brick-and-mortar store to focus on catering and Chinita Roa’s Bower Brews. This is not cheap 3-in-1 ready-to-drink coffee. Rather, these bottled café lattes are made with brewed Bukidnon coffee with the right amount of milkiness and sweetness and can give the more popular coffee chain’s bottled brew a run for their money. She plans to introduce a matcha Bower Brew soon.

Iconic Cagayan De Oro dessert restaurant Candy’s serves up special items only available during Big Bite. This year, owner Candy Lu serves up special Chinese empanadas using her lola’s family recipe. Think of a more flavorful lumpia shanghai filling encased in a properly flaky pastry shell.

While this bilao of dilis, tinapa, black rice, okra, and ensaladang talong can be eaten separately, Gat’s Garden recommends tossing everything in this Filipiniana salad platter together.

There are also special entrees from franchises that were only available in Cagayan De Oro. Echo Store Cagayan De Oro franchisee Celine Palomares added her own Tofu Wrap with pesto and three kinds of cheese to the menu.

Last year, Mercedes Bakery introduced its chookies and closed Big Bite by baking the biggest chookie. This year, they made chookie chips, bite-sized versions of the chookie. It’s a smart play because chookie lovers can their fix and get all four flavors – choco chip, red velvet, chocolate, and matcha – in one serving. Have this with Cagayan De Oro pasalubong-du-jour, the Pineapple Crumble.

Originally from Leyte, Nanay Choleng’s Muron brought their advocacy of making traditional Filipino snacks when they re-settled in Cagayan De Oro. The owners have been innovating by making not-so-traditional flavors like Azuki Red Bean and their latest, TapMocha (Tapioca Mocha), which they launched during Big Bite.

Puto is a popular snack in Cagayan De Oro. Raypon's puto features a cheese variety alongside their ube halaya topped puto.

Cakeistry is a popular homebaker in the city. Owner Awi Chavez made her own version of the dreamcakes for friends who were looking for pasalubong to bring to the United States. Her latest creation is the Ube Lata cake which has molten ube halaya at its center.