CABAGAN, Isabela: It took at least 1,000 people to eat the giant Pancit Cabagan prepared as the main event in the Pansi Festival in this town onJanuary 21, 2023.

Vice Mayor Lovier Masigan said village officials and restaurant owners helped prepare the dish using 200-kilogram of miki, 100-kilogram of pork and fish, 200 pieces of quail and chicken eggs, lechon kawali and pork skin, shrimp, tuna, squid strips, vegetables, and other ingredients.

Pansi Cabagan or Pancit Cabagan is this town's delicacy, a dish made from rice noodles, and has become a symbol of its culture and heritage.

'Pansi' is an Ibanag term for pancit and is considered the most popular local noodle dish known not only in Cagayan Valley but in the entire Philippines.

The festival was halted during the two-year Covid-19 pandemic. The annual feast on giant local rice noodles, Pansi Cabagan is a tribute to the flourishing indigenous noodle industry and the abundant harvest of the farmers here, officials added.

Dave Deray, festival director-general, said the festival also includes other events like noodle contests, beauty pageants, cultural and sports competitions, modern stainless calesa, and other gimmicks.