By Sixto Talastas, PIKP Researcher
What first comes to mind when you read the words Cordillera Heirloom Food? I wonder what you are thinking of right now as you read this. Here are some of the most common reactions from my conversations with Cordilleran friends, acquaintances, and even strangers – delicious, different, exotic, highland vegetables, pinikpikan, and on top of the list, what really is Cordillera Heirloom Food? Yes, the number one reaction was a question, it seems that many don’t know a good deal about Cordillera food even if they are Cordilleran. Some are knowledgeable enough to name a few dishes of their community or tribe but a great majority of these ‘knowledgeable’ people don’t know how to cook them and those few who know how to cook them are dwindling.
Thank Kabunyan that the Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (TFIP) and Partners for Indigenous Knowledge Philippines (PIKP) have partnered to initiate the documentation of Cordillera Heirloom Foods towards the publication of a cookbook. As far as I know, this is the first time in Cordillera history that a book on Cordillera Heirloom Foods would be published and I am glad that I am part of this groundbreaking endeavor. We are seeking Cordillera Heirloom Food masters and conducting Food Workshops in different parts of the Cordillera Region where we perform actual preparation and cooking of different heirloom dishes. In doing this research, it is like attending a culinary school, albeit in a different setting. Our classrooms include offices, homes, and the communities; our classmates include high school students, teachers, and farmers; our teachers include college students, farmers, mothers and community development workers.
Here, I discovered that pinikpikan, the word for the traditional butchering of chicken is not a native name in most parts of the Cordillera. It just so happens that it became popular in and out of the Cordillera Region and so it was adopted throughout the Cordillera. Originally, indigenous communities had their own names for their own style of traditional butchering of chicken. I also discovered that bagoong is also a Cordillera food and is still being made in Tineg, Abra, and parts of Apayao. I thought it was only produced in the Ilocos Region and other lowlands.
I learned that there are similarities in names and characteristics of plants, animals, and materials for cooking. For instance, the pako, an edible fern, of Dalupirip in Itogon, Benguet is the same as the pakpako of central and eastern Mountain Province, and can be used in both of their dishes, while the gadiw, a small riverine fish, of Itogon, Benguet, has slight similarity to the khachiw of central and eastern Mountain Province. They can be interchanged in both dishes but the taste varies. The abuhos, or big red ants of parts of Ifugao is the same with the bu’os of the Binongan part of Abra. They can be interchanged in both dishes. The bulo, a bamboo with thin walls used for cooking in Kalinga, is the same as the bulo of Benguet and other parts of the Cordillera.
Furthermore, dishes from different localities have similarities in names and characteristics. For example, the Inutum, a wrapped fish dish roasted in fire of the Tuwali of Ifugao is highly similar in its process to the Intum of Lias of Mountain Province, though there are variations in ingredients and materials. The pinuneg, a blood sausage of the Ibaloy of Benguet is similar to the pinunnug, a local longganisa of Ifugao, though there are variations in ingredients. The sinag-it, a hot and spicy vegetable stew of Abra is similar to the Binongor of Kalinga, though they have variations in ingredients. The inatong, a dish cooked in bamboo of Karikitan, Conner, Apayao, is similar to the tinibalu of Dupag, Tabuk City, with some variations in ingredients.
Amidst the differences of the dishes, they have many things in common. They are all cheap if not all free because the ingredients can be found in the family farm or communal grounds and waters in the communities. Some are even found in the wild. Most are fresh because the ingredients are mostly seasonal and are gathered only when they are needed for cooking and processing. There are many preserved foods where they are processed and kept, to be consumed after a long period of time. They are all healthy because plants and livestock for family consumption are free of GMOs. Since these are just for domestic consumption and not for business, there is no need to boost production for profit, and therefore no need to use growth enhancing chemicals. And lastly, they are all delicious, at least to each his own dish. The spicy dishes of Kalinga and Abra are delicious to the people of Abra and Kalinga probably because since childhood their taste buds were trained to like it, though it may not be as palatable to the tongues of other provinces in the Cordillera. The salt-less chicken stew of parts of Mountain Province and parts of Ifugao are delicious to those who practice this tradition but may be too bland to others. However, during the course of our Food Workshops I came to realize that some food that I am not used to was strange at first taste, but as I continued to eat, it slowly became delicious and slowly I came to love it.
I thought at first that the tradition of Cordillera Heirloom Food has completely stagnated with the elders but, thankfully, some elders are passing their cooking tradition to the young generation. In seeking food masters, I am glad to encounter a young food master from Dupag, Tabuk City, Andres ‘Wowie’ Wailan, Jr. He is our youngest teacher so far and together with his father and mother they taught us their heirloom foods in two of our Food Workshops. He was a college student and waiting for his graduation at that time. He has learned their tribe’s traditional food from his parents who also learned theirs from their parents.
In the course of this research, I have lots of learning, unlearning, and relearning. We have cooked and have tasted many heirloom foods and met many Cordillera heirloom food masters. I also have realizations, like we may have opened a whole new avenue for scholars and researchers alike to tread, and a new school for many different kinds of learners. Be as it may, let us just be guided that Cordillera heirloom food may be exploited by outsiders without any compensation to the food masters, and the community where these food traditions have originated. So let us be on guard.