Pangasinan's Poncia :))

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Poncia is a term associated for a party in Pangasinan. It's a celebration centered only on food. It is an undertaking by the entire barangay wherein people come to help in the preparation of the handa or dishes to be served from cooking, down to plating and serving. And the best part is where everybody partakes the food. 

The preparation for the poncia usually starts 24 hours before the celebration. So it is really a grand celebration. The Tagalog term of poncia is handaan which includes serving of foods during a party, wedding, baptism, fiesta, birthday, anniversary of all sorts, etc. No matter what kind of celebration it is, the most important in it are the foods served which give life to the celebration. 

lechon kawali

The most preferred beast for the handa is  the pig. Goat is also used but it is more costly because pig is more meaty than the goat. They used to serve a variety of dishes out of it. The most common served dish is igado and lechon kawali.

A dish of igado, a stew of the offals and some meat in vinegar. In this case some tomato sauce was added.

Lechon kawali, pan-fried pork belly strips. In other poncia this is further chopped into cubes for economic reasons.  

Poncia is tantamount to our fiesta.