The kalinga and Apayao food journey

                   "  Famous Foods in Kalinga "

Kalinga is derived from the ybanag word "Kalinga" and the gaddang word "kalinga" which means headhunters. Kalinga is the landlocked province of the philippines in Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. The Kalingas have numerous songs, such as the salidummay, the dong-dong-ay, the oggayam, the ading, the wasani, the paliwat, the owawi, and the dandanag. But its enduring and distinct rite is the "Bodong" that has become an institution for peace up to this day. Kalinga is classified according to bodong-holding groups or ili, or sub-tribes, namely the Tinglayans, the Lubuagans, the Tanudans, the Pasils, the Balbalans, the Pinukpuks, and the Tabuks.


Main foods🦋


First up is the inandila. This is Kalinga’s take on the famous palitaw, a sticky rice dish. The difference is it is longer, thicker, and shaped like a tongue. This native food composes pounded malagkit or sticky rice, coconut oil, and brown sugar. You can find inandila usually eaten during special occasions like weddings or even peace pacts! Every 3rd week of March, the entire province celebrates the Inandila Festival.

A favorite dessert which takes a community to cook is the Inandila, a local rice cake delicacy famous for the Kalingas which denote a cooperation of a community, the sweet concoction is made from pounded malagkit, banana leaves and coconut cream and brown sugar.


Pinalatan is one also in the most food they admire here in apayao. Apayao people like most chili foods which this foods contains it, it taste good and beyond that's is affordable.


Binungor is one of the famous exotic delicacy of the province of Kalinga. Its main ingredients are agurong (stir-fried water shells) mixed with rabbong (bamboo shoots) and the most important ingredient, sichut (hot chili).This food speaks a lot on the Kalinga people, it’s spiciness symbolized our bravery because even with intense spiciness we can still tolerate it. 


In Kalinga, the cooking of rice inside the bamboo is called Linudag which dates back to the olden practice of cooking rice in bamboo cuts and then displaying the bamboo cuts with the rice still intact.In Apayao, Albert Duran holds the recipes of the sinursuran, pinatan atang and sinuab, abraw all cooked in the traditional way either in bamboo using a wood-fired stove and utilizing leaves from the abundant pomelo (suha) tree.

     The Sinursur can be an appetizer or a main           dish and is using available meat from tuka’              (frog), iwat (eel), or hito (catfish). It is slow    cooked inside a bamboo shoot and in the process the tender meat is crushed making the delicacy a delicious slush mixed with sili and gabi leaves.


 Stew or blood pudding stew. Dinuguan is also called sinugaok in Batangas, zinagan in Ibanag, twik in Itawis, tid-tad in Kapampangan, dinardaraan in Ilocano...
- Its origins in the Philippines are a bit murky, as pigs are native to the Philippines and the dish could very well be pre-Hispanic—however, in former Spanish colonies like Mexico and Guam, there exists a type of stew that uses animal blood (pig or goat) in a similar manner.

The Pinakbet Recipe (Dinengdeng) is the most well-known Ilocano dish. This is one of my most favorite dishes and has also been a favorite even in other regions. Pinakbet is a combination of different vegetables, fish paste, and grilled milkfish or Pork; this is the Ilocano Version. In other regions and most common in the Philippines, they have been using Shrimp Paste or Bagoong Alamang and Pork or sometimes Chicharon instead but nevertheless, it is still delicious.
Pinakbet (also called pakbet or pinak bet) is an indigenous Filipino dish from the northern regions of the Philippines. Pinakbet is made from mixed vegetables sautéed in fish or shrimp sauce.

Nutritional Benefits of Traditional Food

Foods from land and sea once provided everything for people. Today, a mix of market and traditional food is common for most people, but traditional food remains an important source of many nutrients.

A study in 43 Arctic communities found that on days when people ate both traditional and market foods, their diets were better than when they ate only market food.

When traditional foods were included in the diet, benefits were:

  • Less calories ­- helpful for weight control
  • Less saturated fat -- better for the heart
  • More lean meats and fish
  • More iron -- better for muscles and blood
  • More zinc -- better for wound healing and fighting infection
  • More Vitamin A -- better for vision and fighting disease
  • More calcium -- better for strong bones and teeth
  • Strengthened cultural capacity and well-being.

More information: 
https://southafrica.co.za/benefits-challenges-indigenous-food-crops.html

http://www.traveltrilogy.com/2017/05/kalinga-apayao-traditional-food.html#:~:text=But%20the%20highlands%20produces%20much,medium%20boiled%20in%20coconut%20milk.