The Ybanags of the Cagayan Valley in the Northernmost part of the Philippines are a race rich in food culture. From this food culture arises the uniqueness of the race. The vegetation and the animal kingdom of this unique race interweaves with their dynamic behavior, their way of looking at plants and animals.
It is in this essay that the Ybanag group and the culture of the Cagayan province are given special emphasis in order to unravel the deep secrets of the race that painfully are beginning to wane due to the advent of commercialism and modernization.
Ybanag Indigenous Foods
The Ybanag's life revolves around foods or anything connected with foods. The Ybanag's health revolves around foods. Success in the rearing of the Ybanag's children and family depends on foods. Social celebrations and gatherings - whether formal, informal or semiformal; simple or pompous; small or big - are defined by the foods served and eaten. These illustrate how food is most relevant to Ybanag's life and culture.
Ybanag foods come in different forms, tastes, colors, shapes, grandiosity and presentation. Further, Ybanag foods are narrowed into four major categories which give various, yet, definite meanings to Ybanag festivities. Ybanag foods are classified as mappaganas ta accacan or appetizers; maca-macan or main dish; and paddulse or desserts.
Mappaganas Ta Accacan (Appetizers)
Ybanag indigenous foods and meals can be described as aromatic, aphrodisiac, delicious, savory, and nutritious. These descriptions are so apt that one can be awed by the variety of meals the Ybanags eat. This is because other than the main dishes, the Ybanag social functions are complemented by appetizers (mappaganas ta accacan).
Among the Ybanags, meals are complemented with a concoction of raw vegetables, and/or fishes/shellfishes. The appetizers serve as a pulley that pushes one to eat more than the usual, ordinary quantity he can take.
Among the Ybanags, the best and most sought after appetizers (mappaganas ta accacan) are the onion salad (salsa na sebolyas), pickled peper (sili nga artem), lemon juice (daggo na dalaya). Likewise, onion leaves salad (salsa nga kutchay,)which is a concoction of onions mixed with fish paste (bagoong), and chopped ginger with sliced tomatoes, is a favorite appetizer among the Ybanag.
The Ybanags describe appetizers to be mappaganas ta accacan. Mappaganas means to stimulate one's gustatory gland to eat. For the Ybanags, appetizer is important since one should be stimulated to savor the food served on the table.
Ybanag appetizers are simple and economical. They come from various indigenous plants available in the surroundings. Generally, Ybanag's appetizers result from experimentations the Ybanags conduct with whatever is readily available in their laguerta or garden, kakayuan or nearby bushes, koman or at the farm, or nearby water or kayan. The preparation of appetizers is not usually laborious; it is easy to prepare and most often plain. Accessibility to the spices of these appetizers is easy, considering that most are home grown or found in the market.
In Tuguegarao City , the early Ybanags craved for appetizers.
Maca-Macan (Main Dishes)
It ishelpful to classify the Ybanag main dish according to its sources which are aya-ayam (animals), mana-manango (fishes and shellfishes), and gula-gulay (plants). From these main sources of food result the main dishes for the Ibanag. These aya-ayam, mana-manango, and gula-gulay (plantsvegetables) are cooked in uniquely Ybanag ways and processes.
Aya-Ayam (Animals)
The Ybanag's main dishes come from animals. These animals are baka (cow), nuang (carabao), kazzing(goat), karneru (sheep), kitu (dog), utta (deer), bavi (pig), pabu (turkey), manu (chicken), ayong (monkey), and patu (duck), gansu (goose).
Meat is the focal point of the main dish. Meat is not only a universal popular food, but also an important part of the diet because of the substances it contains. To the Ybanag, the substances sourced from meat give strength to the body (mappasican), lengthen lifespan (mappaapaddu ta attolay), refines way of living (malladda y attolay), and mappasikan ta bagga-baggi. The importance of meat to the Ybanag's health is greatly manifested when celebrating special occasions like baptism (pakristianu), birthday (diyas), anniversary (compleanyo), family reunion (aggurummung), patron's feast (fiesta) and wedding (mappacasal).
Mana-Manango (Fish/Water Animals)
Mana-manango or fishes or sira-sira are the other main source of the Ibanag's staple food. This is due to the description of the province where the indigenous Ybanag thrive. Cagayan, as it is topographically described, is verdant with bodies of water. From the bodies of water came several kinds, shapes and sizes of fishes.
The Ybanags of Cagayan are located in different regions of the Province. Some Ybanags are located in forested areas; others are at the center and others along or near seashores. The proximity of forests, or water to the people determine the sources of staple food. Hence, Ybanags near waterbeds are dependent on body of water.
