Pinakbet

A commercialized pinakbet.

Food is undoubtedly an indispensable human need for nobody can survive without eating.  However, the value of food to human beings transcends beyond nutritional sustenance.  It also serves as historical record of environmental struggles and social contestations.  As contended by Liburd (2003), food is “… deeply rooted in (human) history and culture.”  Farb and Armelagos (1980) added that the “… humans’ basic need to eat cannot be separated from symbols and metaphors of status, gift-giving, feasting, social and kin relations, and sacred rituals.”  In addition, Leeds-Hurwitz (1993) likewise argued that “… food serves as an indicator of social identity, from region to ethnicity, from class to age or gender”

            Food products—such as dishes and cuisines—demonstrate the people’s transaction to the challenges of their physical and social environments.  The ingredients and materials used in cooking are not only reflections of the available resources in the environment but also reveal creative human technology to perpetuate human survival.  Likewise, the availability of food resources—or the sources of knowledge, ingredients and materials for cooking—determine some aspects of culture, including the distribution of political power and influence and the migration of people.  The elite or the ruling class, for example, have better access to food resources because of political powers and economic advantages. 

Today, the ruling class even wields influence to make the weaker class believe on the inferiority of their palate.  This “palate inferiorization” is evidenced by classifying cuisines and dishes as “exotic” should it not have been produced nor commonly consumed by the ruling class.  The subversion of the weaker class’ culture is perpetuated by continuing colonial consciousness of the weaker class and pervading neo-colonialism that is sponsored by modern globalization under the guise of cultural exchange.  On the other hand, some so-called “exotic cuisines” that appeal to the tastes and socio-economic interests of the ruling class and colonial powers are expropriated and re-introduced in their new forms.  Hence, it is not surprising to find “exotic cuisines and dishes” in the ruling class’ spaces—first class restaurants and hotels—cooked in ways catering to the palate of the elite costumers.  Nonetheless, these modifications and alterations are parodies of the cuisines and dishes that they intend to re-present.  This is even compounded by an interminable process of cultural oppression that progressively obliterates the history of the creators of the cuisine and dishes.         

Like all other local cuisines, the pinakbet is both an enduring symbol of the Ilokanos’ palate and a consequence of the creative response of the Ilokanos to the challenges of their semi-arid land.  The artifacts of the pinakbet—that is, cooking technology, the combination or mixtures of ingredients, and the utilization of materials in cooking—present cultural integration that were developed from the Ilokanos’ struggle and contestation with their physical and social environment. 

The" cherry" tomatoes used in traditional pinakbet.

Across time and space, there have been changes on the combinations and mixtures of ingredients, alterations on the materials and equipment used in cooking, and the variations in the procedure in cooking the pinakbet.  These phenomena on the pinkabet demonstrate cultural adaptation and social transactions and contestations that gradually undermine the history of the Ilokanos as a nation.  That is, a closer look reveal a social hegemonization or the imposition of the ruling or dominant class on the social life of the masses without overtly coercing the latter (Williams, 1985). 

How the social hegemonization of the pinakbet did happen?  What are the implications of pinakbet’s social hegemonization to the history of the Ilokanos?  What social realities are reflected in the social hegemonization of pinakbet?  The answers to these questions led to the formulation of the paper entitled: "Hegeminzation of Pinakbet"

Samtoy: The Language of the Ilokos

The Ilokos have been distinguished with the other Filipino ethno-linguistic groups by their mother language—the Samtoy.  According to Lopez (1621; 1767, in Dumagat 2007), Samtoy is the language “…spoken by the “Ilocan” or “Indian” of Ilocos or Ylocos,” which was derived from the Iloko phrase “saomi ditoy,” meaning “our language here.”  According to Agoncillo (1990) the Ilokos even prefer the name Samtoy over “Ilocano.”

An analysis on the etymology of Samtoy reveals the unconscious declaration of ownership by the Ilokos the language that distinguishes them from other ethno-linguistic groups.  The suffix mi—meaning “our,” attached to sao—meaning “word” or “language,” indicates the Ilokos’ claim on Samtoy.  This is reasonably comprehensible since Samtoy was born out of the Ilokos’ collective transaction and contestation with their arid physical environment.  Unlike the “supposed” national language, which is the Tagalog-based Filipino, being imposed by the hegemonic “powers-that-are,” Samtoy is a language that is distinctively an Ilokos’ collective production.      

Likewise, the word ditoy (or here) suggests that Samtoy occupies a space of its own—or what we can call “lingual space”—in the consciousness of the Ilokos.  While the ditoy in the Samtoy mentioned by Agoncillo (1990) indicates the region occupied by the Ilokos, this can also be extended to wherever the Iloko speaker is—i.e. outer Ilocos, Manila, Mindoro, Mindanao, Hawaii, US Mainland, Europe, and in other places.  For lingual space, as this paper suggests, is wherever a particular language is used to perceive, think, rationalize, and express thoughts, particularly by the people who claim the language as their own.  The lingual space of Samtoy is wherever Samtoy is spoken by the Iloko people.  As the Ilokos perceive, think and rationalize about themselves and their transactional experiences using their “mother language,” they are also affording a space for Samtoy in their consciousness. 

However, language does not only occupy space.  Through symbolic interaction, language helps in the development of person’s awareness and consciousness—or in the formation of a person’s psyche or soul.  That is, we are what we see and think we are as a consequence of our symbolic interaction as people.  As people symbolically interact, collective consciousness is formed, shared, contested, and reformed.  Language, therefore, “feeds” not only the individual soul but also the collective consciousness of people that distinguishes them with other peoples.  Deprive a people of their language and you are gradually starving their “souls” that feeds on their language. 

The etymology of Samtoy and the appreciation of the Ilokos themselves on their language (as indicated by the relatively substantial available Iloko literature compared to other Filipino languages—i.e. Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Wara-waray) provides the impression that the Ilokos acknowledge this value of language.  Unlike the Tagalogs who identify their language with their territory, the Ilokos distinguish their language not just with themselves but with their community.  Thus, Samtoy is not just a reflection of an individual Iloko’s soul but the collective soul of the Ilokos.  Depriving, therefore, Samtoy from the Iloko renders an Iloko personally and culturally empty.   

(References can be provided upon request.  Send request to simoncaday@yahoo.com or to jrizal77@yahoo.cm)

Panangtakuat ti Kina-Ilocanok

Siasinnoak a kas maysa nga Ilocano?

Uppat a pulo a tawen kalpasan nga innak immna nga inmulagat dagiti laggat a matak ditoy lubong, nagtengko ti kanito a masansanko a damdamagen ti kinasiasinnok a kas maysa nga Ilocano.  Salsaludsudek ti bagik no siasinnoak kadi a kas maysa nga Ilocano wenno Samtoy.  Ania dagiti bambanag a mabalin a mangidiat kaniak kadagiti sabsabali a puli ditoy Pilipinas wenno iti sangalubungan?  Iti innak panagsalsaludsud, adu man dagiti agsusupangil a sungbat nga innak nabanniitan.  Adda dagiti nagkuna nga: "An'a, dika pay ammo no siasinnoka?"  Adda met dagiti nagkuna nga: "Apay, masapul kadi pay laeng a pagsasaritaan dayta ita ta panawenen ti pannakarebba dagiti 'pagdudumaan' ti puli.  Maymaysatayo laeng a puli iti sangalubungan.  Ket no papuskulem ti uged ti nagbabaetan dagiti puli ket patunuynuyan wenno paspasingkedan tay laeng ti nabayagen a makagapu iti 'racial discrimination'."  Ngem kasla saan a maaklon ti riknak dagitoy a sungbat ta iti kaungak ket adda um-umkis a timek: "Anakko, timudem ti kina-Ilocanom."

          Simmanguak ngarud iti sarming...  binukiradko ti ngiwatko ket nakitak ti nangisit a gugotko.  Inngatok ti sikok ket kaskasdi ti ngisitna.  Inyarigko ti kudilko iti kudil ti maysa a Filipino nga artista a nakapaskil iti diding.  Arigna siak tay nagbalin a kape ket creamer isuna.  Nadlawko a sumilsileng ti maris-daga a kudilko.  Kasla dinamili ti marisna.  Pinadasko iti nag-English ken nag-Tagalog.  "Punyeta!" nakunak iti bagik. "Nagtangken ti pangak ken dilak."

          In-inutko a napanunot: Adda bukodko a langa.  Adda bukodko a pagsasao.  Adda bukodko a wagas ti panagbiag.  Adda bukodko a "kinasiasinno" (identity) sa saan ket a bunga laeng ti inpuligad lattan dagiti manangimameg.  Siak ti makaammo no siasinnoak.  Adu dagiti teorya panggep ti "kinasiasinno" (identity), kas koma ken Herbert Mead.  Ngem makunak nga ti kapatgan a panangipapan iti kinasiasinnok ket agtaud met laeng kaniak babaen iti innak pannakipulpulapol.  Siak ti mangtingiting no siasinnoak ket no adda man kapampanunutan ti sabali no siasinnoak a kas maysa nga Ilocano, kaniak ket agpannuray laeng ti bukodko a kapampanunutan no siasinnoak a kas maysa ng Ilocano.

          Ita, madamak a taktakuaten ti nabayagen nga um-umukuok ditoy kaungak a kina-Ilocanok.  Gapu ta nariparko ti kaadda dagiti manangimameg a tattao, nagbalinak a naridam kadagiti inda ipulpulagid a "kinatao" kaniak.  Kunak: "DO NOT TELL ME WHO I AM UNTIL I TELL YOU WHO I THINK I AM."  No man pay saanko isuda a malapeddan, saanko met isuda a patien nga insigida.  Denggek, binsa-binsaek, anagek... sa konto riparen no pudno dagiti inda pampanunuten panggep kaniak a kas maysa nga Ilocano.  

          Ngem, gapu iti naglabas nga panangimameg dagiti nabibileg, adu dagiti paset ti kinasiasinnok iti naiyaleng-aleng.  Dagita ita ti innak taktakuaten.  Dagita ti gapu no apay nga aginggana ita ket bukbuklek ti kina-Ilocanok.  Sapay koma ta inton mabukelko, maiburaykonto met kadagiti putotko... ken kadagiti putot dagiti putotko...