Learn indigenous cassava recipes from these Manobo and Talaandig women

AGUSAN DEL SUR, Philippines – Early in the morning, Talaandig leader Zenaida Mansiliohan and other indigenous women walk through the forest and first perform a ritual in honor of the spirits protecting their crops. To prepare for her community’s meal of the day, Zenaida peels the cassava’s hard wood-like skin using a small knife and manually shreds it with a cheese grater.

Women happily gather around the kitchen, watching Zenaida sprinkle brown sugar to the cassava, to flavor it differently. She later shares it with her neighbors, down to her children, husband, and then herself last. 

Food on its own, narrates a community’s way of life – even in situations where food is scarce.

In a small village in San Luis, Agusan del Sur, women of the Manobo and Talaandig tribes have learned to make various recipes out of binggala or more widely known as cassava, to cope with the effects of climate change and commercialization in farming. 

These traditional cassava recipes were featured through short cooking videos launched in June by indigenous women’s rights group LILAK under KPinay (Katutubong Pinay), a campaign highlighting stories of IPs in various multimedia content. 

In the video, Zenaida said that about 90% of locals in Agusan del Sur are farmers. In provinces covered by forests such as San Luis, corn, bananas, and sweet potatoes are the usual source of food of indigenous people (IP). 

Of their harvests, Zenaida and her daughter, Cleo Mansiliohan take pride in their cassavas.

Aside from its high potassium content, the root crop can survive the impacts of climate change such as extreme heat, and even the rising presence of paroot (forest rats) infesting in their area. Due to its sustainability, cassava has been a good alternative for rice over the years, making it a staple food of most indigenous communities across the Philippines.

In the launch of KPinay’s recipe videos, women including Zenaida and Cleo highlighted traditional ways of preparing and cooking cassava – ranging from nilong ag (boiled) anag (grilled), puto (steamed), nilupak (mashed), to bitso bitso and tupig (deep fried). 

“Ang cassava kasi, hindi mo na kailangan ng ulam…Nasanay tayo na ‘pag bigas, kailangan pa natin ng ulam, kailangan pa natin ng sabaw o gulay…Talagang practice na ‘yan noon pa, nakasanayan na namin ‘yan. Pero wala rin talagang pagpipilian ang indigenous people, ang mga magsasaka,” Zenaida said.

(You don’t need a side dish to eat cassava… We are used to eating rice needing a side dish, or soup or vegetables… That’s really been a practice before, we’re used to that. But the indigenous people, the farmers, don’t really have a choice.)

Learn how to cook your own cassava dishes through these recipes. 

Challenges in harvest

With indigenous communities solely relying on natural resources for food supply, food insecurity has long been a problem due to climate change and commercialization. 

According to LILAK communications and media coordinator Neca Reyes, the presence of mining companies continues to affect food production especially in fisherfolk communities. For instance, the king crab found in Aroroy, Masbate, is threatened by the mining activities due to heavy metals contaminating the ocean. 

In San Luis, illegal logging has caused their town to become flooded for three months, affecting their farming practices and harvest for the year. 

Following these challenges, farmers still receive little to no support from the government. Zenaida said that the local government has been donating hybrid corn seeds and pesticides to aid their harvest. However, hybrid seeds do not easily thrive in their land and may threaten the growth of traditional seeds. She also added that these seeds cater more to feeding chickens and pigs instead of humans. 

“Parang naging dependent tayo kasi ang pino-promote ng gobyerno ay yung pagkain ng hayop, yung feeds. Ang binigyang emphasis ng gobyerno ay yung yellow corn…yung mga hybrids na mais na pagkain ng manok at baboy. So yung mga traditional seed, traditional variety ng mais, nawala na,” Zenaida said. 

(It seems like we have become dependent on the government’s promotion of animal feeds. What the government tends to emphasize is yellow corn…the corn hybrids that are meant to feed chickens and pigs. So the traditional seeds, traditional varieties of corn, have disappeared.)

Due to this problem, Cleo mentioned that IPs are now resorting to farming as a way to sell and make money out of their harvest, not as a means to produce their own food. 

“Kadalasan po talaga dito sa komunidad…imbes na magtanim para kainin, iba na po yung konsepto dito. Nagbebenta na po [kami] at saka po [ipambibili] ng pagkain,” Cleo said.

(What’s common here in our community…instead of growing food to eat, the concept here is now different. We sell our harvest and then we will use the profit to buy food.)

She added that IPs, especially the youth, are starting to lose interest in farming and are slowly resorting to entering corporate employment and even migration, just to get by. 

Support for indigenous women

Reyes highlighted that women in indigenous communities follow a long-term custom of feeding her community and family first before themselves. Given the scarcity of food, she claims that women are hungrier now. 

While exploring cassava recipes promotes resourcefulness, Reyes said that IP women should not feel forced to look for other means to feed their families. Instead, the government should support them so healthy food can be readily available in their localities. 

“The question: who is our government feeding? Is it us as citizens who are in the city? Because it seems that the ones who are being fed are those on the corporate side..those who can eat at restaurants, those who can buy meat at the mall. Instead of getting food directly from the place where it was planted and where it was harvested,” Reyes said in a mix of Filipino and English. 

Through their recipe videos, Zenaida hopes to encourage Filipinos to farm more, and to promote food sovereignty by supporting traditional food made by indigenous communities. 

To help share these videos to campaigns abroad, LILAK is planning to release versions with English subtitles. According to Reyes, more recipe videos and content will be released soon in KPinay. 

“Itong videos, gusto namin siya maging positive messaging…na ang katutubong kababaihan ay may kuwento, may kaalaman, may kagandahan, may kabutihan. Pero ultimately, meron siyang karapatan. And therefore, kaya namin ito gustong i-kuwento [sa KPinay], ayun yung gusto naming message,” Reyes said. 

(In these videos, we want to portray positive messaging…that indigenous women have a story, have knowledge, have beauty, have kindness. But ultimately, she has the right. And therefore, we want to tell this story [in KPinay], that’s the message we want.) – Rappler.com