Homemade festival food deemed a no-no

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ALBUQUERQUE, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Regular participants in an Our Lady of Guadalupe festival in Albuquerque say city officials have banned all homemade food from the annual event.

St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church parishioners said city officials said homemade cultural dishes such as posole and menudo could only be served at the Dec. 14 event if they came premade, the Albuquerque Journal said Wednesday.

To parish life coordinator, Sister Bernice Garcia, using canned items to create the traditional dishes is simply wrong.

"That's really like fake posole," she told the newspaper.

"The posole isn't going to have that homemade taste that it had in the past," parishioner Patrick Ayala offered. "But it will have to do."

City officials say the ban on homemade goods at the festival is due to health concerns since the event is open to the general public.

The Journal said due to its public nature, the event must follow city regulations regarding food service and do away with the festival's traditional potluck nature.