Indigenous food highlighted at 'Mangan Taku Food Fair' in Baguio

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MANILA, Philippines — The Panagbenga Flower Festival in February is not the only major attraction that draws crowds of foreign and local tourists to Baguio City.

The ongoing Mangan Taku Food Fair, which runs until tomorrow, April 27, also presents itself as a major reason why all roads are leading up to the City of Pines this weekend. A sizable crowd has already gathered at the Rose Garden of Baguio’s famous Burnham Park to partake of what the province of Benguet has to offer.

Organized by the Department of Tourism-Cordillera Administrative Region (DOT-CAR), the 7th Mangan Taku Food Fair saw the participation of slow food communities from Benguet, Kalinga, and Mountain Province, who featured their unique produce and food offerings in traditional heirloom recipes and their modern adaptations.

They showcased interesting products as Unoy Cooked Rice, Kiniing Burger, fermented cassava, rain-forest grown coffee, Kalabasa Noodle Soup with Kiniing, Takoyaki di Igorot, Kiniing Shawarma, Pinikpikan, Binakay, Sinigtimang Lechon, Patupat, Balatinao rice, Cordilleran Vegetable Japchae, Kiniing Lumpia, Kinuday, Kiniing na Manok, Bloodless Pinunegbasi, Itag, Kinumos, Kupi, and Tinolang Native Manok.

Crowds loved going around the 46 food stalls set up by merchants and farmers from the six provinces of the Cordilleras, as well as from Regions 1 to 3 to try the wide variety of food, particularly heritage dishes, available.

Gypsy Baguio by Chef Waya Araos-Wijangco, for one, presented two exciting dishes — one sandwich and one noodle dish — for everyone to try. Her products, created especially for the event, were Pinikpikan Banh Mi and Kiniing Ramen. Both make use of traditional Benguet food items, Pinikpikan (the chicken used in the dish goes through a ritual) and Kiniing (an indigenous type of preserved meat known for its deep smoky flavor). They were big hits among the early crowd that had gathered for the food fair.

“For the Pinikpikan Banh Mi, I had already developed the Pinikpikan Terrine before for the United Nations Regional Forum on Gastronomy held in Cebu, and, this time, I wanted to serve it and make it more accessible as a food festival dish,” explained Chef Waya, the owner and chef of Gypsy Baguio. “People want to eat something they can carry while walking around, so a sandwich made sense. The Pinikpikan Terrine felt akin to a head cheese that I used to make for our Banh Mi, so I went with that. What makes it unique is that I don’t batter my chicken.”

Chef Waya’s other dish, Kiniing Ramen, makes use of Kiniing produced by one of Benguet’s farmer leaders, who learned the craft from her father, so the preserved meat lends its distinct flavor to the noodle dish.

The opening ceremonies were graced by DOT-CAR regional director Jovita Ganongan, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, Congressman Mauricio Domogan, international councilor for Slow Food Southeast Asia Ramon Uy Jr., and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) deputy executive director Marichu Tellano.

Also lending their presence to the event were Chefs Waya Araos-Wijangco, Bong Sagmit, and Chavi "Baguio Mountain Man" Romawac, lechon diva Dedet dela Fuente, master mixologist Kalel Demetrio, and culinary historian-journalist Clang Garcia. Cooking demonstrations were held, much to the delight of the gathering crowd, and activities are expected to escalate over this weekend to make the seventh edition of the Mangan Taku Food Fair much more exciting and gastronomically enriching.

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