Iloilo City
About the Creative City:
Iloilo has a long-standing gastronomic tradition rooted in its inhabitants’ way of life and in the local culture of the "fiesta" and its festive banquets. The city currently employs around 4,600 people in the gastronomy sector and comprises over 300 restaurants. Iloilo actively supports its food industry in the belief that it is instrumental for its urban development. Since 2021, the city organizes the "Timplada" event to showcase the creativity of its gastronomic sector and local cuisine. The event includes a number of educational activities focusing on the local culinary heritage. Similarly, an exhibition in partnership with the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art highlights contemporary artworks linked to local gastronomy.
To ensure the vitality and economic development of the creative sector, every year since 2019, the city has organized a festival that invites micro-, small and medium-sized businesses in the gastronomy sector to showcase their products and meet potential investors. Iloilo is also working to safeguard its culinary heritage, by participating in the production of a recipe book entitled "Flavours of Iloilo", which brings together contemporary and traditional recipes unique to the city.
For Iloilo, gastronomy is a vector for social cohesion and helps to strengthen urban resilience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city launched the "Kitchen Patrol" programme, distributing thousands of traditional meals to the underprivileged and socially isolated. Thanks to its strengths and resources in terms of gastronomy and creativity, Iloilo can develop appropriate responses to contemporary urban challenges and seize opportunities.
Added value:
As a Creative City of Gastronomy, Iloilo City is dedicated to:
Sharing its experiences and good practices in supporting the gastronomy sector and other creative fields with member cities of the Network;
Working to repurpose disused urban spaces as cultural venues and strengthening the socio-economic inclusion of the most vulnerable; and
Strengthening its efforts in terms of international scientific cooperation, urban regeneration, the fight against food waste and the development of sustainable urban agriculture.
