A successful — and delicious — installment of the 9th Tam-awan International Arts Festival (TIAF) took place at Tam-awan Village in Baguio City from May 22 to 26, featuring indigenous cuisine and delicacies this year.
In line with the theme “Flavors of the Philippines… celebrating indigenous cuisine and delicacies,” Chanum Foundation, Inc. led by Cordillera Solar artist Jordan Mang-osan, the managing organization of Tam-awan Village, through the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) headed by its chairman National Artist Virgilio Almario and Executive Director Rico Pableo Jr., aimed to focus on Philippine cuisine and delicacies as the Filipinos are known for having one of the best tasting foods in the world.
Ingredients locally-sourced make each dish an original and thus a local delicacy is produced. An example would be the coconut-enriched dishes of the Bicol region, a place with a plentiful source of coconuts all year round. Apart from this, the “pinikpikan” of the Cordilleras, is a chicken delicacy which is another original because of the fact that all parts of the chicken are used, and the broth is made even more savory with “etag,” a salted piece of pork that is sun-dried.
Philippine cuisine also reflects its rich historical past, with dishes influenced by different countries like Spain and China.
Meanwhile, the entire festival also had a plethora of activities that further focused on other art forms. Resident artists from Tam-awan Village Artists’ Group facilitated art workshops on basic sketching, basic photography, monoprinting, watercolor and acrylic painting. Jordan Mang-osan led the solar drawing demonstration and Clinton Aniversario with woodcarving demonstration. Roedil Geraldo, an artist guest from Bacolod conducted a terracotta workshop.
On the first day, Tam-awan resident artists, with other invited Baguio artists, had art exhibit opening at SM Baguio. Art workshops were open to the public, and local students from different schools have been invited to participate for free. After each workshop, film-viewings were held on May 22 and 23. Food exhibits were also conducted simultaneously with the art workshops.
On May 24, the workshops continued throughout the day in different areas throughout the village. A food exhibit of all Filipino cuisines was also held where visiting artists were invited to showcase their local delicacies. The evening started with dinner and authentic cultural performances from guests from local schools and universities from outside of Baguio and from Japan, Daisuke Takeya.
Talks were held on May 24 and 25 featuring Naty Sugguiyao titled “Cordilleran Implements in the Modern Kitchen,” followed by Candy Torres with “Rediscovering the Cordillera Culture through Food.
The remaining talks were held on May 25 after the ritual opening and registration. The series began with Marinella Mina on “Containing Cultural Choices: What Ceramics Reveal about our Foods” followed by Madonna Ma with “Chinese Influence to the Filipino Cuisine,” Jose Ricaredo Arro with “Negrense Traditional Cuisine,” and Rae Jane Dolor with “Mindanaoan Traditional Cuisine.”
The post Highlighting indigenous flavors appeared first on The Manila Times Online.