Dagupan market

My recent trip to Dagupan City in Pangasinan Province allowed me to have some change in environment. It had been a while since I went out to do field work and I was looking forward to this trip since it had also been a long time that I had been in this part of the country. Dagupan is famous for seafood and particularly the bangus or milkfish that fishermen raise in the surrounding areas. Pangasinan is also visited by a lot of pilgrims particularly the town of Manauag, which is well known because of the image of Our Lady to whom many miracles have been attributed. The Shrine in Manauag, of course, deserves a separate post that I will likely write in November.

On our way back the day after our field work, we decided to go to the market to shop for seafood. There, I was able to take a few photos of shops and items I bought. My only regret was not being able to take a photo of the bangus (milkfish) at the market.

There were many shops selling dried seafood. I bought danggit, dulong, tuyo, squid and espada. It was definitely cheaper compared to prices in Metro Manila and these were not the salty kind.

A closer look at the different types (according to size) of dried squid

This shop sold kakanin or rice cakes. These are the famous puto Calasiao, which are supposed to originate from the next town but are also made and sold in Dagupan. Shown are two variants - the plain puto (steamed rice cakes) and the puto with cheese. These were being sold by the kilogram and I bought one kilo of each to bring home.

I forget what they called their version of suman, which was typically made of glutinous rice and coconut milk. The wrap is made of coconut leaves.

I enjoy going to the market every time I visit places like Dagupan. Markets are where you can get the best prices for local goods including food and souvenirs. I always get dried fish whenever I find these and coastal cities and towns definitely have seafood in abundance so you have a lot of variety, the quality is really good and the prices low.

-