Food: A Way to a Community’s Soul
One of the purposes of the Innovate and Learn grant of Voice is to discover and try new ways of working towards a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the Voice target groups and its communities. The Task Force for Indigenous Peoples Rights (TFIP) and Partners for Indigenous Knowledge Philippines (PIKP) is one of the amazing partners of Voice in this particular grant type.
With the project “Keeping Alive the Wisdom of the Cordillera Indigenous Peoples”, their goal is to promote culture-rooted education for indigenous youth through linking up with educators and institutions in keeping alive indigenous wisdom as a continuing source of guidance.
During the first Voice Knowledge Exchange: Indigenous Women Rising, one of the key learnings acknowledged was the significance of intergenerational transfer, storytelling, and youth involvement in order to further their rights and strengthen their movement towards peace, justice, and sustainability.
It seems that TFIP and PIKP have long been holding these significant points!
Through collaboration among indigenous elders, women, youth, the academe, and other peoples’ organisations, TFIP and PKIP are continuing to capture the wisdom of their ancestors and pass the legacy through creating books that schools—and the public in general—can use as a learning material. Last March 2019, the partner organisations were finally able to launch their first book!
Lo and behold—the Heirloom Recipes of the Cordillera!
This book intends to “honour and celebrate the diverse contributions of traditional food for subsistence, health and nutrition, transmission of cultural and spiritual values, community solidarity and well-being. These are the everyday values of subsistence economies and lifestyles which suffer discrimination and marginalization in the modern world.”
Go on and open the book, try it out, and get to know the dishes that paint the stories of the Cordillera Indigenous Peoples’ struggles, victories, and hopes!
Garnering attention from its locality and around the country, various book discussions (with food tasting!) have been held. Apart from these discussions, reviews and articles from individuals and media networks have also been published:
- Heirloom recipe book out by SunStar Baguio
- Villanueva: Heirloom Recipes of the Cordillera by SunStar Baguio
- All That Fits | Food, glorious food by Abigail Anongos
- Book Review: Heirloom Recipes of the Cordillera by Rita Papey
- Book Review: Heirloom Recipes of the Cordillera by Padmapani Perez
- Book Review: Heirloom Recipes of the Cordillera by Penelope Domogo
- Zero-waste in traditional kitchen by Inquirer.net
- Cordillera dishes show connection to the earth by Inquirer.net
What’s even more exciting? They are soon to publish another book! It will feature selected indigenous stories which responds to the strengthening of Indigenous Peoples Education.
What a great way to innovate and learn!
