[Time Trowel] Gabi fed our ancestors lengthy earlier than rice did

A trowel (/ˈtraʊ.əl/), within the palms of an archaeologist, is sort of a trusty sidekick – a tiny, but mighty, instrument that uncovers historic secrets and techniques, one well-placed scoop at a time. It’s the Sherlock Holmes of the excavation web site, revealing clues concerning the previous with each delicate swipe.

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Stroll into any café at this time and you will discover taro in all places. Taro chips, taro boba, taro lattes, and taro comfortable serve now sit beside their extra well-known yam cousin, ube, as if they’ve all the time belonged within the pastry case. Taro feels new on this world, café-friendly type, but the plant has an extended historical past in Island Southeast Asia and within the Philippines that predates its present trendiness.

I’m scripting this whereas looking over the lo‘i fields of Hawai‘i, the place taro has been cultivated for hundreds of years on irrigated fields and terraces. Seeing these terraces makes it simple to overlook how acquainted taro is again house. 

Lengthy earlier than taro drinks appeared in cafés, taro anchored on a regular basis meals throughout our area. For a lot of Filipinos, this historical past shouldn’t be distant in any respect. It’s in our kitchens, most clearly in a delicacies that exhibits up on Bicolano merienda tables. Once I take into consideration taro’s lengthy story, I don’t start with archaeological findings. I start with gina’tan.

In my childhood, gina’tan appeared with out a lot fanfare. It was thick and heat, one thing between a snack and dessert. Typically we added bananas, more often than not jackfruit. Typically candy potatoes or sago. Households diversified of their preferences, however gabi was all the time current. It was by no means highlighted or photographed, but it was the regular coronary heart of the dish. Solely later, via archaeology, did I perceive what this acquainted gabi represented.

Rising up, I heard many phrases for gabi, every tied to its look, style, or the a part of the plant we used. Bungkukan referred to the white-and-purple selection, presumably the identical as linsa. Katnga, natong, or apay had been used once we ate solely the leaves and stalks. We actually have a time period to explain the standard of gabi corm, masa’pog, easy however agency. These names carried the plant into totally different kitchens and alternative ways of cooking, however all of them pointed to the identical regular presence that formed our meals and recollections.

We frequently assume rice has all the time been the centerpiece of Filipino meals. It feels everlasting and compulsory, however archaeological proof tells one other story. Lengthy earlier than wet-rice agriculture took form, taro anchored many early meals programs. 

Throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific, taro seems in starch grain research, soil and charred residues, and irrigation options linked to root-crop cultivation. Within the Philippines, taro not often preserves nicely, however ethnographic and botanical information level to an extended, steady historical past of use.

In the meantime, there isn’t any stable archaeological proof for paddy rice sooner than about 300 to 400 years in the past. There are older rice grains, however not sufficient to point the presence of irrigation or terrace programs earlier than the early trendy interval (1300 to 1830 CE).

This distinction issues. It means rice shouldn’t be historic in the best way it’s typically imagined. It additionally signifies that root crops comparable to taro and yam supported communities lengthy earlier than rice turned dominant.

Taro suits the Philippine panorama. It grows in each moist and dry patches, survives storms, and could be harvested in levels. Older communities additionally developed strategies to course of sure varieties that require soaking or drying earlier than consumption. These strategies replicate data handed via family observe greater than written documentation.

Taro didn’t stay in a single place. Archaeological and genetic research present that totally different varieties reached a number of island chains within the Pacific. In Hawai‘I (the place I wrote this), this resulted within the improvement of lo‘i, irrigated terrace fields constructed alongside streams. These engineered landscapes, constructed with stone-lined plots and managed water circulate, required coordinated labor and long-term administration. Lo‘i in Hawaii predate the well-known wet-rice terraces within the Cordillera and display how taro may type the idea of intensive agriculture beneath the correct situations.

The Philippines adopted a distinct path. Slightly than creating massive irrigated taro terraces, communities relied on combined programs of cultivation. Taro grew in small patches, house gardens, swiddens, and moist corners of fields. This versatile technique suited the various environments of the archipelago and didn’t depend on large-scale water management.

Ifugao proof

Our work in Ifugao provides one other layer to this story. Ritual fantasy tells of how the Skyworld gods gave the primary Ifugaos pig, rice, taro, grasses, ember for fire-making, and different necessities so they may flourish within the Earthworld. In these narratives, taro got here first. One other story explains the shift from taro to rice: taro may not feed the big crowd that may attend the status feast of the protagonists, so rice took its place.

Lengthy-standing oral narratives additionally describe taro as the primary cultivated plant, a crop included within the contents of the ritual field, the punamhan. These accounts current taro as the inspiration of early subsistence lengthy earlier than rice turned essential.

The science helps this view, however it’s the persistence of those tales that exhibits how taro formed Ifugao life. The shift to wet-rice agriculture round 1600 CE got here a lot later, formed by tribute calls for, Spanish strain, and new social obligations. The rice terraces are latest in comparison with the older reminiscence programs that positioned taro on the middle.

This historical past locations taro not solely as a regional crop but in addition as a central part of Philippine agricultural improvement. It anchors each highland and lowland meals programs. It seems in Bicol dishes, in Cordillera contexts, and in island traditions throughout the archipelago. In lots of locations, taro stays a part of day by day cooking, not as a celebrated heritage plant however as a gradual ingredient in dishes like laing, pinangat, and gina’tan. Meals retains older programs alive even when communities lose sight of their deeper roots.

Why this issues

Realizing taro’s lengthy historical past reshapes how we perceive Philippine heritage. Meals acts as an archive. Dishes comparable to gina’tan and laing protect strategies for processing, cultivating, and getting ready crops lengthy earlier than colonial information start. Once we acknowledge these dishes as heritage, we increase the narrative past rice terraces and grand buildings. On a regular basis cooking turns into a supply of historic perception, displaying us how communities tailored to land, water, and local weather.

There’s additionally a sensible dimension. Root crops like taro match the situations of island environments. They develop with far much less water than irrigated rice and proceed to provide after heavy rain and powerful winds. They supply regular energy with out relying on managed irrigation programs. By broadening what households can eat, they scale back the chance that comes with counting on a single staple. These qualities are essential in a time of unpredictable climate and shifting seasons. Taro shouldn’t be a novelty crop. It’s a secure possibility that matches the ecological realities of the archipelago.

Gina’tan is probably not historic, however its core ingredient displays a deeper agricultural system that continues to be related. Meals historical past turns into a software for fascinated about present selections. Once I see taro milk tea in a café or taro chips in a gourmand aisle, I take into consideration the plant’s longer story. And once I cook dinner gina’tan, I see a report of cultivation and family data.

Taro was right here lengthy earlier than rice took middle stage. It’s nonetheless right here, in our kitchens and in our snacks, carrying its historical past in methods we regularly overlook. – Rappler.com

Stephen B. Acabado is professor of anthropology on the College of California-Los Angeles. He directs the Ifugao and Bicol Archaeological Initiatives, analysis applications that have interaction group stakeholders. He grew up in Tinambac, Camarines Sur.