By Freddie G. Lazaro

CANDON CITY (3 April) -- At least 10,000 people including foreign and local tourists witnessed and tasted the giant calamay (rice cake) in the bid to break the Guinness Book of World Record for the biggest rice cake in the world currently held by Japan..

Calamay, a sticky concoction of ground glutinous rice, coconut meat and sugar, is the city's favorite "pasalubong" and the Guinness contender weighing about three tons and displayed behind the 24-hour calamayan stand at the plaza.

Candon City officials, in coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Tourism, will have to submit their bid to the Guinness Book of World Record, according to Mayor allen G. Singson

The claim for the biggest rice cake is currently held by the city of Niigata in Japan. The Kamaura Food Co. Ltd. baked a 2,097 kilograms (4,623 lbs) rice cake, not 2,300 kilos as earlier reported, on March 1, 2002 in Niigata, Japan. This is the indigenous Japanese rice cake where the sweet sticky rice was merely steamed.

But, this year's Candon calamay was made by 45 people in three days, mostly women in the village of Bagar utilizing 22 vats of calamay in six shifts or with a total of 132 vats. It was made out of 2,000 coconuts, 200 gantas of gluten - ground rice and 1,200 kilos of brown sugar.

This was approximately three times the calamay that Candon made last year which it tagged last year as "The World's Biggest Calamay."

"Now we want to make it official," said Rep. Eric Singson. The city reportedly contacted the Guinness World Records to make their claim literally stick to the requirements.

With the bulk of tourist and visitors who witnessed and tasted the giant calamay, Congressman Singson was greatly overwhelmed and he said, "We will continue to promote our calamay competitively as country's world class food delicacy."

Last year's calamay was made from 270 kilograms of glutinous rice or "diket" as it is called in Ilocano and 1,440 coconuts and 720 kg. of white and brown sugar. 80 calamay makers used forty huge vats in one day of preparation.

For his part, Mayor Allen Singson said that it took them two to three days to cook and make it for the display of the calamay on March 28.

"This fiesta is particularly important because it is dedicated to the hundreds of Candon balikbayans," said the younger Singson.

"Calamay is much harder because you have to ground the rice and grate the coconuts," said Mayor Singson.

"But this is worth it because we want to promote our food products and create investment and job opportunities," he added.

The promotion was part of the initiative to fulfill the agenda of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to create 6 -10 million jobs in 2010.

A foreign tourist named Rony Shemtov of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was impressed to the giant calamay made and he said "It's amazing and delicious food delicacy."

The other Candon pasalubong, the chichacorn or cornik (shelled, deep-fried corn) also had a creative makeover for the Candon fiesta. Artists from the major schools in the city would unveil their "cornik sculptures" also on March 28.