Dumagats' Indigenous Cooking Traditions, Cultural Values and Significance : Its Implications to Selected Courses in the Tourism and Hospitality Industries. 6

ABSTRACT: The study was conducted in Matawe, Dingalan, Aurora from April to October 2010 to analyze the Dumagats cooking traditions in its traditional form, possible adaptations to modernization and its cultural implications. Dumagats were askwed to identify the names of recipes, ingredients, preparation methods, tools, and equipment and descriptions of recipes which they considered peculiar to their cooking traditions. As offshoot of this study , thorough analyses on selected LPU-CITHM syllabi were done to effectively utilize research outputs for instruction, extension and possible contributions to industires related to tourism and hospitality. Participant observation, in-depth interview and focus group discussion with the Dumagats key informants were done to gather the data. Binungo (starch-based dish with meat/fish filling wrapped in anahaw leaf) was claimed by the Dumagatsas their very own recipe since one of its ingredients - Pungahan (fishtail palm) or Apong starch, is painstakingly processed using traditional methods. These starches (yuro) are also used in cooking Sinanglag (Polvoron-like), Tiniblog (broiled moulded yuro), Pinilag (hotcake-like) and lusaw (Porridge). Yurong Pugahan is processed by hacking of Pugahan palm into meter-length parts, inserting wooden wedges to cut into halves, removing and pounding of palm cabbage, and draining the sappy water using sedimentation and decantation process. Processing of yurong Apong includes : cleaning and grating of Apong tubers, washing of the grated Apong, and collecting the drained sappy water through sedimentation and decantation processes Cultural values and significance of the Dumagats cooking traditions are the following : co-existence with nature by keeping quiet during palm hacking and using primitive cooking tools, communal way of living as the women stay at the river side during Pugahan processing and automatically share the yurong Pugahan tio neighbors, women as keepers/transmitters of faith and traditiona/culture; use of Pugahan dishes for funeral rites of their daughters, eg. Bulos observe complete obstinence for a year while Kabuloen offer first to their dead daughters before they eat. Examining their cooking traditions and its cultural implications is vital for the enrichment of CITHM syllabi such as : Culinary Arts, Bakery Science, Food Safety and Sanitation, Philippine Tourism, Ecotourism, Business - related subjects and Research Methods and Techniques. Dumagats welcome the possibilityof LPU-CITHM extension activities like planting of Pugahan palms and Apong tubers to avoid extinctinon, Pugahan and Apong dishes improvement, food safety and basic business lectures, mass production and marketing of Pugahan and Apong dishes. There is a need for further study on other IPs cultural values relative to Pugahan dishes for validation purposes. 56

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