A.Paulita Roa I RECENTLY gifted myself with this wonderful book titled, “Philippine Food and Life” by Gilda Cordero-Fernando (anvil Publishing Inc., Manila 1992). This book is a classic by an author who, by herself, is one of the revered cultural icons in this country. However, I was wondering why Fernando gave this title for her book when she featured only the food histories of 14 provinces in Luzon. Nevertheless, her documentation of the foods that are interwoven in the daily life and rituals of a farmer, a  landlord, a barber and even a kusinero de campanilla which is equivalent to today’s chef to the stars, are not only extensive but it makes a delightful and interesting reading fare. An added bonus to this book are the charming pen and ink drawings by nationally renowned artist Manuel D. Baldemor, who gave us glimpses of what a gaily decorated wedding carromata of rural Central Luzon looked like or the typical kitchen of the rich in Pampanga or the busy backyard garden in Batangas. What I found surprising was that most of the food that are served in the Kagay-anon table are virtually the same as those in Luzon. Fernando wittily calls it the “do do do” like estofado, menudo, asado and other dos. She said the meat and the vegetable-and-meat dishes are of Spanish and Chinese origins. They are the same ones found all over the country like adobo, humba, afritada ,putsero, kilawen, relleno, bola-bola and many more. Even our desserts are practically the same save for the fact that each region adds an ingredient or two in accordance to their tastebuds. We all have our suman, bibingka and puto cooked in different ways. So with the bico, ginataang halo-halo (binignit or tabirac to us), tira-tira, leche flan, masa podrida, butsi and a host of others. The similarities shown in our food point to one important facet in our national history--that is the heavy Hispanic influences in our culture. While Luzon was predominantly colonized by Spain for over 300 years, it was not so in Mindanao. However, there are areas in northern Mindanao that were considered very Hispanized and one of them is Cagayan de Oro (formerly known as Cagayan de Misamis) since it was the capital town of the Segundo Distrito de Mindanao. So we share many aspects of our local food culture with the people of Luzon and even in the Visayas islands. Back to Fernando’s book, she wrote about other kinds of food that had no Spanish or Chinese influences and are clearly indigenous to each of the province that she featured. I find  these foods astounding as they are completely unique and unknown to the rest of us. Like, who has heard of Rizal Province’s Sinigang na Bato? This is a soup that is usually cooked by hunters caught in the woods by nightfall or by poor people in the hinterlands or by very rich misers! Fernando wrote (P.48): “From a small rushing stream, a mossy stone is chosen. This is boiled with young edible shoots of wild plants in a kettle they carry. The end product is something hot to sip that tastes a little bit fishy, a little bit vegetable-y and a little bit like soup. Moss may be gnawed off the stone, if so inclined.” Or how about insects as local delicacies? In Pampanga, the beetle or the salagubang, cooked adobo style sans wings and legs. It is described by a local gourmand as “somewhat like boursin cheese, all moist and creamy inside with a hint sometimes of garlic, sometimes of vinegar.”(p.120). While the Ilokanos swear that the eggs of the abu-os, those large red ants gathered from the forest are best fried with tomatoes, onions and ginger for it taste like butter (p.149). I think that these kinds of food are the ones that define the people in their respective localities for they make use of what they have abundantly in their area and  creatively transformed it as their food. After reading the book, I asked myself what are foods that are distinctively Kagay-anon? Is is the highly touted dish called the “Sinuglaw” which is a combination of fish kinilaw and pieces of broiled pork? Not so. Many of us Kagay-anons  consider the Sinuglaw as a new concocted dish that has no bearing at all in out food culture. It is true that kinilaw is a prehispanic dish as evidenced by the discovery in a Butuan pit by archaeologists years ago of fish bones and tabon-tabon. But this was not a regular and preferred fare of Kagay-anons until recently. For a long time, it was considered a social no-no to serve kinilaw inside the house. It was tolerated to have kinilaw in picnics or in the farm but it was eaten mostly by men as pulutan and women were were discouraged from eating it. It could be because of the liberal use of tuba or coconut wine and that the very fresh fish was eaten raw that it was deemed the food for the males or pagkaon sa tinuod nga lalake! Now this dish is a regular fixture in parties and we, women just love it. For me, the distinctive Kagay-anon food came from the produce taken in our hills, forests, rivers and the bay. These sources of our local food are intertwined with our daily life, beliefs and  rituals for ages. It is our prized pigok and hipon that for many generations were salted and cooked in a variety of ways. Then we have our boiled cayam, inun-on nga kasili, binaki and so on--the list is long. My wish is for someone to do research and write a book about our rich food culture before it all fades away in the advent of fusion dishes and the Internet. Our food is a big part of who we are as a people because we are what we eat!