An unfortunate characteristic of many Igorots is their tendency to get easily offended when non-Igorots express a negative observation about us, our culture, and our traditions.
For instance, right now, a screenshot of a post is being circulated online among Cordillera-based pages and groups. Vloggers and content creators are also riding the hate bandwagon. In the post, someone described a popular Cordilleran recipe as "nakakadiri", "parang uling", and "halos hindi na makain".
The person is referring to the 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗼 which is a well-known recipe among Cordillerans. 𝗞𝘂𝗸𝗼𝗱 (pig's feet) boiled to tenderness with black beans is a favorite here in the north.
Many fellow Igorots didn't like the negative sentiments of the person who described it as "nakakadiri", "parang uling", and "halos hindi na makain". The person instantly became the recipient of unhappy, threatening, and below-the-belt responses.
The bad side of social media has once again reared its ugly head.
We can't expect non-Igorots to like all our food and delicacies in the same sense that Filipinos can't expect foreigners to like the 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝘂𝘁. Non-Filipinos have described the 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝘂𝘁 as awful, terrible, the worst food ever, etc.
In the same vein, there will always be people out there who won't like our food and drinks, be it the 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗼, 𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗴, 𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗴𝘀𝗼𝘀, 𝘁𝗮𝗽𝘂𝘆, 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗴, etc.
If they don't like it, there should be no problem. Maybe just leave it at that. There's no need to pitch their heads on a stick and take them to a bashing tour.
Several weeks ago, I attended a demo at the University of the Philippines Baguio on the making of the 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗴, a Bontoc beverage, as well as the cooking of a food using the 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗴 as cooking base. I liked the taste of the 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗴 itself. The food cooked with it? Not so much. The 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗴 was used as base to cook rice with Japanese fish (𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗳𝗶𝘀, 𝗷𝘂𝗷𝘂) and tilapia. I didn't like the taste. A fellow attendee described the taste as too strong, too salty, and awful on the tongue.
The point is we like some, we hate some. So when people say the 𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗴 is terrible or the 𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗴𝘀𝗼𝘀 smells and tastes like hell, don't declare war on them. Most likely, they're just describing what their taste buds and noses told them.
