by Alma Sinumlag
BAGUIO CITY – As a result of the series of food workshops, sharing, and interviews around the Cordillera, the Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples Rights (TFIP) and the Partners for Indigenous Knowledge Philippines (PIKP) is now ready to share the food wisdom of the Igorots to the public especially to the youth.
TFIP and PIKP gave a sneak peek into the story book cum recipe book at the Talastasan Lecture Series of the University of the Philippines Baguio on November 17, 2018. Samples of recipes from all the provinces were presented and some of it were served after the panel discussion. The collection of these recipes and narratives will be published next year with a title “Heirloom Recipes of the Cordillera.”
Judy Cariño from PIKP said that traditional food of the Cordillera indigenous peoples are simple, healthy, and delicious. She explained that there is a misnomer around the idea that Igorots are carnivorous. Meat she said is only abundant during feasts. “For the rest of the days outside community feasts, the food served depends on what is available in the fields, backyard, forest, and waters. So the traditional diet is as diverse as the biodiversity in the homeland,” she said.
In general, the Igorot diet can be described as a “simple diet of rice with greens and occasional meat.” This diet is attributed by the informants as the reason for the long life of their forebears. It is a healthy diet that is borne out of the generations’ creativity to maximize every available food resource in the environment for the nourishment of the race.
With the recipes gathered, rice, being the staple is valuable among the Cordillera communities. The terrain of the homeland cannot produce plenty of rice and so, the communities supplement this with a variety of root crops.
Rice is also important in the community solidarity and rituals. Every community has their own way of cooking rice for especial occasions. There is the inandila (ground sticky rice shaped in tongues, wrapped in a certain leaf, steamed, unwrapped and served with coconut latik) in Kalinga; the linapet (ground rice with peanuts wrapped with banana leaves and steamed) in Mt. Province; and the bakle’ of Ifugao. Wines are also made from rice aside from sugar cane. As important as it is, there is a taboo of wasting a single grain of rice which is passed on through generations.
Food as explained by Judy Cariño is the daily expression of the people’s deep relationship with the land, being rooted on the land, which is the source of food and of life. The preparation and consumption of food breeds the culture of solidarity and belongingness in the communities as food is considered a gift from the land which should be shared among the members of a community, the visitors, and the unseen.
Jill Cariño of TFIP said that indigenous wisdom should be effectively transmitted to the younger generations through creative and accurate materials. She mentioned the favorable policy context in the country today on Indigenous Peoples Education that should be maximized to spread said wisdom which is worthy of emulation by the public. She added that indigenous knowledge holders should be linked up to creatives, writers, and advocates to develop effective educational materials that can help combat discriminatory attitudes towards indigenous peoples.
Creative and effective means to transmit the indigenous wisdom to the youth is by striking what interests their minds, their hearts, and their stomachs. This she said is the rationale of the recipe book that will come out of the press on the 1st quarter of 2019. The recipe book with narratives is just one among the several outputs of the project entitled, “Keeping Alive the Wisdom of Cordillera Indigenous Peoples.” This initiative is supported by Voice which is an innovative grants body of The Netherlands that aims to amplify the often diminished voices including that of indigenous peoples.
For those who missed this, you can watch it on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=484mh5pe6K8
Photo credits by Anna Karla Himmiwat
FOOD SHARING. One of the basic principles of food among the Igorots is sharing. It is believed that food is a gift from God that needs to shared and not to be wasted.
PINUNNOG. One of the delicacies shared was the sausage of Ifugao. This is a mixture of pork, garlic, and salt filled into an intestine and smoked over a fire place for one week or more.