Sarap ng Pasko sa Eden

The Longest Christmas Celebration

“It is very evident that Filipinos get an early excitement for Christmas time whatever situation they may be in,” Kraft Foods Philippines’ Category Marketing Manager Alex Dan Tacderas shares. “That is why we wanted to embody this excitement and bring the entire nation together for Christmas.

like many other Filipinos, I started imbibing in the Christmas spirit early this year. In fact, as early as September, I was already in the Christmas mode, jumping right in on the campaign for "One Nation to Start the World’s Longest Christmas Celebration", which was spearheaded by Kraft Eden Cheese. Under this program, some 100 towns nationwide were asked to cook dishes with Eden Cheese to represent their town as part of the world's longest celebration. Being always invited to these events, I found myself having gained some pleasurable pounds, what with all the good food that the campaign generated.

" Filipinos love Christmas, and this is probably why they want to celebrate and prolong it as much as possible, we want to impart a greater sense of community and oneness among Filipinos" shares Anna Sapitan, Sr. Brand Manager of Kraft Eden. I salute Kraft Eden for doing this, this kind of activity promotes goodwill which is one of the filipino traits we are known for.

I was there when they put up the giant Christmas Tree in SM Mall of Asia. That Christmas Tree represented all the 100 towns who participated in this celebration. all these naturally emphasized the Filipino's natural love and passion for food, and it succeeded in bringing the entire nation together to share the tastiest dishes this Yuletide season.

After the long series of food trips, there was finally an end to the longest Christmas campaign, with the awarding of Mandaluyong City, who became the 9th placer of this celebration . Chef Celina David introduced us the winning recipe called the Turon Cheese. a new kind of concoction putting an altogether new twist to the beloved classical banana toron with unbelievable cheezy goodness. It's made up of Gabi, Malunggay, Kalabasa, Cheese and Corn all wrapped together in rice paper. It so natural and it's ingredients are really filipino.
The Top 9 winning recipes (and towns) are:

Guimbal, Iloilo- Pininyahan Manok with Cheese
Camiling, Tarlac- Cheesy Carbonara con Chicharon
Loboc, Bohol- Cheese crab and Young coconut with Kangkong
Binan, Laguna- Topazzo
Malabon City – Pancit Malabon with Cheese crackling
Paranaque City- Shaggy Cheesy Roll
San Miguel, Bulacan- Filled Katuray ala Keso en Tuna
Muntinlupa City- Kraft Malunggay Fettuccine
Mandaluyong City – Trio Cheeze Delight

The Sarap ng Pasko 100 Days of Christmas gives away 2 million pesos in infrastructure and projects to winning Eden Town. Alex Tacderas, Kraft Eden brand manager is very pleased that the pubic really had great time in bringing it's values and tradition thru participating in this grand celebration.

Its good how Kraft Eden keeps on bringing meaning to the lives of others. This celebration symbolizes the strong relationship the Filipinos had, I think we all deserve a recognition for doing this. It's nice to know that when you search "longest celebration" in search engines sites. Top results are coming from Philippine articles sharing their stories about the beauty of our culture and tradition.