By Jenny Ortuoste
The official Facebook page (facebook.com/PCAARRD/) of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) has shared a link to a cookbook of indigenous vegetables (IV) in its e-library.
Written in Filipino and entitled “Mga Lutuing Katutubong Gulay [Indigenous Vegetable Dishes],” the volume is a reprint of an indigenous vegetable cookbook published in 2007. It is a compilation of recipes prepared by “parents, students, teachers, agricultural professors, nutritionists, and researchers” from several towns in Laguna and Oriental Mindoro.
The e-cookbook has recipes for many of the ‘Bahay Kubo” (Nipa Hut) vegetables including eggplant, squash, okra, and patola (sponge gourd), as well as less familiar ones including alugbati (water spinach), pako (vegetable fern), katuray (vegetable hummingbird), talilong (waterleaf), pakupis (snake gourd), kulitis (amaranth), kalamismis or sigarilyas (winged bean), alukon or imbabao (birch flower), and portulaca or ulasiman (purslane).
The e-cookbook may be downloaded for free here after registering: https://elibrary.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/slims/SearchKeyword/PCRD-H001833
IVs for food security
The cookbook was developed as a project of PCAARRD, the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC)-The World Vegetable Center, Asian Development Bank, and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry-Los Baños National Crop Research and Development Center.
According to information at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) website, the promotion of IVs as part of the diet helps address the “pressing need to find alternative low-cost food sources.”
In addition, IVs “have tremendous potential to address food security because these are cheap and available, easy to grow, and require less production inputs. These are also loaded with vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals, and antioxidants which [make them] ideal for promoting good nutrition.”
However, because local IV varieties are underutilized, they are gradually disappearing over time, contributing to biodiversity loss. To address this, efforts are being made to conserve, regenerate, and document IV varieties, as well as promote their propagation through planting in home and school gardens.
