IP Cooking at PWC (Ata-Manobo)

Braving bad weather in the mountains, five Ata-Manobo cooks traveled all the way from Tapak, Paquibato to demonstrate how they cook their food to an appreciative audience of college teachers and students of the Philippine Women’s College of Davao on July 25. The cooks were Datu Roy Ali, Datu Roel Arthur Ali, Jr., Bae Epefania Pandia, Bae Lameda Dalag, and Bae Rosalyn Jurial. Heading the team was Datu Roel Arthur Ali, Sr. who is currenty the Deputy Mayor of the Ata-Manobos.

Binugsong te manok (roasted chicken wrapped in banana leaves) has a taste and aroma that the PWC teachers and students found very delicious.

Binaki (grated corn wrapped in alik-ik leaves) is a favorite viand by the Ata-Manobo but can also be a delicious afternoon snack.

The dishes that they cooked were humay te kuron (rice cooked in clay pot), binaki (grated corn wrapped in alik-ik leaves), tinalumbo te baboy (pork cooked in bamboo), binugsong te manok (roasted chicken wrapped in banana leaves), binugsong te tilapiya (roasted tilapia wrapped in banana leaves), and tinuog te kasile (roasted camote).

Every time a dish was cooked, the teachers and the students crowded the table to eagerly taste the dish. There were no left-overs, even of the rice cooked in a clay pot.  As it was recess time, some elementary pupils also watched the cooking demonstration and partook of the food. “Kailan kayo balik?” asked one of the pupils who scraped off every morsel of the succulent chicken grilled in banana leaves. 

Elementary students of  PWC eagerly pose with Ata-Manobo cooks Datu Roy Ali and Bae Epefania Pandia. The weighing scale on the table was used by Food Tech students who recorded the ingredients and procedure of cooking.  

 Datu Roel Arthur Ali was apologetic that he could not bring other ingredients for cooking, such as frogs and eels, for the more adventurous palates. It had been raining hard in the mountains and the rivers were swollen. But for the PWC teachers and students, what the Ata-Manobos had just cooked  was simply superb.

The cooking demonstration is part of the PWC’s on-going research into the culinary arts of the Lumads of Davao. The research aims to document and preserve Lumad cooking so that future generations of Filipinos will enjoy the unique and exquisite taste of tribal cooking. 

PWC of Davao Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Amelia B. Bonifacio listens as Deputy Mayor of the Ata-Manobos Datu Roel Arthur Ali, sr. explains the various ways that the Ata-Manobos cook their food. 

The Ata-Manobo cooks. From left to right: Bae Rosalyn Jurial, Datu Roy Ali, Bae Lameda Dalag, Bae Epifania Pandia, Datu Roel Ali Jr, and Deputy Mayor Datu Roel Arthur Ali Sr. The kid is Roel Arthur Ali VI.

(Published on Sunstar Davao, August 2012)