The Igorot Cuisine

By: Verzola, Katrina Ruth, K.

The French have croissants and cheese; Americans, hamburger. The English grace their evenings with roast beef and pudding; the Japanese with sushi and sashimi. You might have already heard of the Pinoy’s adobong manok, pancit and lechon.

All these cuisines represent the country where they are esteemed. They give identity to a people who include them in their everyday. These dishes are a part of a culture and they make it a whole.

The Pinikpikan, here in the Cordilleras is a dish that perks up your being an Igorot. It is a dish that will hark you back to your roots wherever you are.
Though similar, it is not a highland version of the Iloco tinola. It is a ritual that evolved to a recipe. It was created by the Igorot’s ingenuity as he prepares for aCañao. It was born out of the rhythm of the gangsa and the drummed solibao; yielded by the reverberation of the mambunong’s exclamations and the entreaties of the people to Kabunian.

It is a legacy passed from a generation to another. It is taught by the old to the young. It upholds our oral tradition. It is a custom that sustains another custom.

Its distinct flavor is an upshot of the blend of the native chicken that was beaten with a stick; seasoned with salt with the addition of etag, innasin or kinudayboiled in a metal or clay stock pot until tender over burning saleng or any firewood that gives it its smoky taste.

Sadly today, the once revered dish is now just a part of a menu in an eatery. The rites conducted before the preparation of the dish is disregarded and besmirched. The modern Pinikpikan is but a replica.

The ritual has been commercialized and turned to a bowl of stock. However, even with the huge change that confronted it brought by time, it depicts a practice that we once performed. Its broth, developed by excellent kitchen skills reflects the soul of its origin.

It is a living proof that culture changes; that we have practices that we shed to correspond with the demands of time without fully forgetting them. It signifies that we still cherish the practices of our forefathers and we remember them in our own ways.

The Pinikpikan is a dish that is present in every Igorot occasion in these modern times. From a small Saturday lunch gathering to a birthday party and at times a wedding. It gives distinctiveness to Igorot celebrations.

Pinikpikan - the most loved Igorot Dish

Together with our dances, chants, folklores and stories, practices, values and vast indigenous knowledge it represents the Igorot as a people in the country and in the world as well. It is not just our rite of passage in the culinary world but it is an element that may somehow propel us to greatness.  After all, what great people don’t have a cuisine of their own?
It is a dish worth eating and a culture worth bragging.

Photo Credit: About.ph